Photographer, technologist, traveller.
Areas of Expertise:
- cocoa
- ruby
- rails
- objective-c
- photography
- digital asset management
- java
- ant
- tomcat
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Recent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts
James Duncan blogs at:
http://www.oreillynet.com/conferences/blog/web_20_summit/
http://blogs.oreilly.com/lightroom/
November 19 2010
The seventh edition of the Web 2.0 Summit has come and gone. It's the sixth year that I've been the photographer and I've seen the event go through a few phases from irrational exuberance to weathering the downturn. ... read moreAugust 18 2008
Earlier this year, I wrote quite a bit on this blog about storage and backing up. Starting with a New Years Storage Resolution, I worked my way up to The Simplest Storage Solution. In short, I keep multiple copies of... read moreAugust 06 2008
When applying localized corrections in Lightroom 2, it can be sometimes difficult to see the bounds of the mask you are working with. This is especially true if you are using a very subtle correction, such as just a bit... read moreLightroom 2.0 Hits the Streets
July 29 2008
The wait is over. Lightroom 2 is out of beta. This release brings loads of new features, including 64-bit support, localized corrections, and dual monitor support. There are even some features that are new since the public beta, including gradient... read moreJuly 17 2008
When Lightroom 2.0 hits the streets, you can be sure that one of the features you’ll want to experiment first with is the new localized correction tools. As I’ve said before on this blog, I think that localized corrections are... read moreJuly 02 2008
George Jardine has said farewell to Adobe and his position as an evangelist for Lightroom. Over the last few years, he’s been a welcome voice on his series of Lightroom podcasts, a library of content from which I’ve learned quite... read moreLightroom Used in New Canon Ad
June 26 2008
Canon's new Rebel XSi ad is making its way around the Internet and probably out onto the TV airwaves as well. It's a really nicely crafted ad and one that will hopefully inspire budding photographers everywhere to pick up a... read moreAdobe Camera Raw 4.5 Release Candidate
June 26 2008
Today, Adobe posted a release candidate of the Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in via the Adobe Labs website. By release candidate, Adobe means that the software is well tested, but they would like to see additional community testing before it is... read moreThe Usefulness of the Quick Collection
June 18 2008
Over the last few months, I’ve been extensively using the latest versions of both Aperture and Lightroom in gigs large and small. I’ve long been comfortable using both, but with the 2.0 versions of both, I’ve really wanted to dig... read moreLooking for the Right Level of Keywording
June 03 2008
After using modern workflow tools, like Adobe Lightroom, for the last few years, I'm finding myself approaching a crisis point with keywords. When I first started really adding keywords to image metadata years back, I took the same approach many... read moreMay 29 2008
Most of the features that I wanted to see in Lightroom 2 are in, including multiple monitor support, metadata based localized corrections, and tons of improvements in the Library. There is one significant missing piece to me, however,and that's soft... read moreMay 20 2008
One of the bullet point features of Lightroom 2.0 is that it supports the latest 64-bit systems on both Windows and Intel-based Macs. For 64-bit Windows Vista, you have to use a separate download to get 64-bit support. On the... read moreLocalized Corrections and Masking
May 15 2008
The headline feature of Lightroom 2 will be localized corrections. Sure, multiple monitor support is nice, print packages are pretty cool, and 64-bit support are all great additions, but localized corrections are what really will get people's excitement going. Because... read moreMay 11 2008
Brandon Oelling has been extolling the virtues of AutoSync on this blog, and for good reason. It can make quick work of adjusting dozens or hundreds of images at once, especially for simple adjustments like exposure and contrast. There's one... read moreApril 21 2008
Because of the fact that I spend so much time working with digital assets, or maybe despite it depending on your point of view, I'm always quite curious to see how other people deal with the problems of managing large... read moreApril 11 2008
On March 16th, Lightroom 1.4 was pulled from Adobe's servers because of some rather nasty bugs that slipped out into the world. This was a disappointment to many because Lightroom 1.4 contained support for lots of new cameras, including the... read moreApril 02 2008
It may be the end of April Fool's day, but this is no joke. Today marks the start of the public beta of Lightroom 2.0 which introduces localized corrections as well as the ability to run on multiple monitors. As... read moreMonitor Calibration Cheat Sheet
March 31 2008
If you're using Lightroom to manage your photos, you are probably serious about your photographs. And if you are indeed serious, then practicing good color management is essential to getting the most out of your work. I recommend that everyone... read moreMarch 17 2008
Lightroom 1.4 and Adobe Camera Raw 4.4 were released last week. However, it has come to Adobe's attention that things aren't all happy with these updates and that if you've installed it, you should rollback to previous versions. If you're... read moreLightroom and Time Machine Update
March 11 2008
When Mac OS X Leopard was released, it came with a cautionary note about Time Machine compatibility with Aperture databases. Soon after, Adobe released information that the interaction between Lightroom and Time Machine was unknown. Of course, we all presumed... read moreKeep Things Straight When Using Multiple Catalogs
March 02 2008
For many people, putting all of their images into a single Lightroom catalog works just fine. When everything is in a single catalog, things are easy. All of your keywords are in one place and you can search among all... read moreFebruary 19 2008
One of the common threads of the comments to my recent set of posts about the challenges of keeping a large library and backing it up—both on this blog and in person—was the question of why should one keep so... read moreFebruary 12 2008
A few days ago, fellow Inside Lightroom blogger Michael Clark talked about his use of 1:1 Previews to speed up his Lightroom workflow. At the risk of sounding off with a "me too!" post, I fully agree. For the last... read moreFebruary 05 2008
One of the essential uses of metadata for photographic images is to indicate who owns the image and how to get in touch with them. After all, if you publish your images on the web they're going to be distributed... read moreThe Economics of Online Backup
January 29 2008
In the comments to my previous posts about storing a photo library, quite a few people have mentioned using an online backup solution like Amazon S3 or Mozy. I've looked into this many times and keep running the two sets... read moreSafe Deposit Backups of Photo Libraries
January 22 2008
In last week's blog post, I mentioned that I was done talking about storage of photo libraries. I lied. Over the course of the last seven days, I've had dozens of conversations with photographers about storage. Even at the end... read moreThe Simplest Photo Storage Solution
January 15 2008
Starting out on New Year's Day, I've been writing about storage here on the Inside Lightroom and evidently it's hit a nerve as my fellow blogger Micheal Clark has also chimed in on storage solutions. What with all these posts... read moreThe Fundamental Storage Strategy
January 08 2008
It's been interesting reading people's views and suggestions about how to handle storage for a large photo library. The feedback I've seen on this topic in the comments to my last Inside Lightroom post has spanned quite an impressive range... read moreA New Years Storage Resolution
January 01 2008
New Year's is always a good time for resolutions. Sometimes, the best resolutions are the small approachable ones that solve big problems in your life. For example, one of my big problems right now is storage for my photo library.... read moreA Snowy Landscape for Christmas
December 26 2007
The snowy landscape is a staple of Christmas imagery, even for those that live in otherwise snowless climes. One year, I was in Hawaii in mid-December and was amazed at all the holiday decorations that involved snow and Santas wearing... read moreNew Flickr Export Plugin for Lightroom
December 19 2007
Ever since Lightroom 1.3 was released with support for export plugins, I've been looking forward to being able to export directly to Flickr from inside Lightroom. Today, while searching around on the net, I found Jeffrey Friedl's recently released Flickr... read moreDecember 12 2007
Last week, over on the Inside Aperture blog, Micah Walter mused on what would happen if his RAW workflow tool went away. What would happen to the metadata and the image adjustments? I have to admit, it's a thought that... read moreDecember 04 2007
Sometimes when you're out making photos, things don't always go just as you'd like. You can be in the most stunning scenery, but the light won't cooperate. This happened to me a few days ago while traveling through the Big... read moreNovember 28 2007
Entering in metadata about your photographs is one of the more tedious jobs in the digital darkroom. Most of the time, I consider it to be a necessary, but unexciting step. Sometimes, when I'm feeling less charitable, I find it... read moreNovember 28 2007
Entering in metadata about your photographs is one of the more tedious jobs in the digital darkroom. Most of the time, I consider it to be a necessary, but unexciting step. Sometimes, when I'm feeling less charitable, I find it... read moreNovember 21 2007
Compatibility with Mac OS X Leopard is one of the bullet points of the recent Lightroom 1.3 release. Now that I've had a few days to work with the release, I can indeed confirm that Lightroom 1.3 gets along with... read moreNovember 16 2007
It's out. The release we've all been waiting for—at least for the last few weeks. Lightroom 1.3 has hit the streets and brings support for running Lightroom on Leopard, some new camera models, and an export SDK. The new cameras... read moreNovember 08 2007
Like Michah over on the Inside Aperture blog, I was surprised to see the InfoTrends RAW workflow tool survey numbers that John Nack of Adobe published last week. If you haven't seen them yet, they basically indicate that about 2/3rds... read moreNovember 05 2007
It looks like the upcoming release of Lightroom, which is supposed to bring compatibility with Leopard, may bring more. Todd Dominey wrote the following on the SlideShowPro News blog: A frequent request from many, I'm pleased to announce that in... read moreLightroom on Leopard in Mid-November
October 30 2007
According to the official Lightroom team blog, we've got a few weeks to wait before we'll be able to run Lightroom seamlessly on Leopard: The good news is that we’ll be releasing an update in mid-November that will address key... read moreOctober 28 2007
For those of you wondering about Lightroom compatibility with Leopard, the answer is in Adobe's Support for Mac OS X Leopard PDF. In this document, they state Lightroom 1.2 is not fully certified for Mac OS X Leopard and that... read moreRecent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts
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