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This site documents a modern RAW photography workflow built on open standards, file-based metadata and open-source tools
The Truth About Leica Why did I write this article? Well, I currently own three Leicas, a few Leica lenses, but more Minolta, Panasonic, and Chinese glass. Why did I buy those Leicas? And why do I have more Chinese and old Minolta lenses than Leica lenses? I'm curious to see the reactions. One thing's... Continue Reading →
3 minute read time I started writing about this new workflow in late 2025, and even back then I hinted that I had found the solution. You could ask what the big deal really is. It’s just metadata, after all, and a few tools working together to get a result. Sounds like overthinking, and I’m... Continue Reading →
Not that long ago it entered the Top 10 almost unnoticed. Today it sits at number 6, and the 100,000 download mark has already been passed. No marketing push, no algorithms to please - just people trying it, using it in real workflows, and passing it on. That, more than the number itself, is what... Continue Reading →
“Freedom in a workflow doesn’t come from one magical button that does everything, but from knowing that you can always walk away - with everything that’s yours still firmly in your hands” Over the past months, following a series of articles about DAM and workflow, I received a number of reactions that caught my attention.... Continue Reading →
6 minutes read time A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system is supposed to organise and remember your photos for you - I just chose to let the files do that themselves : IPTC as Database: No Catalog, No Problem Where Does the Meaning Live? At its core, most DAM software does the same thing as... Continue Reading →
5 minutes read time When you shoot for days - sometimes weeks - without an immediate publishing rhythm, something sneaky happens. The photos pile up. Not just files, but decisions. What’s been touched, what’s been half-processed, what’s still raw and innocent, and what you’ve already quietly forgotten about ? At some point, your own archive... Continue Reading →
This article isn’t really about multitools, and certainly not about brand comparisons. It’s about mindset. Anyone who spends time photographing outdoors knows that things don’t always go as planned, and that being lightly but thoughtfully prepared matters. The Signal-style tool is used here as an example of practical thinking rather than gear obsession: simple, functional,... Continue Reading →
7 minutes read time The diagram above isn’t meant to represent reality as-is. It’s simply there to show that my old RAW+JPEG approach, combined with a more or less (un)structured flow, made storage feel a bit chaotic. Coded file naming helped, but it didn’t go nearly deep enough in terms of structure. The new workflow... Continue Reading →
3 minutes read When the Gear Stopped Moving, the Workflow Fell Into Place Twenty years of camera-hopping taught me one thing: your workflow only works when your gear stops changing. 2000–2020: The Pentax YearsStarted with Pentax. Solid. Reliable. Muscle memory. Then birds happened. Heavy glass. Slow autofocus. Endless shutter speed battles. Pentax didn't become bad... Continue Reading →
Going out to photograph nature means dealing with more than light and composition. Weather changes, gear gets wet, batteries fail, plans drift. This article from The Bushcraft Family focuses on the kind of practical field skills that quietly keep a trip on track - simple, tested ideas for camping, photography outings, and everyday emergencies. No... Continue Reading →
Welcome back - and a happy 2026 ! I've already seen many fellow bloggers, and most of the New Year wishes have been exchanged. For everyone else: my very best wishes for the year ahead! I hope your step into 2026 was a gentle one, and that the months to come bring fewer worries, more... Continue Reading →
This is the last post of the year - not so much an ending, more the final bit of noise before a short pause. And it has been a year unlike any before on Open Source Photography. What started out as the familiar mix of gear talk and software reviews slowly shifted into something else... Continue Reading →
This was RAW DEV #2. One file, one shared starting point, and complete freedom. No brief, no direction, no safety rails, just time, curiosity, and a RAW to work with. There were fewer submissions this time, which was hardly a surprise. The holidays are close, the timing was tight after the previous RAW DEV, and... Continue Reading →
If you haven’t noticed yet, the sites have quietly shifted. Winter has settled in, Christmas found its way in, and a familiar landscape has changed just enough to feel different. Snow, movement, atmosphere - not added at random, but shaped with intent. This wasn’t about decoration for decoration’s sake. It started with a single photograph... Continue Reading →
Leica T (Typ 701) and SG Image 35mm f1.2 L mount Well, this is normally the kind of post I’d put in the Gallery, but there’s a bit too much technical stuff woven into it, so I’ll just drop it here instead. So what is this actually about? I think the interesting elements are these:... Continue Reading →
6 minutes reading time Confessions from Outside My Comfort Zone: On Macs, Studios, and the Lie of “Simple” The Setup I spent last friday on my daughter’s MacBook, doing a “small” project that turned out to be surprisingly serious: making proper studio photographs of my daughter’s paintings. Yes, she doesn’t just sing, she paints too... Continue Reading →
4 minutes read time Update added 12/12/2025 - 17:21 People have been arguing about this topic forever, but very few discussions ever touch the real issue: what these choices actually do to your workflow. Maybe everything runs smoothly for you ? no friction ? no clutter ? no headaches ? If so, congratulations, keep doing... Continue Reading →
If you’re out for a full day of photography, or wandering through a multi-day hike, something warm to drink can be as welcome as a perfectly timed beam of light. Gas stoves work, but there’s always that moment when your canister turns out to be empty at the worst possible time. A twig stove doesn’t... Continue Reading →
GIMP 3, Broken Plugins, and Why Your Old AppImage Finally Gave UpWhen GIMP 3.0 first arrived, the rule was simple: if you needed plugins, don’t touch it. The new release had a completely rewritten plug-in system, Python 2 was gone, the API had changed, and none of the classic add-ons like Resynthesizer, Heal Selection, G’MIC,... Continue Reading →
I wasn’t planning to host a second RAW DEV so soon after the first one, and certainly not this close to the end of the year. But the response to RAW DEV #1 was far more enthusiastic than I expected, and that gave me an idea: a Christmas Edition. A small seasonal experiment to round... Continue Reading →
4 minutes read time. Impulse Noise Reduction: The Small Tool That Fixes Big Pixel Problems If you’ve ever pushed a high-ISO RAW a little too far, added gritty microcontrast for that 35 mm look, and suddenly ended up with a miniature galaxy of bright white pixel dots… congratulations, you’ve met impulse noise. It’s not grain,... Continue Reading →
Finally ! Here are the submitted results, presented in the order they arrived. This is our first run at this experiment, and the response genuinely impressed me. Not just the variety, but the quality of the images, and the wide range of software people used. Each entry is shown with the contributor’s name or alias,... Continue Reading →
Anyone curious how I cut firewood in my own garden? I promised this little demo after my previous TBF review of the Nordic Pocket Chainsaw - and believe me, this thing eats wood like a tiger on steroids. Camper or photographer on a multi-day trek, your campfire will be burning in no time. Need wood... Continue Reading →
For a while now, this little idea has been simmering in what’s left of my grey matter. Every so often I like to push back against habits that, once you actually think about them, make very little sense. Running my Open Source Photography site and gallery, I keep seeing the same comments pop up in... Continue Reading →
5 minutes reading time So you want to get serious about black-and-white. Maybe you’ve tried your camera’s SOOC B&W mode and felt underwhelmed, and now you’re not sure what the next step should be. That’s exactly what this article is about. And before any Fujifilm users rush in with comments about “just use recipes”: let... Continue Reading →
