morturn

Hi Maureen Does exactly what it says on the packet: This is not meant to be an a/v of 'pretty pictures', although there are a few, but I have tried to give a fairly accurate overview of what we saw in a land where living is particularly hard I do like this sort of show, as I always say, but again, nice simple, stunning images, great work. Thanks for sharing it.

Hi Gary I always like slideshows made as a personal travel log or diary, they capture the sequence of events as they unfold, and are great to look back on your travels. As an AV show for a wider audience, I was wondering if you do any post capture processing in Photoshop or similar. You have captured a good series of photos, which I think given a slight tweak here and there: cropping, straightening and a little more contrast, would have given the show bags more impact. I found the show a bit too long, even your best friends will start to get wide eyes after a sequence of 100 images or so, and from a personal point of view, I try to avoid landscape and portrait mixed. The transition timing were little too short for me, there were a lot of very interesting images that I did not quite have time to study and enjoy fully, so with this in mind, have you considered splitting the show into two? The music worked really well, and both the map, introductory narrative and the chapter point comments gave it a good start and reference points. Most enjoyable, look forward to seeing your other travels, thank you for sharing it with us. Regards

Hi BPvST, and welcome to the WnSoft forum. I really enjoyed your show, great clear punchy pictures, nice and sharp, bags of impact. You have done a great job of the slide sequencing, along with some very intuitive transitions. We must all remember that it is not always necessary to like the sound track, but to look how well it fits with the subject; in this case it fits both the subject and the transitions very well. Well done and thanks for sharing it.

I think your comment “Maybe it's the silly season again, not enough posts & too much criticism” is well out of order. You have posted an AV show, and people have given you very fair and very reasonable constructive comments, which clearly you feel to need to take exception to. We are very fortunate here in that most contributors do at least accept the comments in good spirit, and are able to learn a thing or two. So please continue to do what you have always done, and I am sure to will always get what you have always had.

Hi Dave In the context of this being a made as a “to document my travels”, this is a great show, and of course, a great way of keeping a record. I often think about new ways to use P2E, this one hits the spot perfectly. There were no parts I wanted to fast forward. As Ken has quite rightly pointed out, the text could have scrolled a little slower and been a little bigger, being from the UK I was very interested in what you wrote. The show left me wanting to visit the USA, the place looks real pretty and I just love that dog of yours. Thanks for sharing it with us, one to keep I think.

I must apologise, but I thought it was a really simple question I asked, what has the “Dark Side” got to do with it? Shall I rephrase it for you?

Yachtsman1. Am I missing the point here, I don’t understand why you have started this topic, were you looking for constructive criticism or adulation?

The first two images had me almost reaching for the Esc key, thinking oh no, I am so glad I did not, this is a great slideshow. A real nice collection of superb macro shots, covering a very interesting subject. There are two places where it jumps; I think it is because you may have overlapping transitions, very easy to remedy: I am sure the other forum members will correct me if I am wrong. The music is perfect for a nice sunny day, invoking real nice memory associations when in a meadow. A great collection of clear, sharp images, loads of impact, nice simple no nonsense: show run time bang on right. If this is your first, I cannot wait for the next. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Hi PeterK My overall impression is that this is a good slideshow. Nice sharp clear photos with great impact: I also like the subject matter. I like the use of the frames where there was a different image in each, but the ones cutting through a single image did not work for me, I found the frame a distraction. You may also wish to consider when bringing in a frame in to the centre, de-saturating the background image, as again it can be a little distracting. I think the music matched the subject matter perfectly, and the timings were about right. Great show, thanks for sharing it with us.

I can see that this show has been done with a lot of effort, which I appreciate, but to me it does not look right. I will of course admit that I don’t like animation in AV shows, because most of them just don’t look right, natural movement is very hard to replicate. Saying that, unless have missed the point, in this show, thinking about it, it does has the potential to be something that could be very good, if it was made to be amusing, like some of those funny flash movies.

I know some members are hosing their web space with Easyspace Web Hosting. In January 2008 they changed their Terms and Conditions to include an Automatic Service Renewal; they say to protect ‘your interests’. I found myself in a position where I had a couple of domain names, that I took out in July 2006, and I no longer require them , and was going to let them expire. Under their new policy they have taken money out of my credit card account, with out prior notification, and are refusing to refund it, arguing that it is in their Terms and Conditions. Remember that when I took the service out, this was not a condition of the service. The Terms and Conditions (small print) run to 17,167 words, 64 pages in a document, and you have to buy the service first, before you can opt out of automatic renewal. The only way you will know about this is to read the small print, and all subsequent revisions. I have spoken to the credit card company, who say that if you buy a continuing service, then they cannot do anything. This is one of those frustrating things, where what they are doing is not illegal, but it’s not ethical either. Open, honest and transparent, I think not, I will be looking for a new service provider.

This is an AV show that really hits the mark with me. The use of a collection of good quality, clear photographs, to portray a significant world event, really brings the Great War into prospective, giving a sense of the past to the viewer. Smiling, happy and confident faces one minute, shattered body’s the next, the reality of war. I think you have done a good job of the restoration; certainly I could not spot where, and besides, when you restore an image, you get to keep both the original and the restored copy too. At the moment, I think the length of the show is about right; it leaves the viewer wanting more. From a personal view point, I would be tempted not to keep adding to this show, as there is a danger of making it too long, and switching viewers off and loosing its impact. If you have access to more images like this, then do another show, maybe with a theme. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Hi Is it correct that Igor has promised to look into the multiple monitor aspect in the next version?

They way I did it was not to insert and object, by to insert a link to an “action” it may be that I am using a later version of power point then you, so I am not sure if this facility is available in version 2003. To take this process one step further, I inserted a picture first, then put the link to the action, from the picture, so when you click the picture, PTE starts. (you may get a warning about exe files, but just click “enable”) hope this helps.

I wish to run a PTE show as part of a PowerPoint presentation to a group of people at college. If you are familiar with power point, there is an option to run the presentation in “presenter view”, it basically means that you as presenter can see your PowerPoint notes on your screen, but the audience can only see the full screen presentation. You have to set the computer to do this, so it acts like an extended desktop. At the moment, I can run the PowerPoint presentation, and some video clips OK, but when it comes to the PTE show, it will only run on the main monitor (laptop) and not on my LCD projector. I can of course run the laptop with LCD projector mirroring, but you loose the notes and timing facility. Has anyone come across this and is there a workaround?

Well for me, I think that worked better then a straight sequence of macro images. It had the effect of show the audience what your going to show them, then show them: tastier then main course. It is a busy sequence, so keeping it short is the key.

Hi Andrew When it comes to borders there is not a one size fits all and felt that your border competed with the photographs a little, especially when you're trying to capture a sense of the past. I think the composite images could have been helped along with a drop shadow, and a little more on screen time, as there was a lot to take in. Saying that, overall a very good slide show, nice sequence of images, good impact. Keeping the sequence in full colour worked well, and the indoor shots were nice a bright, but not burnt out. The choice of music was spot on, as was the length of show. Thanks for sharing it with us. I have a soft spot for living museums, so more looking forward to seeing more.

I am doing an MA in Public History at Ruskin College Oxford, hence why I have been a bit quite on the boards this last few months. Public History is the study of how none academic people (us mere mortals) acquires their sense of the past. Photographs play an important roll in Public History, as do ‘places’, so what in your opinion make a place a special place from a photographers point of view? If I give an example, the boat graveyard at Purton in Gloucestershire is a special photographic place for me and I know Barrie liked Purton too. For me it was the ‘entropy’ or the state of decay of the boats, knowing that they will not be there for much longer and the resulting colours and textures arising out of the decay. Most of the very excellent AV shows I see here are also about places, so what is it, from your point of view, which makes a place photographically valuable to make you want to go out, sometimes travelling many miles, to photograph a place then spend time turning it into a presentation?

Hi Bill Happy New Year to you too, and also a big thank you for taking the time and trouble to keep what has got to be the best AV slideshow resource ever going. I have not done much in the way of AV lately as I am now studying Public History at Oxford. Public history is: “all the means deliberate and otherwise, through which those who are not professional historians acquire their sense of the past”. So I am working on new ways to present history and it is clear to me that the AV slideshow is one way to go. I have to write several essays and a dissertation so PTE will part of it.

hehe

Hi Patrick Thanks for posting this show, which I did enjoy; in fact Amsterdam is now on my list of city visits. I could see that you were trying to deal with some very busy high contrast shots, some of which o I found a little too dark in the shadow. I am not sure if you are a Photoshop user, if so I would prefer to have seen a little bit more detail in the shadows. The misty shots were very good, and the change of music went equally well with them, giving a great change in the mood. The show held my interest throughout and the length was just about right, overall very watchable. Thanks again for posting

Hi and thanks for posting an interesting show I personally find the back ground a little distracting, black with a 1px white stroke is my preference. A very good use of the pan and zoom effect, very appropriate to the subject and commentary, I always say keep it simple. I think your local viewing groups will be most impressed.

Hi Ray Thanks for posting your slideshows, and asking for some constructive criticism. Firstly welcome to the world of digital photography, you have just taken the first steps to a life long journey, and as most journeys go, there will be a few up and downs. Barry Beckham is a well respected producer of slideshows and the first thing he will always say is that an image must be sharp and have impact. Can you tell us what type of camera you are using as none of the images seemed very sharp to me, so was wondering what may be the cause of this. Also do you do any post shoot processing in say Photoshop as I found a lot of the sky’s were overexposed which seems a shame, as a good dramatic sky can add that bit of impact. I think even if the best photographer in the world presented their best ever images in a show, even then after about 100 images people would have lost a great deal of interest. I noticed in your show that you have repeated very similar images from a viewpoint only a few feet away, which to me do not add any value. I noticed that about 90% of the shots were a very standard landscape shots, try to include a few more mid range and close up’s, and think about how they look, some had a lot of blurred foreground clutter. I would say don’t do pan or zoom animations unless you can do them well, I noticed the tops of the mountains and the tree in the moving sky, this could have worked very well otherwise. Have a good think about the music you are going to add to the show, something that reminds you of the place you’re shooting, or the images you want to capture. When you have done that, learn how to time your slides to the music, there are lots of members here who will help you with this. Looking at your images, I found a lot of them had some great potential, and only require minimal processing to bring them out, if you need any advice on Photoshop, please ask I would be more then happy to help. Thanks for sharing your first show with us, I am so glad that you overcame your initial nervousness; I hope that this will be an inspiration for others to do the same. Have lots of fun with your new DSLR

Hi Andrew Thanks for taking the time and trouble to produce and upload your show, which despite initial concerns about the length, found very enjoyable. The opening titles are most impressive, and I found the accompanying poetry very effective, I like the way you reduce the volume of the soundtrack to accommodate it. Some of the images you used were not sharp, and a few others lacked contrast it also looks like one of you needs to clean the sensor on their camera. I found that on some of the panorama shots the pan effect actually spoiled the image, partly to do with the fact that the fade in and back out was too long and the pan a little too fast so I was unable to enjoy what was a very interesting shot. I also did not think that the zoom effect out of the car window did anything for me. I think you could have dropped off 50% of the pan and zooms without affecting the show. I had mixed felling about the length of the show; clearly to capture the essence of such a journey needs a lot of photos, but sitting and watching for 30 mins need a commitment too, as others have suggested, I would love to go back and look again at parts, so a menu to jump to each day would be great. The sound track was very well chosen, would you mind posting a track listing for me? There are some absolutely stunning images there, I loved the long lens shot with the transmission wires, the lighting is spot on, the panoramas too are just breath taking, they make me feel like coming over to see for myself, I think you have captured the essence of the place remarkably well. Thanks again for posting

Hi David Again as a record of a journey, I found this a very interesting slide show that conveys a message to me that you enjoy nature and managed to spend some quality time with your daughter too. Some of the images especially the sunsets were a great addition and added an extra bit of interest. There were a number of images which I think could have had more impact, I would ask you if are you doing any image manipulation in Photoshop or other software, if not I suggest you do the following:- Straighten the horizons, and crop Check the levels Boost the saturation a little Sharpen the finished image I see this time you have included a pan and zoom effect which works great panning along the road and the zoom out from the bike to your daughter works very well. I am not so sure about the rest of them, as they did not seem to have a purpose to them I found the initial theme of the show quite good, but the narrative seem to go off track when you introduced the images of your daughter, did she travel the whole journey with you or join you part way? I also thought that you over used images of her riding the bike, it seemed to break the narrative up a little. One or two of the shots were a little too busy too. Again I like the commentary, it seem to bring the show to life, with he map holding things together nicely. A great show David and a great record of some quality time spent with ones children, thanks for taking the time to show it