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Davy I have bought a Trek Pole, that works as trekking pole, monopod and tripod! It has not arrived yet, but seems a simple solution. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Trek-Tech-TrekPod-II-MonoPod-Tripod-Hiking-Stick-UK_W0QQitemZ350322047638QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_TripodsSupports?hash=item5190d23a96

Thanks Bill, I hope to return sometime, with a tripod!

I put my images through DxO labs, just to see what, if any improvement it would make. Overall I was impressed. But i can see the before and after ;-) The above PTE exe downloads (PC and Mac) are now both updated.

Re shadow recovery, have a look at the Joe Cornish books and you will see that he often leaves the shadows in near darkness. Just because you can recover shadows doesn't mean you must, or should!

Bill, for some unknown reason I get to 90% of the zip upload and then I get an error. I will keep trying ;-) I culdn't get it to work on my web space so here it is on mediafire

Hi Maureen, I promised to take a much closer look and take notes ;-) So here we go. 1. The white border is fine with me, although I do know that some folk find it a distraction. 2. Water horizons, in the lightbox may I suggest you have a look at where the water horizons are placed. Some work perfectly but others at quite a distance apart. I think that the overall blend might be improved by carefully by placing groups of slides with the water horizon roughly in the same place. They could be separated by the other landscapes that do not have a water horizon. 3. I would have liked to have seen the pictures for longer. So you either have a number of choices. You could change the music to something longer. I liked the music and clearly you do too. So you could have the first slide in black with the title in silence with the music fading in with the first photo. At the end you could have the last photo fading out with the music and leave the last slide either with credits or just black in silence. The start of the music would lend itself to a bit of copy and paste in Audacity, which would give you more time. Of course the easiest way to get more time for the photos is to take two out! But which two? Perhaps the reordering to get the water horizons right might offer some ideas on which two to remove. 4. You use mainly fades and also some wipes, as you know I only use fades and therefore am biased. You have to ask yourself what extra value do the wipes add, that a simple fade would not. 5. I found some of the greens over saturated. 6. I notice that you have recovered some shadow detail and wondered if they might have better left darker, or maybe not as much shadow recovery. All of the above are very minor points and I only offer this feedback in the hope that they might help make a very good show into a great one. I have watched it now a number of times and every time I see more and more of things I like in your excellent photography.

Thanks Ken, Andrew. I tried to post a mac version but it kept falling over. I will try again later.

Maureen, Too short? No, I think it just right. Music is good. Great photography, marred by the fast transition. I would cut a few photos out and increase the stay time, to allow viewers to enjoy the photography.

Thank goodness for raw. As you gain experience in using your favourite software weapon of choice, you can go back and start again. This is what I have done, using Capture NX2. I had to reduce noise and saturation in all the images. Almost all the photos are in portrait format, which because of the subject was essential. Normally such slot canyon photos are tripod supported and long exposures. I used a Nikon D300, hand held at ISO 3200, with the 18-200 VR lens. By using such a high ISO and the VR lens allowed me to capture these images by going down to 1/15s. Download PC Version Download Mac Version

A fine show, I am sure the youngsters will be very happy to see themselves in action. If you want to improve the flow you may wish to consider placing all the portrait photos together in the middle of the Av. Use the lightbox to sort them. I note that some of the portrait photos are of different sizes, a very minor point I know, but if you want to polish it off they would fade in out better if they were all the same size. I found the music a bit strange, I suppose I expected some diddly dee or Enya (for the Irish theme) and I have no idea if there is such a thing as horsey music ;-) Just some feedback FYI, please feel free to dismiss it out of hand.

Thanks Bill, I look forward to the Grand Tetons...

Robert, We went by coach on roads that may be passed with a car, but I suspect a 4x4 would be much better/safer. In mid April 2008, the only access was from the North, from Gardiner; and from the West, from West Yellowstone. The roads from the east (Cody) was blocked by snow and so was the road from the south (Jackson Hole). I hope this helps...

Thanks Davy, I never noticed that. In future I will follow your suggestion and place a mac version as well.

Thanks Dan, Bill, I assume a mp4 version is what you mean ? Update, Davy C has put me right ;-) and I have uploaded a Mac version as well.

Hi Maureen, as you know I never do an AV over 5 mins, but this is largely due to my goldfish attention span ;-) Nevertheless; I was absolutely engrossed. Wonderful work, well done!

HD (1902x1080) version of 'Yellowstone In Winter'. It is mid April and Yellowstone has only been open two days. Our intended entry from the East is blocked by snow, so we have to do a 300 mile detour to enter from the North... Download link PC version Download link Mac version 43MB, less than 5 mins long

I liked the music, the throbbing beat behind the piano was great.

most impressive http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/hp_lp2475w.htm

Davy, remind me again of the monitor you bought. A friend needs a recommendation... Another fine production, you clearly need to get out more ;-)

Some comments about judging. The criticism often raised at photography competition judges are the same for competition AV's. Quite simply, your AV may do better with a different judge or panel of judges - it is quirk of human nature - perhaps sub conscious. I have found that many AV judges, prefer the simple fade in/out without any fancy digital stuff (which, to them is seen as an unnecessary distraction.) They also like a beginning, middle and end - with a change of tempo for each section. I have also found that AV's that include narration are valued more than mere photos/music AV's. You have to accept that the judge is doing what he/she thinks is right. A different judge may do things differently. As a photographer, foremost, what I would like to see in all AV Festivals/Competitions is an award for the best photography. The Av may not have narration, a beginning, middle or end, tempo changes, but may have great photography! If I was asked to judge a AV competition, good photography would be one thing I would be looking for. Which only highlights my point - I have seen wonderful AV's with well below average photography, but they have a great colour blend, or good story, or are informative, or sad, or fun, or simply capture your interest from start to finish! The bottom line is that if you AV does not feature well in one competition, do not lose heart. Re summit it again at the next one!

Colin, I could not agree more. I recently organised an AV night at my camera club. The shows included stuff done with PTE, ProShow, mp4's, DVD's, Video CD's and so on. The only guidelines set were that shows should not be too long and suggested two 5 min shows would be much better than one 10 min show. Members were asked to provide three shows each (and rank them 1,2,3 for their preference order) and they were placed in folders under their name, which were sorted alphabetically and I showed one from each member until every contributor had their number 1 show presented. Then I went back and started again with the number 2's, and so on. (We didn't have time to show all the number two shows and none of the number 3's.) While I had seen some of the shows before and knew what was coming, I didn't think to ask or check about the content of the others. Luckily there were no surprises, but this thread has made me think that the next time I should give this more thought. As you might expect camera club members are interested in seeing good photography, but they also welcomed the informative documentary style and also the entertainment style - just for a laugh. As an aside - the PTE shows in full HD 1920x1080 got the best response. Sadly the DVD's and Video CD's were either too small on the big screen or too blurred when blown up to full screen.

Fair enough. email sent.

Davy, re HD , it works fine when viewed in HD. I think you should remove some of the photos, as the blend in some parts, is just too quick. Overall a very impressive production, and one that you must put forward to the NIPA AV comp 2010.

Your DL now works

Davy, (and this applies to all folk in the UK, thinking about web hosting) I have had numerous accounts with different web hosting providers over the years. I have been in the web design business since HTML was V1 and Photoshop was a beta V.39 I recall getting excited when Dreamweaver went from V1 to V1.1 (Sad I know.) I used to think that having 'all eggs in one basket' was a bad approach, so I spread my risks (and they were risks at that time) over many providers - some in Northern Ireland, some in the UK and some worldwide. I have recently consolidated them all to one provider. One that can provide me with professional support. Over the last two years i have hosted all my sites with this company and have received excellent service. It is not the cheapest, but I would strongly recommend WEYCREST