This site documents a modern RAW photography workflow built on open standards, file-based metadata and open-source tools – and the tech that makes them possible.
This is what RawTherapee is really about, not chasing perfect pixels, but shaping an image until it feels the way you see it. Not technically flawless, not polished for the sake of it, but just right for you. That idea didn’t start there. Before RawTherapee, I was working on Windows, back in my Pentax days... Continue Reading →
2 minutes read time I often hear that once a photograph is taken, edited and published, its role is finished. Move on. Don’t look back. Old files only take up space. For some, the archive becomes a digital graveyard, a place where images go to rest and never return. That has never been how I... 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
5 minute read. Well, “Stop Calling It RAW” caused a bit of a stir, didn’t it? I’ve never seen that many readers on a single day for one article - that says something. Not everyone agreed with me, and that’s perfectly fine. But one truth remains hard to ignore: RAWs are never truly raw. So... Continue Reading →
6 minutes read time. The Cooked RAW I normally process my camera’s RAW files in RawTherapee - most of you know that by now. This weekend, I stumbled into a forum thread about film simulations, presets, and RAW editing in Darktable. People were complaining that the results looked off. Too strong, too contrasty. So I... Continue Reading →
To keep the original article from turning into a novel - and because many prefer visual step-by-steps - I added this extra section that shows the Capture Sharpening workflow in action. Remember, Capture Sharpening isn’t just another knob you twist at the end, it’s the first step. In fact, you might not even need any... Continue Reading →
Capture sharpening is one of those tools that most people never touch, simply because they don’t really know what it does or even don't know where its hidden. And let’s be honest, the name doesn’t exactly scream excitement either. But here’s the thing: if you’re working with RAW files in RawTherapee, this is one of... Continue Reading →
For quite a while, I had been shooting in both Raw and Jpg. It seemed like a smart approach – capturing images in both formats provided flexibility, allowing me to have the high-quality Raw files for editing and the more readily accessible Jpg's for quick sharing or viewing. However, as time passed, I began to... Continue Reading →
Very popular with many photographers were and still are the well-known effects from Nik Collection (now Dxo) with names of precious metals like platinum efex and palladium efex, first applied to Black and White and later also in Color photography. These effects were the reason that I started creating Haldcluts myself to have my own... Continue Reading →
Probably the most important part in RAW development : the "Tone Curve". Technically, this new PictureFX Tone Curve is not a Film Simulation, however, it has been developed for en is part of the PictureFX Pro Fujifilm Color series.This specific Curve has been further fine-tuned since then, and is now intended as a starting point... Continue Reading →
Featured picture is the skyline of Antwerp during the Tall Ships Race in 2016, old photos are also worth reviving, dreaming of those beautiful memories of when it was still "different". Now it seemed worthwhile to "color" them or should I say decolorize them.I have used the Agfa 200X in Cube format in Darktable here.... Continue Reading →
Also the cover picture for the month of February, developing RAW with Rawtherapee / Artherapee, with Agfa Black and White Film Simulation.We have four scripts in one download this time. Agfa 200X and Agfapan 25,100 and 400. Download belowThey are what I call "mini scripts" because they are clean and contain only what is needed.On... Continue Reading →
