Demo: How to edit professional beauty images with GIMP on Linux

Problems with file management??!! File...Save. Or File...Export. What could possibly be "impossible" about that?

I'm guessing he might mean photos management. That's best done in numerous other free(dom) applications where Gimp can be considered in concert wit them. There are many combo apps also. DigiKam does extensive management. Such as face(people) recognition and tagging management.

That's probably what he means, but he said "totally unintuitive (read, impossible)".

You're right, of course. It's an editor, not a photo manager. I think he's confused.

I have used 2.9.1 and newer until now. No issues with my computer.

@manuth: Yes, they kind of "broke" performance for macOS after 2.6 by switching graphics libraries - very annoying! On the official GIMP web site you only get 2.8 for macOS, however, there is a build based on the latest version - https://www.partha.com/downloads/McGimp-2.9-std.app.zip - I had given up on GIMP for almost two years before I came across this version and it is fast again and perfectly usable on macOS.

Looks like there's a 2.10 out as well, but I haven't tried it yet.

@manuth: GIMP can use OpenCL for some things, if you tell it to (System Resources page in the Preferences dialog).

Once GIMP 3 gets adjustment layers it'll be something.

Adjustment layers will be great

GIMP is great, but be careful about overselling it. GIMP may have had a few features before Photoshop, but it is still very disappointing to see that the release notes in the last 6 months for GIMP mention several "new" features that have been in Photoshop for 15 to 20 years!

Don't be an ass about Linux install trouble. That's so 1999.

1. You can use freedom programs on Windows.

2. Rather, simply start with Linux Mint and the Mate desktop. Follow Linux Mint instructions to install from a USB stick or ask a friend if you are non-technical. https://www.linuxmint.com/

3. Once you have used Linux Mint a year or two then you will want to move to Debian STABLE. Which is hard to install once; only because it is the building blocks of the way you want it to be. However the Deb Live with Mate is pretty easy to install. The second time one installs debian is easy.

4. All this can be done as a simple (native) dual boot with windows. That way there are no issues with virtualization. Which is a special case; but not native install. While one can run open-code programs on Windows or Windows programs though Playonlinux on LinuxMint; that's not better. Run native programs on their native OS. That's best. Such as; just run Libre Office on LinuxMint (not Windows Office). KISS. What's in a name after all? There are plenty of site (some good) that tell you that name of similar Linux apps compared to Windows(or mac).

When you simply run Gimp beside any other photo app and when you install LinuxMint as a separate native dual boot to Windows then you lose absolutely nothing and gain everything! IT IS ALL FREE TRY. Then it stays free. Even daily improvements. Try!

Yes, there are numerous other Linux OS's distribution for specific needs. Trust me. Start with LinuxMint with Mate desktop environment(32 or 64 bit to match your CPU). Once installed then it is simple to move the Mate task bar(panel) to the bottom; if you wish. it is extremely FAMILIAR and easy if you just look. It scales to nearly any computer you'd have and has low memory requirements; but USE YOUR BEST not your worse computer.

Next to a dual boot; (You will need to simply follow special directions to work around Win LOCK YOU IN (in)Secure boot crap) then if you have a second drive options one could simply buy an inexpensive SSD drive (small and inexpensive is OK; they are FAST) for installing LinuxMint! Completely optional but optimal.

- GIMP is available for Windows
- I set up a laptop with Linux this weekend. Took ~1/2 hour. apt-get+dependencies? User-friendly distributions like Mint take care of that- Just click on "Install GIMP". Sure, very specialized hardware may lack support, but most of the time it just works.

Sounds like someone hasn't installed Linux recently...

I think there's a bit of truth in everyone's reply. Only last weekend I dual booted an old Windows laptop with Linux Mint. Very pretty, but as soon as you move a millimetre away from the cosy built-in app catalog/installer thing and head onto the web, you are immediately confronted with geeks spouting all that sudo git deb command line crap, like the old days of DOS (which I grew up with). I am a Blender and FreeCAD user, so love (good) open source software, and really want to like Linux, but even the friendliest Linux distros like Mint still feels very inferior to Windows.

@JohnnyP,
Ha! Have you installed Linux lately compared to Windows? Linux takes 15 minutes, just asks a couple of username/login type questions, and comes up running -- right resolution, on the network, sound working. Windows takes 50 reboots and 50 hours of updates. Not even close. And then there's all the special driver disks for non-working video, non-working network, 5 other things banged out in the control panel.

In fact, all of Linux hardware detection is done at bootup. You can actually install Linux on one HDD, move it to a completely different computer with all different hardware, and on first boot it comes up working with correct video, network, sound, USB. Let's see Windows do that!

I use Linux (as a virtual machine on my Mac) and it still cracks me up how the Linux imply that Linux is user-friendly.

Linux is great for folks that are PC-saavy. No one argues that. I've used it for years. However, let's get one thing straight. Linux is not for the general public no matter how many times you guys say it is. It's not. People trying to save a buck by installing a "free" OS and "free" photo app are in for a rude surprise.

"Free" is actually expensive when one factors in their time, which to many never seem to factor in, or believe their time has no value.

I downloaded the free Ubuntu, took a couple of minutes to install. You can find 1000s of apps in Ubuntu library.
But of course if you are a troll..

Yes, it's trolling. With Linux, you CAN go deep into the system. With Windows, you are closed out. That's a disadvantage?

@JohnyP

WOW the amount of clueless is amazing from this guy. Takes 10 min to download say Linux Mint 18 XFCE, 15 min to make a USB boot disk and 15 min to have to installed. GIMP already comes installed with most distros. You can also not get Gimp 2.10 Beta which is pretty nice.

Call me a troll for stating the truth is just proves you have zero to debate. Obviously I hit a nerve so you know there is truth to it.

I'm a Linux user for over 15+ years, and administer it in the enterprise. Nowhere in my post did I compare Window to Linux, or implied in any way some kind of superiority to it. There is a reason Linux has not penetrated to the desktop for the masses. For folks like us, Linux is a breeze. For non-PC-saavy users, it is not. I accept it because it is the norm.

Don't get your undies all winded up. It's almost a guarantee that anyone recommending Linux to Joe-user-photographer, and using Gimp on top of that is going to abandon that system in a day or two. Being able to download Ubuntu and have it up and running in minutes is NOT the same as actually using it.

But hey, go ahead and just call peoples "trolls" for not agreeing with your preaching.

"Manage patches", seriously? :) Sounds very 1990's.

(I do create and apply patches while using Linux in my day job as a software developer, but that's not something your average desktop user needs to think about)

@Mika: had te extensively patch a Linux system do to CUDA stuff. But never (Ok, excluting those first tries in the 90ies) an average desktop system.

@Gmon750:

"There is a reason Linux has not penetrated to the desktop for the masses. For folks like us, Linux is a breeze. For non-PC-saavy users, it is not."

I don't think that's true. In my surroundings, there are quite a number of "non-PC-savvy users" who switched to Linux and have found it to be intuitive and easy to use and offering all they need and don't want to go back. I rather think it's only the "folks like us" who want to tweak things because they know it can be done, who find themselves venturing into the depths of the system and getting the impression that Linux can't be used without such efforts. But it does.

As long as you don't need to do things which can't be done on Linux. And that's still its foremost problem, which either can't be solved or can only be solved with more effort than on a Windows PC or Mac. Still, with the help of Wine and VirtualBox for the three or four Windows applications I still need, I really find myself liberated after making the jump.

@Gmon750:
Actually, I'd say it's the other way around. The less computer saavy someone is, the better time they'll have on Linux. Take my father-in-law for example. Grandfather type. Could he keep up with virus cleaning, and all the instincts about which emails were safe to open in Windows, which sites were dangerous, which dialog boxes were traps (and how to close them without OK'ing an installation)? No way. I was cleaning his system every two weeks when he ran Windows.

I put him on Linux about 6 years ago, and now the only fixes I ever do for him are when he accidentally closes a subfolder tree and doesn't know how to open it back up. (Yes, just click the diamond, make it rotate and open). He sometimes accidentally turns off menu views in programs, so I have to turn them back on for him. But he is virus free, and he can go to any site, click any dialog, open any email, look at any video, and there's never any major repair as a consequence.

Linux IS good for the masses.

@Gmon750

> For non-PC-saavy users, it is not. I accept it because it is the norm.

Same thing can be said for Windows if the non savvy user had it reinstall from scratch why do you think Geek Squad make money as well as computer stores, cause people even with windows don't know what to do.

I guarantee if you put non-PC-saavy used in front of Linux Mint Cinnamon they will have an easier experience in using it right away vs Windows 8 and 10.

As for desktop penetration you need to look at the rest of the world and not just North America. Linux on desktop is huge in Europe especially in countries like Germany where open source culture is much bigger and common.

@CarpentersEye - the only real problem with dualbooting is that Windows is a PITA when it hasn't "gotten love" recently.

If I haven't booted my Windows partition for more than 4-5 days, it takes 30-60 minutes of it thrashing disks before it's usable on the next bootup. Windows used to be better, but the Win10 installation on this laptop is horrendous - and frequently causes me to put off doing anything I might need Windows for because it's so painful.

As far as less computer-savvy people and Linux - my parents have switched half of their machines to Ubuntu without my help over the past few years and they require far less effort to keep running for them. The Windows machines routinely break in strange ways.

@JohnyP: "because there is no application to control your camera remote" -- of course there is. Get yourself darktable for complete digital photography workflow. Or Entangle, if remote capturing is all you need.

60hrs? Burn net-install CD from debian.org (or any other), start target PC from CD, select language, user name and network and then let it run. May take 2-3 hrs to download all packages, but then you have a good and stable linux.

Clearly a layer 8 problem! Have fun looking for stale references in your registry database, or fixing that broken .NET install.

Now finally in Gimp you should know it has numerous plug-in additions and you should have selected all the ones you will ever use and have them installed with Gimp. It is a matter of clicking check boxed and Apply on open systems. This way you get free-dom (to you) upgrade daily also. Always up to date. But stay with the stable tiers if you are not a programmer.

The point is you could have simply selected the healing brush and knocked out blemishes and then moved on to more interesting and numerous automatic one click fixes to enhance a portrait in many ways.

I'd be more interested in the > Filters > GMIC > Film Emulation > Negitive (new) > Portra 400. And optionally tweaking that automatic process to taste (because every pic is different and starts from different places).

All that in no time.

I mean really there are so many automatic processes you could get lost in them and that is good choices. Why not have all this to try since it is completely free to you. Freedom; not subscriptions, not freeware or tricks or left out things; but included everything. Improvements everyday.

Note: The spartan ufraw does not wait for the powers that be; to include your camera. This is how: Simply go download the camera profile to match your camera and set ufraw to it; while you set everything else at defaults (to match your cam standard JPEG) and do the save once feature to lock-in all those camera defaults. Easy to do and alter ONCE per new camera.

Just go download it's ufraw camera profile first. No waiting. You can even download a sample Raw from a considered camera before you buy it and then edit that raw with ufraw and Gimp+ first. Get off the tread mill.

I have tested every photo edit program known to man and I have always been able to do any edit (look/process) ever known with ufraw and gimp + it's add ons and plug-ins. Even the brand name programs that match the cam brands. While I have a plethora of edit app options the Gimp it the kitchen sick and without the BS. Once you can do Gimp you can do anything.

You learn to get around Gimp ONCE and you are done.

@CarpentersEye - Unfortunately, ufraw isn't that well maintained these days. Something has been wacked with the exposure normalization for Sony cameras for years, and after spending 20+ hours digging through the source code to figure out where the issue was and never coming up with a reliable solution that worked for all Sonys, I just gave up and moved my entire workflow to darktable. ufraw is one of the few pieces of software *still maintained using cvs* - they haven't even bothered migrating to Subversion yet.