Digikam/Tutorials

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Digikam Tutorials

Here are different recommendations and tips how to get things done with digiKam.
You are very welcome to share your own tutorials, and links to video-tutorials on this page to help others getting started with digiKam!

Information

digiKam has very detailed user-manual where you can find the most up-to-date help on most functionality you are interested in. Please use Ctrl + F to search for anything you need inside the PDF version of digiKam documentation!

Basic Features

• Tagging and Face Tags in digiKam How to make your photos easy to find.

• Setup of digiKam for Windows compatibility Recommended settings for new users.

• Import Photos in digiKam

• How to download Facebook albums by using digiKam
• Configure the Main Toolbar in digiKam

• Batch Renaming of Photos suggests ways to automate naming your photos that improve cataloging them.

• Disable Certain File Types in digiKam

Searching and Sorting

• Performing Fuzzy Searches In digiKam - lost a picture because you can't remember its name or where you filed it? You need a fuzzy search.

• Using the Advanced Search Tool In digiKam

• How to find duplicate images on digiKam!

• Face Detection In digiKam

• digiKam Housekeeping with the Maintenance Tool

Improving Photos

• Remove Red Eyes From Your Pictures Using digiKam helps

• Convert Photos to Black and White with digiKam shows you the tools for quick results.
• Add a dramatic effect by a simple toning technique.
• Adding Textures To Your Images Using digiKam Some images look a little flat and benefit from the addition of a texture.
• Generating aspect ratio crops in digiKam for use with particular monitor size or shape.
• Applying Image Effects Using digiKam - make your images look like paintings!
• Straighten Your Pictures Using digiKam brings those horizons back into line.
• Add a Vintage Effect in digiKam
• Simulate a Faded Effect in digiKam
• Use Adobe Photoshop Curve Presets with digiKam
• Sharpening in Digikam teaches how to get the best results using the parameters available

• Adding Borders To Your Photos

Advanced Image Editing

Note

digiKam is excellent for organizing and viewing your photos, but it may not be the best tool for every task that is possible with digiKam. Also notice that some tutorials here may be rather old, so please check if their contents is still valid and help by adding comments if the tutorial needs updating.

• Exposure Blending deals with those difficult, high contrast photographs.
• Lens Distortion helps you correct those inevitable distortions.
• The Local Contrast Tool deals with photographs where specific areas are under- or over-exposed.
• The Levels Adjustment Tool adjusts brightness and contrast.
• Re-compress Images Using digiKam discusses the level of compression used in .jpg images.
• Reducing Noise Using digiKam
• Work with Photo Metadata in digiKam tells you how to view and edit the metadata stored with your images.
• How to create panoramas in digiKam 2.1 - stitch your photos together to make a great panorama.
• Process Film Negatives with digiKam - digitise photos from your old camera
• Export Photos from digiKam via DLNA - Need to get your photos from one computer to another? This is for you.
• Create a Bleach Bypass Effect in digiKam

• Creating Calendars Using digiKam- make a personalised calendar

• How to export and import pictures to Picasa web using digiKam

• Process Photos with digiKam’s Batch Queue Manager and a Bash Script

New features in 2.0

• Versioning in digiKam 2 - save modified versions of an image while keeping the original untouched.
• Face Recognition in digiKam 2
• Using XMP Sidecar support in digiKam 2 beta 3 - Write metadata into a linked file
• Geotagging in digiKam 2.0 - the new interface, with Reverse Geotagging.
• Geotag Photos with your Android Camera and digiKam
• Tethered Shooting with digiKam

Advanced Features

• How to Switch from Microsoft OneDrive or WLPG to digiKam Guide for users of Windows Photo Gallery and other Microsoft software.

• Watermark Photos tells how to use batch processing to add watermarks to your images.
• Install digiKam on Windows explaining the use of the Windows installer and providing a link to a tutorial for those who prefer to compile the latest version.
• Sieve through Photos with digiKam’s Light Table Tool is perfect for comparing a series of photographs to find the best one for your purpose.
• Geotag Photos with Open GPS Tracker and digiKam tells how to get GPS data into your images' metadata.
• Batch Process Photos in digiKam improves your Batch Processing skills, including using the Batch Queue Manager.
• Apply EXIF Metadata to Multiple Photos. especially useful when importing from negatives or slides.
• Manage Photos from Multiple digiKam Installations - if you have photos on more than one computer, this is for you.
• Using digiKam with MySQL - how to migrate your data to MySQL so that you can use a server for your photos.
• Assign Keyboard Shortcuts to Tags in digiKam
• Optimise digiKam’s Performance..and increase productivity
• How to enable fast thumbnail loading in digiKam
• Check and Optimize digiKam’s Databases helps you improve performance.
• Soft Proofing in digiKam
• Export Photos to Wikimedia Commons with digiKam

Working with cameras and RAW files

• Process Raw Files in digiKam
• Step through processing that difficult RAW shot
• Convert RAW Files to DNG with DNGConverter will be of interest to users of high-end cameras.
• Batch Convert Your RAW Files Using digiKam…. shows how to convert RAW files to other formats, using the wizard.
• Writing Meta Data To Raw Files In digiKam
• Lens Corrections Using digiKam - No lens is perfect.

Help digiKam to improve

Report bugs or wishes You, the user, can help to improve digiKam.

Supporting Software

This section is about other software that handles complimentary features, such as monitor and printer management

• Introducing colorimeter and color profiling software

Note

Dmitri Popov and Mohamed Malik write blogs about using digiKam, and have given us permission to reproduce them. Please remember that the images used are still copyright.

A collection of PDF's of Mohamed Malik's Digikam tutorials is available from this site.

Dmitri Popov's eBook "digiKam Tricks" is available from his web site

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