morturn

Ken, thank you for your kind and very wise advice, you are absolutly correct, will do.

So what we are saying is it is OK to call someone ‘thick’ or ‘grumpy old men’ as long as it is not interpreted as an attitude of implied superiority or condescending. Is this guidance agreed with all moderators or arbitrary?

mhwarner Thank you for that breath of fresh air

HI cici thank you for your reply, I think you really need to read all of my post to understand the point I make, which is: If people post their work on this forum, do they want comment, constructive or critique or other wise, or are they purely seeking adulation? It would be nice to know this, so that I don’t have to bother posting if this is not what is required.

Well I for one have made the assumption that if a show is only posted on Beechbrook, it is there to share, feedback not required. However if a show is posted here on WinSoft, then the author is testing the water, they are inviting comment; they want an open and honest appraisal, what is good, what is not so good. From this they can learn form their mistakes, and improve. So maybe it is time for the forum members and moderators to make a decision on how they would like this forum to look: Is this a forum for adulation only, the king’s new suite of clothes? Do you wish to continue and offer constructive critique, to help people learn and improve so that they can enjoy using PTE even more so? At the end of the day, I don’t mind, I have always been honest with people, given credit when it is due, and been as constructive as I can when it was not, but this forum need to be clear about what it is here to do (with out stating the obvious please). Now I do admit, I am biased, I have been dazzled by some of the work posted here, some of the shows have been quite breathtaking and emotionally loaded. Seeing stunning shows like that, gave me the motivation to buy PTE and learn how to use it. If I was developing and selling a product like PTE, I would want to see it used to its maximum potential, and see the customer experience grow.

Stunning: big, bold, bright, sharp images, bags of impact, every image saying something. I do not think you can add, or take anything away, that would improve this slideshow, a really great example of simplicity saying it all. Put you name on it, you’ve earned it! Thank you for sharing this one with us.

Almost forgot, Davy, nice fun show that, I am a fan of Tim Burton, he certainly has an creative imagination

Hi Bill I tend to look in on Beechbrook first for new shows, and then click through to here. I make the assumption that the show is only posted on Beechbrook, then the author does not seek comment, vice versa. Its works well for me.

I really enjoyed that, some very interesting images, nice concept too.

It’s not that I don’t like animation; I don’t like watching poorly done animation. Dom, that was just great, and hopes your photographic subjects appreciate this show as much as I did, I would love to see the high res original. I think it shows what can be done, when animation is thought out, well planned and applied, it ‘adds’ something to the show. I think beginners sometimes fall into the trap of putting an effect in, because they feel that they have too, because it’s there. What your show does, is give interest to a specialist subject, that is possibly more important to you, as you know the subjects, then it is to the audience, and yet somehow leave us thinking wow, can we have some more, would love to know how that was done etc. I did notice the 3d effect on the flowers, and to include a ‘ray tracing’ effect made it look natural. Again you ring all the right bells with the show duration and slide timings, sufficient time to see and digest each image, but not so long as to lose attention. Music matched the subject perfectly, really nice and punchy. Fantastic show, thanks for all of the effort, and thanks for sharing it with us, made me smile

Hi BPvST Well that was a little different. You have presented a very good selection of well composed, sharp images, along with a well chosen sound track that adds to the minimalistic theme of less is more. I found that the repetition of some of the similar images somehow loses the theme, so I was left with no overall impression of what this ‘not so very spectacular building’ was about. A very interesting concept, but in my opinion, perhaps showing a little more would add to the concept of less. Great photography, combined with some well timed transitions, thanks for sharing it with us.

Hi Jean-Charles This is a very good slideshow, bags of stunning images, lots of impact. I felt that the very subtle animations work really well, and did add some character to the whole. A few show transitions were a little too fast for my liking, I really wanted to enjoy the stunning photography, and there was a slight jerkiness with a couple of slides (can anyone suggest whey this is?) Good choice of background music and sound effects, timing was perfect. Great show, thanks for sharing it with us

Hi Lin What do you mean by ‘competitive’? Are these shows that have been entered in competitions and won awards?

That is a very interesting observation Lin, and goes a long way to explain why some animations used in slideshows just don’t look right.

Well that was short and sweet, very nicely photographed, and as you say, objects that most people overlook. What I also found interesting was the simple music matched the simple theme perfectly. You can hide the mouse cursor in project options, and as a personnel preference, have a think about a fine white line around each image, to contain it within the back background. Very enjoyable show, just the right duration and the slide timings bang on, thanks for sharing it with us.

I have noticed some people have been experiencing problems when downloading some slideshows. The problem is with Internet Explorer:- If this is happening to you, firstly try resetting Internet Explorer click here If this does not work, and you are still using windows XP sp2, click the start button then click Run then type cmd and click enter. In the command prompt type netsh winsock reset, hit enter. (If you just have winxp without sp2 then just do a search on google for winsock reset and download one of the fixes and run it) Reboot the computer, where you can set the IE default search etc, then update IE from the Microsoft Download Centre to the latest version Hope this helps

Hi Malcolm For a first attempt, this is quite a good slideshow, a collection of really good photos and very appropriate music; you have all the building blocks there to make it a great slide show. The pan and zooms seemed to be hesitant, as if you felt a need to put something in, but was not sure why. Sometimes people feel almost as if there is an obligation to use a transition, because it is there. What I suggest you do, is to think about what a pan or zoom will “add” to your show. Generally, as already mentioned, pans and zooms are there to reveal something, or to make something come to life. Watch a few movies and see how they use pan and zoom, but also notice how the static frame adds impact too. I did enjoy watching it, thank you for sharing it with us, and I will look forward to seeing you next one.

That was quite hard to keep count, in fact I lost count. Such good images I did not want to look down a write. It may be worth trying unsharp mask in Photoshop first rather then removing them, but take care. Anyway: have another look at:- 13 and 16 (the zebra close up). 33 (the crowned crane?). The first image of the saddled billed stork The animated pan to the lions on the rock with the direction signs The single zebra amongst the wildebeest image, at the start of the river crossing set.

Hi rick235 Firstly welcome to the forum, and welcome to the world of AV. I watched your slideshow this morning, and it was clear to me that you have spent time in Africa and you’re a well seasoned photographer. A really exciting collection of great images, capturing the animals in their natural settings. One or two of the images were not sharp, which when played with the others was more noticeable, and with a fairly large numbers of good images, they could have been left out. I somehow had the impression that you used animation, because you may have felt you had to do something. I think your images stand out so well that they don’t need any animation, I found it distracting and did not ‘add’ anything to the show; the images are so good, let speak for them selves. The music track was bang on, and show time about right, well it held my interest all the way. Great for a first show, I will be looking out for your next one, thanks for sharing it with us.

Great demo Barry. The short answer is yes, you should make it fill the screen, the bigger the better. My logic behind this is based on thing I know about memory and the way we associate yourself with an image. Psychologists and artists know all about this, and use it to their advantage. If you have a bright colourful image, no border, you invite the viewer to step into the image and associate themselves with it. It works great on landscapes. If you place a wide black border around an image, it causes your mind to disassociate from it, make the images black and white, and they disassociate from it even more. It may be worth asking the question, do people fully understand resolution? I suspect not in a few cases, but people are afraid to say so. It may be worthwhile asking people to contribute to a sticky, explaining resolution in simple terms, as even when I see 1024x762, and 3840x2400 etc etc makes my head spin, it’s almost impossible to visualize.

Did you say .....Photoshop!!!!!

Hi Barry Yes excellent slideshow, great sharp crystal clear images, with plenty of impact. I like some of the transitions, with the clouds showing over the trees, got me thinking ‘how did he do that one?’ Thanks for sharing it with us Regards

Hi Paul I bet the bride is well impressed with it? I did an AV show when I got married, rather then hire a photographer. Very nicely done, crystal clear images that capture the events of the day as they unfold.

Hi Barry Agreed,music can add to the impact of an AV show dramatically. The Purton Hulks AV is still here if anyone want to watch it, I did alter the original after some feed back from the forum, folks felt that the border was too distracting, I think they were right. Regards