Creating a Natural-Looking HDR Image with RawTherapee and Luminance HDR When it comes to creating an HDR image that still feels natural, rather than screaming "overcooked", a careful workflow and thoughtful tone mapping choices are crucial.Let me walk you through how I recently processed a water lily to maintain realism while bringing out depth and... Continue Reading →
K&F Concept Variable ND8-128 Filter – Nano-X Series with Water and Dust-Proof Coatings Anyone who’s been following this site for a while will know that I’m not a fan of glass filters, with the main reason being: sharpness loss. And these aren’t just words. After having a suspicion and reading about it on a forum,... Continue Reading →
Every image has a story, and this one starts as a humble RAW file—just data, just potential. But like the forest floor quietly waking up in spring, it only needed the right touch to bloom. With a careful edit in RawTherapee, some luminance tone mapping (Reinhard 02), and a bit of patience, this wood anemone... Continue Reading →
Picture this:No clients. No stress. No “can you tweak this one by tomorrow?”Just you, your camera… and that magical morning light you actually woke up early for. Sounds like freedom?Welcome to the wonderful life of the hobby - enthousiast photographer. ✌️ You don’t have to. You get to. Here’s the big win:You don’t owe anyone... Continue Reading →
3 minute read time - header credit : Image by prostooleh on Freepik Let’s be honest — when you’re earning (part of) your living through photography, you want tools that are reliable, fast, and get the job done without fuss. But do those tools have to be Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop? Or can you deliver... Continue Reading →
Read this six-minute tweak for RawTherapee, and get a total workflow upgrade. A Fresh Start with RawTherapee: Setting Up Your Favorites for a Smarter Workflow, and Color Management with Adobe Camera Profiles. In a previous article, we talked about ART and other RawTherapee forks. One thing ART definitely has going for it is a simpler... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 7 minutes. Recently, my fellow blogger and good friend Mark G Adams from One Camera One Lens – https://onecameraonelens.com/ – mentioned an alternative version of RawTherapee: ART.ART is indeed just as powerful, but it offers a slightly simpler interface compared to the standard RT version - So I thought, why not discuss all... Continue Reading →
New OSP Logo: fully original & with a touch of green Open Source Photography finally has its own face – for real this time. I figured it was about time for a logo that truly fits OSP, without needing to credit other designers. So, using a design that started with AI (cheers Jarvis 😉) and... Continue Reading →
🏚️ Something Old, Something Leica... While walking along the stately Prinsendreef—lined with large villas and shiny modern apartments—I stumbled upon a modest little cottage that time seemed to have forgotten. Slightly worn, totally out of place, and yet… it had charm. The kind of charm that whispers stories and dares you to imagine what if.... Continue Reading →
6 minutes read. Well, I said I was pretty happy with this quick and simple edits – and I meant it. Honestly, in most cases I’d just throw this kind of result straight into my gallery without chasing perfection.But… can it be improved? Sure. In my first version, I used Shadows & Highlights to bring... Continue Reading →
Only 4 minutes read time It's well known that Micro Four Thirds is under pressure. For years, some have predicted its downfall—often people who struggle to accept its advantages. Sometimes, jealousy plays a role, especially when they've heavily invested in another system. Other times, it's just badmouthing. I have little doubt about my choice of... Continue Reading →
5 minutes read Well, it’s been a few weeks since I started the Deep Dive series and published that article on GIMP 3.0 — and let’s just say, it didn’t go unnoticed. I’ve received quite a few responses, mostly via email, a handful in the comments, and they all share one thing: things don’t always... Continue Reading →
Well no, it’s not some magical recovery job – this is just a plain RAW file, shown in Neutral. But yeah... it is very dark. So the question becomes: can you still make something out of it in RawTherapee? Absolutely! RawTherapee’s bag of tricks can handle way worse than this. And honestly, with just a... Continue Reading →
8 minutes reading time + video Welcome to a new Open Source Photography Deep Dive tutorial! In this guide, we'll focus on editing with RawTherapee, and I'll show you the simplest ways to get great results quickly. In RawTherapee version 5.11, the 'Toolbox' in the 'Editing' section has nine tabs. One of them is the... Continue Reading →
3 Legged Thing QR11 2.0 vs. an Affordable Alternative So no, this isn't about monsters, and no, I’m not about to tell you a sci-fi story. 🙂 The '3 Legged Thing' is a British manufacturer known for its high-quality tripods, monopods, camera bags, tripod heads, and—perhaps most famously—L-brackets. An L-bracket is a piece of aluminum,... Continue Reading →
While some readers here on OSP express interest in moving away from the well-known flow of LR, PS, and others, the general feeling tends to be one of 'Hesitation'—"Is it really that good?" or "I've looked into it, but the switch seems too difficult," and "That program has a steep learning curve." This sentiment is... Continue Reading →
6 minutes read + video Once you've downloaded your latest photos to your computer and given them proper names, it's time to sort them and delete any unusable shots right away. Since we shoot in RAW, we’ll do this directly in RawTherapee. A quick note: if you shoot in both RAW and JPEG, you can... Continue Reading →
Well, today I put the finishing touches on the website’s new look! I wanted to move back to a grid layout instead of the single-post view I had before. This way, readers get a broader overview of multiple articles at once. At the same time, the single-post view has been enlarged on tablets and PCs,... Continue Reading →
Well, an update on my March 2025 article: Bicycle Bridge with Olympus TG Tracker. The Ulanzi clamp is a great tool—essential if you want to mount your action camera, in this case, an Olympus TG Tracker, to a bike, motorcycle, or e-bike. However, there was one drawback: you constantly have to screw and unscrew it.... Continue Reading →
5 minutes read time Upgrading the Setup For a smoother filming experience, especially when shooting handheld, I needed accessories that would improve stability and usability. While I already had a cage for extra stability (which I’ll discuss in a future article), I was looking for a solution that would make it easier to operate the... Continue Reading →
If you’ve been working with WordPress for a while, you’ve probably encountered some weird stuff yourself. The last time I did a major overhaul, it was out of sheer necessity—my theme started acting like it had a mind of its own. Turns out, it was a server issue. But by the time I figured that... Continue Reading →
For those who are new here, I recently started here a new series of tutorials on Open Source Photography; Deep Dive's about using open-source software for image editing on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. The goal is to show that whether you're new to photography or a seasoned RAW shooter, there's a competitive, high-quality, and completely... Continue Reading →
6 minutes reading time I can promote RawTherapee (RT) all I want, but if people are set in their ways with certain software, camera brands, and habits don’t allow themselves to take a peek over the fence… well, who knows? Maybe, just maybe, there’s a patch of grass out there that’s greener. Or even a... Continue Reading →
Well, a few weeks have passed, and I'm starting to see why some photographers prefer Panasonic cameras. They don’t have models that resemble the Olympus E-M10 or E-M5 series, and their design is quite different. If you’re used to the handling of a DSLR, Panasonic offers more options in that area. Olympus (or OM System)... Continue Reading →
Over the past few weeks, while testing the Lumix G81M and considering whether I needed a slight upgrade—mainly to get 4K 60p or even 4K 120p—the overriding conclusion was that achieving this would make things significantly more complex (and expensive). Neither of which I was planning to deal with. Besides, I was quite satisfied with... Continue Reading →
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