Nikonos

Thanks very much for your kind comments, although your excellent template helped me to get a show "up and running" without too much delay for friends and relatives. A longer show using extra images but without your template can be downloaded at: http://www.mediafire.com/file/7b7fsfc55fp2f6p/Land%20of%20the%20Dragon.zip A revised earlier show (Pax Aeterna) which you might also be interested in can be found at: http://www.mediafire.com/file/zprrx8qh07pw10s/Pax%20Aeterna.zip Regards - Malcolm

Hi Bernard, Just viewed your show on my Mac. A nice selection of images - sharp and well exposed. The extreme brightness range can be quite a challenge and I think you have coped well. The sail-boat with the cascading strings is spectacular but too many shots featuring it lessens the impact somewhat. If anything your shots would be improved by trying some images while there is still some evening light in the sky. You don't get too many shots per evening though, but it is well worth the effort if you can revisit the location over several evenings. The other option is to shoot when the streets are wet from rain - reflections in the foreground etc, will add interest. The music I thought was fine and did not spoil my enjoyment of your show. Thanks for sharing. Regards - Malcolm

That explains it very well Xaver. I find that quite a bit of the music chosen for sequences can have a flowing 'dreamlike' quality ( a good musician would probably call it "wallpaper"). I guess that there is a beat present - if you can find it! Regards - Malcolm

Thanks Xaver, a valid point although I did not think it made very much difference. However, I will be addressing the music issue again and I will take your comment on board in the final timings. Many thanks. Regards - Malcolm

Good point Daniel. I will see to it in the final revision.. Regards - Malcolm

Thanks to all for your kind comments re. Land of the Dragon. The music was a bit problematic, as chinese music whether traditional (or modern) is very much an acquired taste to the western ear. I had to stretch out the sequence that I used and I think it probably does outstay it's welcome a bit. However, I think I've now found something else which will do the job, sound ok to the ears of "foreign devils" and avoid the repetition. The text size was something else that I considered as being a bit over large. However, quite a few of the intended audience are knocking on a bit (not the members of this forum of course!), and their eyesight is not so good. Also quite a few of the judges on our club circuit need their eyes testing anyway so I eventually kept it as it was Malcolm PS. Bill, I've sent you a PM.

Yep, this is quite correct. The resulting movie played back on the i-Pad looks quite stunning as well. With the new i-Pad 2 due out next month (possibly) with the rumored improved 'retina' display it will look even better... Malcolm

Hi Folks, I've just uploaded a revised version of my China sequence posted a while back. This is a more 'considered' version, different presentation, some pics replaced and quite a few new ones added along the way. New music as well! For those interested: PC version: http://www.mediafire.com/file/8qde0hci81r5w0n/Land%20of%20the%20Dragon.zip Mac version: http://www.mediafire.com/file/41w95vi2g3vj6u4/Land%20of%20the%20Dragon.app.zip Stats: 36 meg (sorry Eric!), 72 pics including captions etc, length 8'39", format: 1920x1200 Malcolm

Hi Daniel, I thought your show was very enjoyable and the choice of music perfect. The quality of the images throughout were excellent and you handled the extreme contrast range very well. I also liked the handling of the portrait format images - their inclusion did not in any way interrupt the flow of the sequence. Personally, I agree with Barry and would have shortened the sequence by a minute or two, but I understand your reasons for keeping it that way. It is obviously a wonderful opportunity for candid photography and you certainly made use of the opportunity! Regards - Malcolm

Hi Barry, As Eric says, using Amazon is a good way of sampling bits of music and downloading just the tracks you need. When it comes to seascape images have you tried Debussy? The sort of impressionist style of orchestral writing suits A/V very well. I would suggest that you try the Nocturnes - Ist movement 'Nuages' (clouds) and the 3rd movement 'Sirenes' for a start. 'La Mer' itself is worth looking at as well - the 2nd movement "Play of the Waves" could well work also. These pieces are all about the right length as well (around 7-8 minutes on average). Finally, try Frank Bridge's suite 'The Sea'. The 1st movement "Seascape" might be suitable also. I heard this a few years used very effectively in a documentary about Sennen Cove in Cornwall (which I still have on Betamax!). Regards - Malcolm

Another outstanding show Maureen! Stunning images put together in a simple, but highly effective way. The music was just spot-on as well. I would echo Barry's comments - I think you should be banned from the Lake District to leave something for the rest of us... Another one to go into my "keepers" folder! Malcolm

Hi Barry, Only saw the second version so cannot comment on the original one. A very difficult subject in my opinion, but you have managed to impart the feeling of "being there". Wonderful photography (as always!) and about the right length. Not sure about the music, but that is a personal thing anyway. Also liked the SFX of the rain and wondered whether some such "low-level" material could have been used throughout - although I appreciate the difficulty of obtaining suitable source material. With regard to music - I often find that the most difficult challenge. I'm currently working on a steam traction-engine type show (yeh, I know it's been done before dozens of times), and I find it difficult to come up with something other than the usual predictable mechanical organ type stuff. Let me know if you have any ideas as my wife is beginning to show distinct signs of distress every time she hears yet another fairground organ... :-) Regards - Malcolm

I really enjoyed your show and would love to try something similar myself in the future. It featured some excellent photography with an apt choice of music. Personally I would have slowed some of the transitions a bit (as already mentioned), but it did not spoil my overall enjoyment. Must put it down as a place to visit one of these days... Malcolm

Thanks everyone for your kind comments on the images used in this show. I find there is always a bit of a conflict with 'family holidays' and the aspirations of a photographer endeavoring to get the best possible images when in a special place or location. This trip was an organized one, which often did not leave very much time to try and capture decent images. All too often it was a case of "be back at the coach in twenty minutes"! Consequently, many of the images are grab-shots - doing the best you can in too short a time. One day I hope to return on a proper "photographic" trip (if the wife lets me!). China of course is a vast country and you can only hope to cover a very small part of it in two weeks. The images that I eventually selected were meant to give a taste of what we saw and did. If anything they were rather too many temples/shrines. My wife admitted to being "templed out" by the time we returned... The one refreshing aspect was the virtually the complete freedom to take images of almost anyone including children. This made 'street photography' a complete revelation compared to the current paranoia we have to put up with in the UK. The Chinese themselves are pretty well "snap-happy" anyway - or at least they were in the cities. Although I took a tripod along I never actually used it and my D700 was pretty much set on 1600ASA most of the time. The theatre/night shots were taken at 3200ASA just using a convenient wall or table for support. All of the RAW images were processed via DxO Optics Pro and then PS5. Any images with residual noise were further processed via Topaz Labs De Noise 5 (not that there was very much to begin with anyway). Malcolm

Thanks Mick. Yep, that particular template was fine for the purpose and I take your comment about the images being almost constantly on the move. I will certainly work on something more 'considered' when I can devote more time on it. I don't know about you, but I find the average show takes me several weeks to produce. There is always the temptation to tinker and fine-tune before it is "released" into the wide world....

Hi Greg - thanks for your comments. If you read my original posting I do in fact say that I used a template from 'The Dom' (and very good it is too!). The shimmering is not really noticeable on the Apple IPad - which was the original purpose of the exercise. I have in fact tried it with and without the "anti-shimmering" tab ticked and it doesn't really make that much difference on either of my two monitors.

Hi Folks - I recently returned from a trip to China and wanted a fairly quick way of putting an A/V together of at least some of the large number of pics that I managed to take over two weeks. One of The Dom's templates seemed ideally suited to this purpose (envelope). The resultant show was converted to MP4 video format and subsequently transferred to an Apple I-Pad. I have to say the results far exceeded my expectations (the screen on the I-pad is a real cracker!). The tablet device can be handed around amongst friends and acquaintances like a photo album, and being a video it can be easily paused when anyone needs to ask a question. The standard PC version can be found here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1trw71ocfq4p9qa/Memories%20of%20China.zip The Mac version here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/r20bpxzzjtco4v6/Memories%20of%20China.app.zip At some stage I hope to produce another show from this trip - with extra images and varied transitions. Something for the long winter evenings perhaps.... :-) Anyway, here are the details. Download size: 24 meg. Duration: 6 mins approx. 41 images in total. Image aspect ratio 3:2 (1620x1080) Malcolm

Thank you Bert and Maureen for your kind comments. Sorry if you experienced any problems downloading it from Mediafire. On reflection it probably would have been better to zip the PC version as executables seem to give a lot of problems with certain anti-virus programs (particularly Nortons).

Hello Maureen - one of my friends has had the same 'false positive' problem with Nortons. It seems to be a common occurrence unfortunately. Malcolm

I would like to add my congrats. A wonderful show with fabulous photography. What an amazing collection of images for a three day visit. I am in awe of your talent! Malcolm

Hi Bert, I found your show fascinating. Some of the individual shots were just stunning! The music was exactly right and the multiple zooms did indeed help to convey the slow procession (although perhaps slightly less would have been better). The hooded figures were really sinister - something like a cross between a Ku Klux Klan gathering and an IRA funeral :-) I felt the show really put over the feel of the event. I am going to Spain myself next year - with a bit of luck I may get to see something similar... Great job - especially if this is your first effort! Malcolm

Hi Colin, just thought I would say that I enjoyed your show which I have just viewed. The standard of photography was excellent. I wonder if you might have benefited from using a neutral grad. to tone down the over bright sky in some of the shots. I realise that it is not always possible to do so though - especially if you are on holiday and cannot devote too much time the finer points of photography when you have others to consider... I also felt that the music (Rodrigo), you chose was perhaps not ideally suited overall - although it certainly suited the sunset shots, but not some of the others - where the slow pace seemed out of place for where there was a lot obviously going on. Thanks for sharing! Malcolm

Thank you for your kind comments Barry. I find your PTE instructional DVDs a wonderful source of ideas and techniques and I never cease to be amazed at your ingenuity. :-) I have always loved the Hardy novels (despite most of the characters being doomed from the outset!). I knew that the anthology "Winter Words" featured a poem about his birthplace and I was fortunate to find a suitable recording. The rest was a simple matter of following the technique outlined in your DVD. Thanks again!

Good point Ken. I should have left one out...