digiKam

photo management tool

digiKam is a robust and powerful photo management tool. The application consists of several modules that will meet the needs of a standard home user as well as an experienced photographer on a daily basis. The project has been intensely developed in terms of both functionality and documentation. There are dozens of quality tutorials already available. They will allow novice buyers to get to know the described environment and take full advantage of its possibilities.


Key features of the application:
- a comprehensive batch processing module,
- preview of tags assigned to a photo (Exif, Makernotes, Iptc, Xmp data) and the ability to edit them,
- Sorting, filtering and searching photos based on various criteria (image attributes, name, tags, etc.)
- easy creation of a photo gallery,
- export via various protocols (FTP, SSH, SVN, SMB and others),
- display of a histogram,
- a range of effects and graphic filters (blur, sharpen, distortion, noise reduction, sepia, red-eye removal, film grain, oil paint, emboss, raindrops, texture adding and much more),
- geographic location that allows to determine the location where the photo was taken,
- creating panoramas,
- advanced tools to change the color of photos,
- photo rotation, mirroring, resizing,
- duplicate search,
- adding different types of borders to photos,
- create calendars and slide shows,
- Extensive possibilities for transferring photos to social networks and other types of websites (Facebook, Flickr, Shwup, PicasaWeb, SmugMug, Zoomr, 23, Piwigo),
- 16 bit color depth support,
- ICC support,
- a module that allows you to compare photos,
- the possibility to cooperate with external devices (e.g. cameras, memory card readers and scanners),
- a large number of supported formats (including RAW files).

The set includes a simple converter that allows you to change the photo format to DNG. The user can configure basic process parameters. Another interesting module is the graphic viewer called showFoto which offers most of the functions mentioned above.

During the first launch of the application, basic options are configured. The wizard consists of several steps - it allows you to set the following parameters: default directories for saving processed photos, actions that take place after uploading the photo, or the appearance of thumbnails. digiKam has a user-friendly interface. The user can easily customize the appearance of the windows according to their needs, change the skin, hide selected panels and configure keyboard shortcuts. The biggest advantage of the program is also the possibility to expand the functionality with a plug-in system.