Digikam comes with a comprehensive image viewing and editing suite
consisting of various plug-ins. To enter Digikam's viewing and editing
mode, double-click an image thumbnail. To use Digikam's plug-ins, you need
to install the digikamplugins
package.
Use menu to zoom in and out of your image and to insert histograms. Using the option, you can judge the exposure of your image while viewing it.
Use the menu to edit the properties, comments and tags of your images and to apply basic effects or to insert text:
Select the type of texture you want to apply to your image and determine how prominent this texture should be (). Digikam applies the texture and saves the changes to the original copy of your image.
Select the type of border. Depending on the type of border you have selected, choose one or two colors to be used for the border and set the width of the border around your image. Digikam creates the border and saves the changes to the original copy of your image.
Enter the text you want to superimpose on the image, choose font, font style and size. Select the text justification and decide whether the text should be rotated and to what degree. Add an optional border and semi-transparency. Digikam adds your text layer to the original image.
Use the menu to address a number of common defects related to digital imagery:
Tweaks various aspects of the image related to colors.
Tweaks the sharpness of your image or smoothens it.
Enhances the sharpness of your image.
Sharpens your image by trying to refocus it.
Reduces or eliminates red eyes caused by use of a flash.
“Heals” defective areas of your image.
Detects and erases defective pixels of your image caused by a defective pixels of your camera's sensor.
Provides an all-inclusive treatment to images suffering from all sorts of digital defects such as noise and scratches.
Removes artifacts caused by dust etc. on your lens or your sensor. Compensates for pixel noise caused by high ISO settings of your digital camera and reduces noise and artifacts in low quality scans.
Compensates barrel and pincushion distortion of your images caused by the use of strong wide-angle lenses or strong telephoto lenses.
Compensates circular shades (vignettes) at the edges or in the center of your image that were caused by the use of strong wide-angle or telephoto lenses.
To illustrate the functionality of the options, just have a look at the image inpainting option, for example. Assume, some dust or scratch on your lens ruined your otherwise perfect image. To remove this kind of artifact, proceed as follows:
Open your image.
Use the mouse cursor to select the area to which to apply the fix.
Select + or press Shift-I.
Determine the method to use to remove the artifact:
If you opted for not using any of the preset filters (in the tab), open the and tabs and adjust the settings to your needs.
Click to apply your settings and modify the image accordingly.
![]() | Creating and Reusing Your Own Filter Settings |
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If you need to use the same set of settings more than once, e.g. if a scratch on the lense ruined an entire series of images, create your set of filter settings and save them for later use. Do so by clicking and save them to a text file. For subsequent images you would just open the dialog, click , select the text file and apply the filter settings with . | |
The menu lets you apply a set of scaling and rotation operations to your image:
These options allow you to rotate your image to a certain degree. lets you rotate your images by multiples of 90 degrees, whereas lets you specify any angles you want.
These allow you to crop your image. lets you do any rectangular selection on top of your image, whereas allows you to crop the image following various sophisticated design principles.
Adjust the perspective of an image. For example, if you notice some odd angles in shots containing vertical or horizontal lines, use this tool to set them right. Grab any of the four handles to the corners of your image and move them as much as needed. Use the tool to remove the resulting black edges of your image and to trim it down.
Shift one part of your image to one direction and the other to the opposite direction, either horizontally or vertically. Specify the angles for vertical and horizontal shear and use the tool to trim the resulting image.
Scale your image down or enlarge it. offers a simple interface allowing you to manipulate your image size either by pixel or percentage. You may or you may not opt to keep the aspect ratio. lets you perform basically the same resizing operation on your image. In addition to a simple scaling operation you can enable filters to be applied on the scaled image to improve the quality of the resulting image. Whenever you need to print the final result, opt for instead for a simple . You can save the filter settings to a text file and load and apply them to more images later on.
Assuming you have taken an image that is otherwise perfect, but you are not entirely satisfied with the composition yet or you need to crop your image in order to match a certain paper format for reproduction of this image. In this case, use and proceed as follows:
Open your image.
Select +.
Determine the orientation and aspect ratio to use:
Specify a free crop of the image using the , , and , sliders.
Select a custom ration of width versus height instead of using one of the preset values.
These ratios match most of the common paper sizes used to print photographs. Pick the one that suits your purpose best.
A ratio (1:1.618) that is traditionally used by artists and architects to create harmonious results.
Use to set the crop area to the maximum possible size the ratio you specified.
After you determined the size of your crop selection, optionally apply compositional rules to it. The helps you to create a crop selection that results in a visually pleasing image. Dotted lines are displayed that guide you to a better composition of your image. The following options are available:
Rule of Thirds
Harmonious Triangles
Golden Mean
Golden Spiral
Golden Spiral Sections/Golden Rectangles
Golden Triangles
Golden Sections
![]() | For More Information |
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For a comprehensive description of the options listed above, refer to http://docs.kde.org/development/en/extragear-graphics/digikam/using-kapp-imageeditor.html. | |
Should the position of your crop not enforce the compositional rule you have selected, move it.
Click to apply your crop selection and to trim your image.
The menu contains a selection of basic effects and filters which you can apply to your images to give them a more artistic or over-the-top look:
Transform your colored image into a black and white one. Choose to get a simple grayscale image. Simulate the use of a color filter (green, orange, red and yellow) that accentuates areas of a certain color in the original image by selecting any of the options. Simulate the tint effect of various chemicals of the dark room by selecting one of the options.
Apply raindrop effects to your image. Determine the size and number of the drops and finally specify the degree of distortion caused by the drops ().
Simulate the use of an IR filter to achieve a slightly surreal effect. The result will look strikingly different from any b/w image you know. Add additional film grain and tweak the sensibility (ISO) to achieve a more artistic feel.
Simulate an oil painting. Determine the brush size and the degree of smoothing to be applied to your image.
Pretend your image had been embossed to a sheet of paper. Choose an appropriate depth.
Simulate an overexposure to sunlight.
Apply various strange distortion effects such as fish eyes to your image. Determine type, level and iteration.
Add film grain to your image to give it a rough look.
Blur your image to simulate the image being out of focus or to mimic any kind of movement that was not there when you took the image.
Transform your image into a black and white charcoal drawing. Choose an appropriate pencil size and determine the degree of smoothing to be applied to the image.