Using Lightroom Web Module for Photo Sharing

I’ve recently added a photo site to PressleyPress.com for hosting the photos I’m proud of. The site was built using Lightroom’s Web module. The site isn’t flashy, but it does the trick.

Importing Your iPhoto Library Into Lightroom

I’ve been using iPhoto almost since its creation, so naturally I’ve got a metric buttload of photos in its library. Now that I’m getting more serious about my photography, iPhoto just isn’t going to cut it anymore, especially since it anti-aliases your photos when displayed on an LCD screen. I’m switching to Lightroom. (For $9.99 a month you can subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud which gives you Photoshop CC and Lightroom. It also includes cloud storage.)

After doing some Googling, I found a couple of ways to import your iPhoto Library into Lightroom, but they all seemed to involve duplicating your “Masters” directory contained within the iPhoto Library package. My laptop’s HD doesn’t have enough room remaining to create a duplicate of all my photos, so I came up with a different solution.

You can’t directly browse inside the iPhoto Library package using Finder, so Lightroom can’t browse there either. You have to create a way for Lightroom to access your photos via the filesystem. In my mind the easiest way was to create a symlink (or “pointer” folder) to the Masters folder in your iPhoto Library.

  1. Open Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
  2. type “cd Pictures” (minus the quotes)
  3. type “ln -s iPhoto\ Library/Masters/ Pics” (minus the quotes) This creates a “pointer” folder called “Pics” to your iPhoto Library Master folder
  4. Now Lightroom will be able to see the photos in iPhoto if you browse to Pictures\Pics

Note : You don’t have to call the symlink “Pics”, obviously. You can call it whatever you want. As a matter a fact, prior to running that “ln” command, make sure the symlink you’re creating doesn’t have the same name as a file or directory that already exists under the Pictures folder in your Home Directory.

 

Changing Mac OSX SD Card Insertion Behavior

  1. Open the application “Image Capture”
  2. Your device/card will be shown in the left pane
  3. Select it if it isn’t already
  4. At the bottom left of the pane will be a drop-down labeled “Connecting this camera opens:”. (If you don’t see the drop down, click the bottom-left “triangle in a box” button which will display the menu)
  5. Choose from the drop down what application you want to automatically run when your camera/card is connected to your Mac. (If your app isn’t shown, click “Other”
  6. Close Image Capture
  7. From this point on, when you insert an SD or connect your camera, the application you chose will run by default.

XCode Command Line Tools

Need to install the XCode Command Line Tools? This is how you do it…

$ xcode-select --install

Then, follow the screen prompts.

I came across this need when attempting to compile pyOpenSSL. It needed FFI.h can I couldn’t get that without installing the command line tools.

Amazon EC2 is the coolest

I’m really digging all the functionality that Amazon EC2 offers. This blog isn’t hosted there, but I’ve been working on a virtual server there for storing and serving my images. So far, so good. Ubuntu 12.04 + Gallery + MYSQL FTW.

U.S. Federal Appeals Court Invalidates FCC Net Neutrality Rules

http://gizmodo.com/federal-court-invalidates-net-neutrality-rules-sides-w-1501028467

“This is bad news. The ruling basically opens the door for companies like Verizon and Time Warner to cut special deals with websites to serve up their content faster. It also opens up the possibility of paid access to specific sites. Imagine the worst case scenario, where you literally have to pay an extra fee to get access to the websites you like. It’s possible!”

Worst case scenario :

http://gizmodo.com/5391707/losing-net-neutrality-the-worst-case-scenario

Syfy’s “Helix” needs genetic resequencing

It’s possible that my opinion of Syfy’s “Helix” is a victim of overly high expectations. I was looking forward to show, hoping for a new, clever, and original SciFi show. Unfortunately, what I got was Stephen Carpenter’s “The Thing” mixed with zombies, and a little bit of Ridley Scott’s “Alien” sprinkled in. So far, the characters are flat, the sets are boring, and the editing is disjointed. The pacing was too slow, as if they were having a hard time filling the premier’s time slot. To be honest, there just isn’t a need for another zombie series when I can invest my time with “The Walking Dead” instead. It’s a shame really. I wanted to like this show. It’s just too dependent on common SciFi tropes to be interesting, even with the awesome Jeri Ryan and Billy Campbell gracing the set.