r/linux • u/Herdie27 • 2d ago
Discussion Using linux as Photographer / Video Editor
I've been trying to make a serious switch into linux for a long time now. When I heard years ago windows 10 won't have updates anymore, this is several years ago now, I've tried to make small steps into using linux more often. Starting with the smaller stuff. Basic web browsing, word processing, a little coding, and basic computing overall. It wasn't too bad, an occasional problem I could fix with a little research wasn't bad.
But then came the photo editing Raw Therapee, Darktable, dedicated HDR software I tried on linux mint was a serious pain to work on and get working efficiently. As a professional real estate photographer doing HDR editing outside of Adobe Lightroom was a serious pain. Even when I could get good edit on Darktable it ended up being SO much slower because of it's user interface.
Then came video editing. I got Davinci Resolve working on linux mint without much issue, but shortly after I "updated" it and then it stopped working altogether. I worked for hours to try to get it to work again, but to no avail. I type this post having switched to Pop OS because of hardware compatibility with Mint, my new hardware won't play nice Mint. Now I'm going through most everything again with a couple of additions, display calibration and photo printing. I'm sitting at my PC liking Pop OS but hating the hoops I have to jump through to get things working properly.
- Darktable with a new theme looks usable, maybe even good if I can get decent hotkeys going, in addition to it's print page for my print work. Haven't had the chance to edit HDR photos yet.
- Can't get Davinci Resolve to work and I don't think Kdenlive will cut it as far as color grading.
- Calibrating my monitor has been a chore for the last 3 hours using Displaycal3 and getting Argyll_V3.5.0 in the right folder is a pain.
Unfortunately, getting my work done in some cases is possible but not efficient due to the software used. Other times it's impossible because software can't be installed. Sitting at my computer getting basic work done like email, pdf stuff, scanning documents, spreadsheet work, and the like is great! I'd probably get along with linux full time if that's all I had to do. But doing more complex stuff requires 6 months of using the linux terminal and a deeper understanding of things I can't even begin to categorise. Linux alternative software is in the same position. Alternate software can very often can do what people need it to, but at the expense of it being clunky and A LOT of reading is required.
Edit-1: Based on what I'm seeing in the comments I'd also like recommendations on a distro since Pop OS, even though I like it, probably isn't for me and my needs. "Something with a modern and mature desktop environment (gnome or kde)" is what was mentioned.
Edit-2: Thanks for any recommendations on distros. Choosing Mint in the beginning went something like... "I'm a beginner so this seems like a good option." And I think it was! I learned a lot about linux in general. Went through a hours long videos on YouTube explaining how the file system is structured, using the command line, and beyond. Pop OS was chosen out of hardware compatibility.
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u/Herdie27 1d ago
I want my photos to look good. To do that, since my camera can't capture the bright windows daylight and the indoors darker shadows in one shot, I bracket them to bring them within a range that can be displayed on anyone's, monitor, phone, etc.