Open Source and Free Software

usonian

(25,494 posts) Mon Apr 6, 2026, 12:10 PM 12 hrs ago

Ansel. Open-source photo-editing software for digital artists, based on Darktable. 🐧 Love Open Source 🐧

Ansel is what Darktable 4.0 could have been if it didn’t die of feature creep .
https://ansel.photos/en/

YMMV, but I invite comparison between Ansel, Darktable and Raw Therapee as free and open source photo editors for RAW images. Downloads for Linux, Mac and Windows, all three.

DarkTable. https://www.darktable.org/

Raw Therapee. https://rawtherapee.com/

Naturally, new software requires some learning curve, despite similarities in the user interface.

Warning
Ansel is in alpha version. The GUI is susceptible to change and the application may crash under some circumstances.

Some very serious thought has gone into this software. Here's a long discourse on color controls.
https://ansel.photos/en/news/color-controls-finally-correct/

2 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Ansel. Open-source photo-editing software for digital artists, based on Darktable. 🐧 Love Open Source 🐧 (Original Post) usonian 12 hrs ago OP

I've been using GIMP and G'MIC for a long time. hunter 6 hrs ago #1

I use GIMP a lot. usonian 6 hrs ago #2

hunter

(40,711 posts)

1. I've been using GIMP and G'MIC for a long time.

Reply to usonian (Original post)

Mon Apr 6, 2026, 05:39 PM

6 hrs ago

I've never used Photoshop or any other Adobe product.

That's probably why I feel photo editing software like this is confusing. It messes with my finger memory.

I started my photography hobby with film and a darkroom. Then I got rid of the darkroom and started scanning negatives from film I often developed myself. That's when I started using GIMP.

usonian

(25,494 posts)

2. I use GIMP a lot.

Reply to hunter (Reply #1)

Mon Apr 6, 2026, 05:57 PM

6 hrs ago

The latest release for mac fixed some insane bugs that crept in.

It's back to usable now.

RAW image processors give you way more options than GIMP, which may be confusing.

To be honest, I am so pleased with the jpeg images that my Nikons kick out in addition to raw images that I haven't processed the raw images yet. But I'll get there soon.

I actually use the Apple Preview app a lot, which is a bit more complicated than the old "xv" program from many years ago. Its author, John Bradley, recently passed away.

Of course, there are some things way beyond its capabilities, and GIMP gets the call in those cases.

I stopped using Adobe anything when I left a university job and the big discount (new product for the upgrade price) and of course, the user-hostile "subscription" model. I don't RENT software. Dammit.

Gimp does a lot of retouching tasks pretty easily. Birds have a way of making tiny dark spots in my sunset photos.

No AI.

GIMP just updated from 3.0.8 (revision 1) to 3.2.2
Downloading now.
Should be interesting!!!!

https://www.gimp.org/

Reply to this discussion