What software do you guys use?

• Raw processing / editing - darktable, RawTherapee / ART
• Raster editing - Affinity Photo (was GIMP in the past)
• Viewing / organizing / DAM - XnView MP, Fast Stone

Now to explain...

darktable has built-in DAM features such as tagging, metadata, etc., but I don't use them much. I just use it as a raw editor, since it's too slow to be convenient for quick browsing, viewing, etc.

For browsing I use XnView MP the most these days. I tried DigiKam and it's a capable product (moreso than XnView MP) but given my workflow it was more of a solution in search of a problem for me. YMMV.

So, the heart of my management comes from not software but rather how I structure my images:

/images/Our-photos/<date>_<topic>

For example: C:\data\images\Our-photos\20220114_Kincaid_Lake_sunset

Those are the raw files from a sunset shoot at a local lake on January 14, 2022. Under that folder will be one or more folders named exported (output from darktable), converted (output from RawTherapee / ART), cellphone, etc. If I save any edits made in Affinity Photo or GIMP, they'll be in the raw converters' output folders, as well as any social media resized JPGs, etc.

Named in this manner, the folders will always sort in date order.

When I first started using darktable I tagged every image I imported, but that was the last time the tags saw daylight. I just never used them, so I no longer tag. I realize this approach could get clumsy with large image collections but so far it works fine for me. Another advantage is I can find things without having to rely exclusively on some management software. Plus given my personality I would save the images in such a manner regardless, so ... 

I have other images outside the Our-photos directory tree, but virtually none are DSLR shots I want to keep. They're all cellphone or other images from wherever. All my real "photography" shots are somewhere under Our-photos.

Actually I have two Our-photos trees: One on my laptop (partial) and another on my NAS (full). The laptop copy is a subset of the NAS copy and backs up nightly to it. I do this to 1) keep disk usage under control on my laptop and 2) there's just no need to carry every last photo around with me. Plus once it's backed up at any given time, I can delete ancillary files from the laptop knowing a copy is always available from my NAS.