Almark
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Posts posted by Almark
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Not a problem, holiday season etc. In the past I have found this forum to be a mixed bag, sometimes there is loads of really useful feedback and other times very little. I suspect it's a human thing, people will give feedback to those who have previously been helpful in offering the same.
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Thanks Mick. I always exclude the navigation bar as I find it distracting. But it is a fair point when asking for detailed feedback.
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This is an updated version 1.2. I had high hopes for this one, for a photo harmony competition next year, but I just can't get it to flow as I'd like. So, it's now just a family show of a recent trip to Thailand, I hope it may make you want to consider Thailand as a holiday destination.
It is longer than my usual 4 - 5 mins, but I think the music glues the three portions successfully. I may do two short versions from this long one, one with people and landscapes and another with people and temples.
As always, I welcome detailed constructive comment, ideas and suggestions.
(If anyone can provide this, please point me to one of your shows and I'll return the favour.)
Win And Mac versions on Slideshow Club, link below. -
Thanks Lin, I took a few snaps once all the formalities were over. Then I put the camera away and had a few 'lemonades'
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I have never made a slideshow using someone else's photos before. On this occasion there was a very good reason, I was the father of the bride. I paid for a professional wedding photographer to do the business, and I was not disappointed. He produced 100's of photos, including almost 200 he had carefully edited in black and white. I have taken the images that meant most to me and my immediate family to create a slideshow in black and white. As always, the music is the glue that holds everything together. I took some time getting the music right and once I had the track I liked, I then matched and synced the photos.
You may think that watching someone's wedding photos, who you don't know, might be boring or uninteresting. But please have a look, to admire the work of a professional wedding photographer, and appreciate how the music works. Windows and Mac versions are on Slideshow Club.(For the information of photographers, Andrew used two Fuji X-T1's, one with a 16mm f/1.4 and the other with the 56mm f/1.2. For the dance scenes, he used the 16mm with a flash on a cord, held out at arms length.)
http://www.slideshowclub.com/files/file/395-claire-and-waynes-wedding/
I'm sorry I have been away for a while, I've had some problems on the home front. -
Hi folks,
I haven't been about for a while as I've been poorly. I was suddenly caught short of breath and knew it was serious, so I sought help immediately. Long story short - I had numerous blood clots in my lungs.
I had a DVT over 10 years ago and my left calf keeps calving clots. Every so often my left calf swells ups and I need help. This time I was VERY lucky; my left calf didn't swell up to give me any warning, but the clots were small enough to pass through the heart without giving me a heart attack and big enough to get stuck in my lungs. If they had been smaller they may have travelled up to my brain and given me a stroke. The consultant admitted that the hospital and my doctor should have put me on blood thinning drugs many years ago, and that they both missed at least 2 opportunities to do this.
So; I am now on a new drug that prevents clots from forming, and I will be on this for ever more. I have been taking it easy the past while, but I hope to get back in to PTE shortly. Santa is, I hope, bringing me a decent microphone. I need to add narration to a number of existing shows and one new one.
May I wish you all a Happy Christmas...
Mark
Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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Iceland , Scotland AND India seems a lot for a 15 min maximum I think . Don't give the PAGB panel tooooo much to criticise.
I clearly need your advice, I thought it was three 3 shows with a 15 min max in total. Talk soon.
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Hi Snapcam,
You are quite right, I thought I could get away with adding some new photos to an existing show (that worked well). I think a completely new one might work better. When I showed it at my Camera club, folk didn't notice the snow, no snow, on Rannock Moor. I missed the bright sky dark sky myself, I'll have to look at that again. I was thinking of horizons, but as you know when you are focused on one thing the other things can slip by, so many thanks. The last slide was a ten stop version of the first slide, sort of, I had hoped that this would top and tail the show.
Your detailed feedback is most helpful , thank you. I may use this for the DPAGB entry, or go back to the drawing board! The other one I intend to use is the Iceland one, now renamed "Photographers' Paradise" and I will add some narration to the two quieter parts. The 3rd show for the DPAGB is one I am working on now based on images from India. It will also have a script / narration. -
The music is from the movie "Sunshine"
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The guy on the rock was a Japanese tourist, with a red coat who kept getting in the way. But I was thankful for him appearing as he did.
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Hi folks,
As a reminder; V9 of 'Wild Scotland' won the 2015 UK Photo Harmony Competition, organised by Bridgend Camera Club. The images of that show were taken in 2013, with a Nikon D300/700 and even included one taken on my iPhone4! They included the Glencoe and surrounding districts and the Isle of Skye. All of the images (in V9) were processed in Capture NX2. I jumped ship to the lighter Fuji X-T1 in 2014 and reluctantly have had to learn how to use Lightroom.
I recently re-visited the Glencoe area and was able to get a number of decent images that I thought could replace the weaker ones in V9. Of course; I now notice things in many of the V9 images that I know I could improve on! But one step at a time...
I intend to submit for the DPAGB in Audio Visual in early 2016 and this show (probably @ V15
) will be one of my three submissions, along with my Iceland show (now renamed 'Photographers Paradise and winner of the 2015 NIPA AV Festival), and another new show on India. As always; I seek your valuable feedback, please be brutal, I promise not to get upset.
Links:
Windows Zip, 42MB, 1920x1200
https://app.box.com/s/fn2ixl3z9vdqldu3ly6or81ejdl428aa
Mac Zip, 42MB, 1920x1200
https://app.box.com/s/qplomd3u9jtcn41jzfg5pnahkyrsmud4
(Please let me know if you have any download problems) -
Hi folks, just my V1 of "A World Apart - India"
Windows
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8ahspc2714w7b3e/india_V1.zipMac
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ee2z460jbuenvkc/india_mac_V1.zip
Fuji X-T1, 10-24 lens
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(Taken from PAGB May E-News and RPS AV News Issue 200,)
I am an amateur photographer; I do not hold any photographic distinctions or do any commercial work. I’m retired and, for me, both photography and creating slideshows are a merely a most enjoyable hobby. The “Scotland” sequence was two years in the making and, as alluded to by Malcolm, was at version 9. I had plenty of pictures to choose from and the multiple versions were all about getting the colours of the images to flow, “just so”, but also exactly match the music. It was great to read Malcolm’s feedback and realise that his expert eye identified the many nuances I had included. The latest version of Pictures To Exe allowed me to increase, or decrease, the sound envelope - to draw attention to certain slides.
I’m dyslexic, so I work slightly differently to my fellow AV workers (so I’m told.) For me, the music must come first. One evening; while driving and listening to Classic FM ‘at the movies’ I first heard the "Adagio" from the film "Sunshine". I immediately said to myself – “Scotland” - and version 1 was created. I naively called V7 “final”, but then spent some considerable time working on the last four slides. These were: the bridge framing the view of the mountains; then the tree appears under the bridge and then melts into the side of the honeycomb cliff at Elgol, that then finally melts to a ten stopper version of a similar view to the first slide. I wanted to ‘bookend’, or link, the first and last image.Almost all of the images were taken with a tripod during a dedicated photography trip to Glencoe and the Isle of Skye. I used a Nikon D300 and D700 and my iPhone 4 and spent a lot of time getting the composition just right. On some occasions this meant waiting for that interesting cloud to move to just where I wanted it. All images were adjusted with Capture NX and only cropped to fit my ratio of choice 16:10. I use this ratio; as I know, when I take the photo, I will only have to slice a small amount off the top and bottom. I therefore compose the image with this in mind.
On an aside, about half of the images were taken with a camera with an APS-C size sensor, the others with a full frame sensor and one image was taken with my iPhone4. No one can differentiate between them and, to date, no one has been able to pick out the iPhone4 image!
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Judges comments:
“You know when you see the first picture that this is going to be special. The photography throughout is stunning. The Ken Burns effect of gently zooming every image helps keep the momentum going. The "Adagio" from the film "Sunshine" is a wonderful piece and the drama of the music complements the drama of the landscapes completely. Maybe the author should warn the projectionist to keep the volume down during the relatively quiet beginning otherwise the audience will get blown away! The images and transitions are totally in sync with the music. Here is somebody who listens to and knows his music. There is perfect harmony between successive images, shapes, colours, with not a single jarring line or horizon. Great care has been taken constructing this sequence, helped by the fact that the author no doubt has a large number of first class pictures from which to choose. The whole thing builds and develops. Swells in the music are used to highlight the close ups of rocks, barnacles and ice fragments. The percussion is used to show the railway section. When I saw the classic image of the Cuillins from Elgol I thought "this is the end", but the final picture was even better. It's clear from the filename (v9) that this has undergone a lengthy period of revision, honing and pruning, so that what we see today is powerful, passionate and intense. This is a good lesson, not to be satisfied with the first attempt. The only criticism I have is that the title is what I would call a "working title". Such a dramatic presentation needs a dramatic title, "The drama of the Highlands" or "Elemental landscape", "Wild Scotland", "Untamed wilderness"...”
Malcolm Imhoff, FRPS FACI(M)
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My Scotland PTE Show was the winner!
Scotland: Glencoe and the Isle of Skye. The photos were taken in 2013, on a dedicated photography trip. Around half were taken with a Nikon D300 (2007, APS-C size sensor), the rest were taken with the Nikon D700 (2009, full frame) and one image was taken with my iPhone4. I mention this as some folk get caught up with the need to update their gear every year and also get involved in silly debates about the need for a full frame camera fro landscapes. I challenge anyone to differentiate between the smaller size sensor images and the full frame ones, and to date, no one has been able to identify the one image taken with the iPhone! V7 of this sequence won 2nd place at the Northern Ireland AV Festival in 2014. This is V9; which was lengthened in order to submit it to the 2015 UK Photo Harmony 5 to 8 Competition.
Windows version, an exe file zipped, 50MB, 1920x1200. This can only be viewed on a Windows computer, not on a smartphone / tablet.Mac version, an app file zipped, 50MB, 1920x1200. This can only be viewed on a Mac computer, not on a smartphone / tablet.MP4 version, this a streaming video hosted by Vimeo and will play on all smartphones and tablets. It is best viewed by clicking on the "HD" bottom at the bottom right of the player. You will need broadband. -
Hi folks, and thanks for the kind words.
I am going to change a few things, in the hope of improving the sequence. I welcome your feedback before I start recording! My first two recording attempts had a noticeable hiss in the background, which I suspect was my Time Machine backing up, so I have binned them.
I am going to change the tile from "Iceland" to "Photographers' Paradise" and remove the text "Iceland" from the fist slide. The reason for this is (for first time viewers) to make viewers wonder where the photos were taken and only reveal the location at the very end.I am going to add some narration to the two quiet parts -
1. We covered 2,000 miles in 11 days. Every location was meticulously researched, months in advance, right down to the GPS co-ordinates. We checked Flickr and 500px for inspiration and even overflew each location, using Google Earth.
2. This is a staggering part of the world, unique in its isolation, unsurpassable in its opaque beauty. The photo opportunities were endless, quite simply the island is a photographers' paradise.
The last slide will reveal the location, for those that haven't already worked it out, by including the caption
"Iceland, (big font, to be the same width as the next line in a smaller font size)
a Photographers' Paradise."
All feedback, ideas and suggestions are most welcome. -
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Hi Folks,
I am really chuffed, my Iceland show won 1st place in the Northern Ireland Photographic Association (NIPA) Audio Visual 2015 Championship, this evening.My Iceland show then went 'head to head' with winning sequence from the recent Irish Photographic Federation AV Festival and won!
A great success for PTE! The mp4 entries simply didn't do well at all, the file size (about 10X the PTE exe) may have been a problem, but IMHO the fades and transitions are simply not good enough for long slow fades or transitions, e.g. panoramas.
As I have in the past received useful feedback from members of this forum, I though it only right and proper to post links the my winning show, and thank everyone that helped me make it work. You know who you are!
All photos were taken with the Fuji X-T1, mainly with the 10-24 lens.
Windows:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/gb5122ef8p5c3e9/IcelandV5.zipMac:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/qk1mco371ccs3ae/Iceland_mac.zip
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Sorted! I had to update VM Tools from within the Virtual Machine. Phew! I thought I was going to have to wipe it and start again.
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I am running two cores, and 3D accelerated graphics with 2GB RAM for the graphics card and 6GB RAM for the windows...
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I updated my version of VM Fusion from V6 to 7 and now find that PTE doesn't work. I get an error message saying that hardware acceleration is required.
As I only have windows on my mac fro PTE, I just wanted to warn folk about the update to V7. You can't downgrade from V7 to 6, so it looks like I will have too wipe it all and start again.
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Hi Guys,
I use box for virtual or cloud storage. Can i add my sequences with a box link instead of uploading them again?
for example:
Iceland Slideshow, Fuji X-T1, 10-24 lens.
I can offer both Windows and Mac versions. Both links are zipped, so you will have to unzip them. I have a iMac, but have Windows on it just for 'PicturesToExe', which I use for slideshows.56MB, 6 mins, 1920x1200 (16:10) format, turn your volume up!Windows version:Mac Version: -
Hi folks,
The new version of CNX is merely a Nikon version of Sliklypix V3. Fuji offer the same, based on V3. Silkypix is now at V6.
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For Mac users that want to run the odd Windows program, without having to install 'VM Fusion' or 'Parallels' (and then install Windows), there is a potential solution with a free mac app called Winebottler.I had an old Windows exe file, a slideshow created with 'Pictures To Exe' (PTE). I didn't have the original PTE file and therefore was never able to create a Mac version. In order to view the slideshow I had to start up VM Fusion and Windows, on my Mac.With Winebottler I was able to create a Mac app version. The original Windows exe was 26MB, the Mac app version is 110MB, but it works!
Thailand
in Slideshows & AV Shows
Posted
As always, Barry I appreciate your honest and genuine advice. Thank goodness to have someone who can say what they think!
This show has been causing me some headaches. I go from V1, to V1.1 and to V1.2 and back to V1. I think I might be better doing one that relates to the people and another on the temples, etc. I have updated the show (V1.2.1) on SSC.
I fully agree that this is just one for the family, as all my shows start off as, and not one for competition. Whilst it is pleasing to watch, it doesn't have the impact of "Iceland" or "Scotland".