Barry Beckham

I have been busy recording some more video tutorials lately on a variety of subjects and recording them for both Photoshop and Elements users. I have also included a couple demo slide shows that work a bit like an advert for the CD, but do contain the subject being dealt with. Just for interest the links are here, just click the demo button http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/photoshopc...car/red_car.htm http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/photoshopc...age/montage.htm My Main AV page of downloadable slide shows is here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffd...fdigslidesw.htm bbdigital

Paula Have you tried unistalling PTE, downloading the latest version and re-installing that. Perhaps some minor glitch is allowing the program to work, but messing up the Jpeg's Never heard of any problems like that before bbdigital

Just a reminder for those who may be interested that there are about 20 slide shows that you can download from my web site HERE There are PTE tutorials too HERE Barry

I have replaced my old AV starter CD with a new one that is fully video and brought right up to date with changes in software. It covers PicturesToExe, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and includes AudioGrabber, WinZip and Audacity. It is aimed at newer users of PTE and covers the whole process start to finish of how to create slide shows. It also covers the creation of a DVD and includes images for use in following the tutorials, plus a couple of my AV's for good measure. The videos are recorded at 1024 * 768 pixels , so on most PC screens the video will fill the monitor edge to edge. Check out details HERE Barry

Igor I think this has already been covered, but I will add it anyway. I am using PTE as a menu navigation for my tutorial CD's and it is really working great. The issue that is a problem is having to look at the menu in all resolutions to make sure the buttons don't overlap, so maintain the objects on a page despite the resolution it is viewed in is something I would like to see. bbdigital

I have only just picked up this thread and would make a few comments. The first being that I am not a professional photographer. My work is operating buses in London, which is as far as you can get from photography. However, in my view a professional is someone who carries out their photography for a living, it does not mean they are any good at it. Some are pretty lousy in my view, lacking vision and technical ability. That doesn't seem to stop them from earning a living for years though. In the UK the word professional has been misused in my view to indicate something good, well made. Oh yeah, apply that to the building trade, plumbing, car repairs etc etc. Find me just one of those who is reliable and good, or professional come to that. The amateur can often do a better job than the por for one good reason. They have interest, committment and apply tender loving car to what they do. Shooting for AV you need some vision and as Keneth has said we need to consider other subjects, linked to the one we are shooting. At a steam railway we may shoot a picture or two of a pile of coal, which on it's own is not that inspiring. add AV techniques and a steam train fading up from within the black coal and you have a whole different thing. We are shooting digitally now, so we can shoot loads of bits and pieces that can be used as Keneth suggests. A pile of logs, close up of the bark of a tree, the pile of coal or a flake of rust on the side of an old loco. In my view that is what makes a slide show interesting. On the quality issue, there are no tricks or special techniques, but if you are aware that camera shake is an issue for you, then fix it by using a tripod. We don't get good quality without making an effort. I put in heaps of effort. I also think that one of the most important parts of putting together an AV or a slide show is editing the images. I would hazzard a guess that many AV workers are struggling for slides when they put their shows together and the issue should be the reverse. We should be taking out good images to make our show, not squeezing in those that probably shouldn't be in there in the first place. If you run your own slide show a dozen times, you can soon spot the weak areas. They jump out and bite you. Someone in a postal photographic club some years ago asked me how I got my images so sharp. Well, of course I didn't and I had my share of failures like everyone else. The difference between us was that I recognised my own failures and did not show them. The other guy wanted to show everything he did and the quality wasn't up to it. Be very critical of your own work and even then that creative mist will still cloud your judgement at times. It does to us all in varying degrees On the subject of AV/slide shows...........well. I have seen some great ideas that fall right into the AV ideal, but the picture quality and execution was awful and the resulting show lacked appeal. The word slide show in AV circles seems to be used sometimes as a derogatory term meaning not as thoughtful or appealing as a true AV. I don't go along with that (generally speaking) and my view is that you can make an AV of almost anything, if you get it right. Alan Lyons has a point, be we don't all want to get bogged down into AV competitions producing AV's with deap meanings. Well, I don't anyway, but if that is your thing, then great. The ingrediants to getting it right is also obvious, The correct choice of soundtrack, quality images, well edited and sorted and with that variation in images that maintains the interest. We could have 50 perfect landscapes, but could we watch them all in a slide show? I doubt it, they need to be broken up a bit. It would be rather like reading a newspaper that has blocks and blocks of text and no images to break it all up. Some of the obvious things I see in shows that I download are titles that stay on the screen far too long, we only need a second or two to read them so don't bore your audience right at the start of the show and have them willing the the next image to appear. The same is true of images in general, where they stay on screen far too long. Better to have your audience regreting the fact that the last image is disappearing into the next rather than have them longing for the next image. I don't agree that there is a great deal of difference between the film based AV and digital. I have done both and if someone can point out the techniques that are so different please do, perhaps my memory has let me down. I seem to recal employing the same techniques with 2 projectors and used to get asked back to clubs quicker than I could make the shows, so I figured we had something right. I do think it is much easier to produce slide shows/av now than it was with film and I don't miss the wirr, clatter of the slide projector. I also recall the AV workers who spent the entire eveing trying to keep up with the focussing of their slides as they popped in an out throughout the entire sequence. I could not be having with any of that and carefully glass mounted every slide in the sequences Carol and I made. At the end of the day, if a real beginner threw 30 images into an automatic slide show with a bit of music, even that would be an improvement in the presentation. Does that lot make any sense? I doubt it Barry B

I have posted a few new slide shows here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffd...fdigslidesw.htm for anyone who is interested. Regards bbdigital

The wedding viodeo tutorials I am putting together is now complete and will be available on my site in a couple of days along with some more AV samples Barry www.beckhamdigital.co.uk The time a show takes depends on the TLC you give it, but a commercial presentation should not take more than 2-3 hours once all the images are produced

Nettleton Try these links http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/digitalav/...ips_tricks.html http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffd...fdigslidesw.htm http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/digitalav/...ter/starter.htm All you need is there as a video tutorial Barry

Granot / Boxig I am just completing a video tutorial DVD/CD for wedding photographers and have included evrything I can think off and then saw your utility. I have not downloaded it yet as I am away from home, but would like to do so and include it and how to use it on my tutorial disk. The CD am producing will not cost a fortune, but it is a commercial product. Do you have any issues with me using your utility in this way please? Regards Barry Beckham www.beckhamdigital.co.uk

I am currently working on a Movie tutorial DVD aimed at wedding photographers that will cover the making of slide shows using Photoshop and PTE. It will also cover the grabbing of music and sound editing too. I have over 3 hours of video currently complete and there will be other wedding slide shows on that DVD If you check here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk from time to time you will see when it is launched Barry

Please Can anyone help with the files I need to autorun one PTE slide show on a CD that will be called "start" I can't seem to get it to autorun. Thanks Barry

I have added a new slide show here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffd...fdigslidesw.htm go to the bottom of the page for the latest. Barry

I always use method 2 for the reasons of control, the fact that you would have infinate different ways to present the picture in picture using Photoshop Layers. If placement was critical then use a grid and set Photoshop to snap to grid and that should help. BBdigital

I have just put up a new slide show here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffd...fdigslidesw.htm It is at the bottom of the the list and called Ely. It is rather large at 20+meg and was done with images taken on a few cycle rides within a mile or two of my home. regards Barry

I have just put up a new slide show here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffd...fdigslidesw.htm It is at the bottom of the the list and called Ely. It is rather large at 20+meg and was done with images taken on a few cycle rides within a mile or two of my home. regards Barry

A coule of new slide shows have been posted on my new web site here http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffd...fdigslidesw.htm bbdigital

Igor I have not read all the suggestions, but what buyers appear to want is something in PTE that will grab an Mp3 from a Music CD and also some basic sound editing, fade in/out etc. Not sure if that is possible, but at present most PTE users get stuck on these issues, particulalry the creation of an Mp3. Build them in and charge more for the program. bbdigital

Forum Could I please inform the users of this forum that I have launched a new web site at www.beckhamdigital.co.uk Can I draw your attention to: Our new secure shop The May competition that is curently running The NEW bring and buy page More royalty free music for you to choose from, now up to 8 volumes A new audio visual slide show that you will find on the free stuff pages. The usual Movie tutorial CD's available for PTE Many thanks bbdigital

Forum Could I please inform the users of this forum that I have launched a new web site at www.beckhamdigital.co.uk Can I draw your attention to: Our new secure shop The May competition that is curently running The NEW bring and buy page More royalty free music for you to choose from, now up to 8 volumes A new audio visual slide show that you will find on the free stuff pages. The usual Movie tutorial CD's available for PTE Many thanks bbdigital

Joy You need the tutorial CD via the link below that covers the lot as a video tutorial including the picture in picture effect you want http://www.barrybeckham.co.uk/tutorials/tu...tips_tricks.htm bbdigital

One of my wants was the ability to sort images on a light box type scenario and then rename them as a sorted group of images. It is not so important for me now since the Photoshop CS browser can do this, but others would find this very usefull. Can you take the default tick out of the repeat music after playing option in the music tab. Those that want this option can add the tick, but I never have yet and it is a pain when you forget to remove it. Is it possible to pause a transition (fade) for a second or two before it continues the transition to complete. For real beginners the sizing of images still causes them real grief, is there a way to have PTE size images automatically for those who want it. bbdigital

ED. Why are you so concerned about someone stealing your images at such a low resolution. Do you not think that your perception of the problem is far greater than the actual? bbdigital

Ronnie If I understand you correctly you are displaying your image at print size. At 72 ppi your image will be too big for the screen at 100%. Not sure why you want to have it all showing at 100% but the answer is to increase the resolution. Don't resample the image though. bbdigital

I think I have found my own solution to this problem. It looked to me as though the slides at 1024*768 where being stretched too far to fit the wide screen TV I have. I thought that perhaps there were not enough pixels for this stretching so I did a test with a few slides at something like 1200-1300 pixels on the long side and they project nicely on DVD. Now, unless I am mistaken my PC will handle those file sizes without a problem and once they are written to DVD they should run a treat on a domestic DVD player. My one doubt is the file size of the slide show as it ends up on the DVD. I need to get about an hours worth of slide shows on a DVD, but using a number of short sequences. If I cannot do that the cunning plan I have may fall flat on its face. bbdigital