Barry Beckham

Jim A very nice sequence to watch, very relaxing, particulalry if you know the area as it takes me back there. In fact I might pay a visit in a couple of weeks when we are up in Durham. I liked the presentaion and it made me think of the postcards we see in the stores around Cumbria with 3-4 pictures on them. The gentle changes worked well for me. I like this form of presentation, because it adds something different to our shows, but seems to retain the charm that some other presentation methods do not. The shapes fitted my 1280*1024 screen pretty well too, which makes me feel it was made for this resolution. When the 4 oblongs appeared two thirds the way through, they were slightly bigger than the preceeding images and I wonder if that was intentional. Perhaps you have forgotton to check the box in the Objects and Animation screen. Mode > Original and my screen is displaying those few images slightly larger than the rest? Music is well suited and the pace worked well too. Loved to see 42085 again, I have taken a few photos of that Locomotive in my time. I think there are 2-3 shots that need to come out of your show. I emphasise that this is a personal opinion, (don't wan't to upset anyone else) One is close to the start and is not as sharp as the others, its of a running stream and I didn't think the musem shot of the minor worked that well. Its only an opinion of course, but I didn't think it fitted in with the rest of the images very well. I think you will spot the few images that need replacing yourself as it happens to all of us who put these sequences together. What we think is a great idea on Monday, doesn't look so good a few days later and I am always tweaking bits here and there. I felt the saturation of one or two images may have been a little high, but perhaps it was enhanced a little between two different monitors. Again, its only a personal view. I tend to saturate parts of an image to lift appeal and leave other parts alone. A really nice slide show from a great part of the world, your sure got around.

Xaver/Patrick I take back all I said, because it must be me that is out of step here. Having looked at Xaver's modified image I feel the modified one is the best of the two and would accept that over the original every day of the week and twice on Sundays. I felt the shadows had been lifted just right, not overdone and with the verticals dealt too. Great improvement.

Patrick Well, what can I say? Your reply has either been lost in translation and I am misunderstanding your reply or I must have wronged you in a past life If you don't agree with what people say, ignore their comments, that's what I do. Enough said I think.

John I really enjoyed this sequence and the landscapes where well chosen, with strong appeal. I also like the presentation, but perhaps the green border was just a little too green. I would prefer it to be slightly more subdued. Having said that the images where so strong that they still kept my attention. Sometimes when a frame is too colourful it can overpower the images, but the image strength and interest prevented that. When the sequence first started I thought the choice of music of the Skye Boat Song was a little obvious, but I should have reserved judgement a little longer. It was used just long enough to set the scene and then the second piece was a perfect choice for these landscapes. I found your pans far too fast for my liking. They interupted the smooth flow of images you had carefully planned. Everything is smooth and gentle and then the pans appear and they seem rushed. That is the trouble with panned images in a landscape show, to fit with the pace you have set by the music and transitions they need to be a lot slower, but that means the image needs to be on screen longer. If the picture is strong and yours were, that shouldn't be a problem. I also believe that any animation should not start and stop while the image is on screen. (apart from picture in picture and text) I think you get a much better flow if the animation starts and ends at the beginning and the end of the fade. That way the image is always moving from when you first see it until the next one replaces it. It also illiminates that jolt as the animation starts or stops. Just been to Scotland for a week myself and while I got a few miles onto Skye, I never captured any images like these. Great set of images. By the way, there was one image that came up small in the second half. I don't think you meant that to happen, you probably dropped the wrong image in. I do it all the time.

You sound upset by my comments and I am sorry if I have caused offense. I thought I offered some constructive comment offering solutions too, but perhaps this is why people prefer not to comment on slide shows posted. There seems little point in making comment at all if it all has to be positive.

I am sorry, but I dont fully understand Barry, no problem and also very few manipulation to do : just select the exe file and hit the Suppr key... that's all !

Patrick Sorry Patrick, but I found the images far too dark to be enjoyable and they are so easy to fix (if you have Photoshop) using Image > Adjustments > Shadow and Highlights. I did a screen grab of your first image and it came up fine in seconds. I also didn't find the first piece of music very appropriate to the show. It was too futuristic and the images didn’t keep pace with it. It felt to me that the images should have been moving along at a faster pace given that music and with a faster transition. The second part was much better, the misty appearance captured some mood and the music then worked in harmony with it. Too be honest it was like two separate slide shows. However, the quality of the second batch of images could also do with some manipulation. They need to be adjusted with levels, while retaining the misty charm. Again, this is not difficult to do and it would lift the appeal of your sequence considerably. As it is, it has limited appeal

Lin It's a good job that slide shopped when it did. That Wolf was about to step into my study. Phew !

Lin Thanks for the explanation

Lin Why would you want to use an effect that only shows a fraction of the screen, is there a practical use you had in mind.?

Conflow You sound a little tetchy I misunderstood you a little, I thought you were saying that buyers from outside the UE pay VAT on UK goods. However, we have bought stuff on credit card from the USA and can't recall paying VAT. It was a couple of years ago now and perhaps things have tightened up. It would make sense because the world is becoming a global market. Ken There is an irational fear about the internet as you know and people will phone us to make an order for a DVD. We have to write down the card number and all the details. We are then trusted to shred that information when is has gone through our machine, but how careful are other companies where employees are just looking for an easy life. If they ordered from us on line their details are all encrypted and we cannot see them in our shop or in worldpay.

You don't pay VAT if you buy from outside the EU People from the USA, Australia etc do not pay VAT to us on their purchases Only EU contries

Brian I supply PTE5 on a CD for those who like it that way. I also include an installable product key on the disk as supplied to me by Igor. There is no need for an internet connection at all for those who do not have one, or those who are nervous about buying over the net. It spreads PTE wider and we all benefit. People like to buy the software on CD at demos when they see examples of how easy it is to get a show made. I have never understood this fear of buying on the internet though. People hand the cards to a waitress in a cafe and they disappear with it, far safer on line and the fear is caused by the usual media rubbish and scare mongering.

They just need someone to download the new PTE file for them and supply it on a USB pen or CD, Then install it in the usual way and the existing product key will be accepted. Alternatively they can call us and we can usually find a way to do it. With a small charge for the disk and postage they can always get their upgrade. We have a contact page on our site that is always fully up to date with phone numbers.

I downloaded and played the video and had to use some obscure player on my PC to do so, the resulting image on screen was probaly only 3in by 3in. Is that the size I should be seeing or will I get a bigger image with something like quicktime

Charles VAT on PTE is just over a a fiver, you have been trying so long to buy PTE, you could have had it safe on a CD by now The effort you are putting in is not worth it to save a fiver. In any case PTE is worth 3 times what it costs Order it here and it will be in the mail this afternoon http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/digitalav/pte/pte.htm

The Photo Album is a great way to present odd sized images and on the page below there are two demos. One animated and one static. http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/digitalav/...m?idCategory=84

Peter I think you have done a pretty good job here and I know a lot of work and research has been put into it. I do agree with others that the blue border is competing somewhat with your images, tone that down to a dark charcoal grey and take a little of the texture depth off too. I thought your commentary style, delivery and the sound quality of it was just about perfect for this style of sequence, as was the music nicely in the background. I liked to be able to see both the images as I found myself looking from one to the other for comparison. This sequence IMHO is also one of those that doesn't really need, the backgound at all really. Its one that needs all the space you can use so we get a good view of both the old and new image. It is one of those sequences that is perfect for a 1280*1024 monitor. Its a great idea well executed.

Dave Seeing as there has been comment of late about lack of comment, here goes. I think your show is aimed mainly at family and friends and particulalry those who took part in the trip, but it has a wider appeal too. The picture quality was good and that held my attention and the presentation worked well with the outline. The inclusion of the map and route was a must and a good choice. Those of us outside of the States generally have a fascination with the USA, but much of it when you get out of the cities is very much like the UK. The music you chose worked well for me and the animation was slow and measured, just about right in my view. I thought you could have made a bit more of that beautiful Harley motorcycle and adding some creative photography into your travelogue. It would not have done it any harm and may have given more impact. Judges in the old days would have said. Good record photography, meaning everything was very competantly handled, but maybe lacking in vision a bit. However, with a travelogue there is not much esle you could do, the people have to feature in it. I agree with one comment about keeping your portraits off to one side rather than central in the frame, but as travelogues go, I sat through this and enjoyed it. The only thing I would try, if I were doing the same thing, would be to try an add some creativity to the images, so that the sequence does have a greater appeal outside of family, friends and us enthusiasts. Keep up the good work I say

Ken Cox has hit the nail on the head. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. If you place a slide show onto the forum it implies to me that comments are welcome and invited, if not, don't post it ! There is no point in one person making a comment and because they made a valid point no-one else does. How it that going to help anyone at all. If one person says your panned images go on too long, you can shrug and say, well that's just one persons opinion. If 6 people say the same then perhaps it's time to take a little more notice. You can't have your work appraised (which is good) without some disappointment at times. If you can't live with that, don't post. I am not a lover of this clinical way of delivering comment, but as long as your are constructive and not rude in your views, then the comments will be welcome. None of us like our masterpiece to miss the mark, but it happenes to us all from time to time, no matter what level.

Open PTE5 and it will probably load up your last show automatically. Go to the menu bar and select saveas to save your project file and then create slide showas from the same menu. Choose your own location to save it

It sounds like you have saved the slide show to the winsoft folders by default the first time and now you are over writing that file in the same place. Go to C>Program Files>wnsoft picturesToExe>look in folder 5.1 and it will probably be there. Next time save it to a more convenient place. Install PTE5 on your other PC the same way as you did the first one.

Xaver Because comments help you to learn and improve. You don't have take any notice of what people say if you don't want to, but after a while when many people say the same thing, it can help to point you in the right direction. That is the basis of Camera clubs in the UK and whatever you feel about photographic competitions or AV competitions, they work. Human beings are competitive, even those who say they only enter a competition to take part. The competitive spirit drives us to suceed, learn and get better at what we do. You don't have to ask for comments at all, but if it helps those who are unsure whether they should or shouldn't comment, then why not

Xaver No, it's not fishing for compliments. When we are doing creative work, wheather that is creating images in Photoshop or slide shows there is an invisible mist that comes down and dulls our sences. Its not unique to digital and those of us who worked in the darkroom suffered it too. This invisible mist prevents us from seeing the most obvious mistakes sometimes and it often needs a fresh eye to do that. Even someone who does not have any skills at all in how to put together an AV has an opinion and it will be valid. There is a difference between right and wrong and personal preference so when the author does receive a comment on their slide show its up to them to decide if the person making the comment has a point. We don't have to react to the comment if we feel it is wrong, but often someone unconnected with our sequence will spot something useful. Comment from others, no matter what your skill level is useful as long as it is constructive and said for the right reasons.

Yes, we are a bit more expensive, unfortunately we must charge VAT or the UK taxman gets cross. We also provide the software on CD by post which does cost more than a download. Our CD does include full slide shows, demos slide shows and videos on the disk and many people like to have a disk rather than a download. I am sure the PTE server is OK, I can't see Igor allowing it to be not accessable for this amount of time. Try again