Dubrovnik & Kotor - New Show

[goddi]

Greetings,

This slideshow covers 3 days of our 23 day trip through Croatia and Slovenia this year. It shows our stay in Dubrovnik and a day trip down to Kotor, Montenegro. The show is in 16x9; 62.5Mb; NAV bar is active; 15:28 in length. Finding Croatian music that works in a slideshow was almost impossible. The show is long, but the that is what the Nav bar is for!

I tried a few new 'tricks', like creating a font in 'old stone' and a route map. If you have been down that way, maybe it will provide some good memories. If you haven't been to Croatia and Slovenia, you have to put them on your list. I still have to work on the images of the remaining 20 days of the trip!!!! (over 1,500 images)

Hope you enjoy the trip.

Comments and critiques welcomed.

Gary

Beechbrook link:

http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/downloadfile.asp?id=1874

[mhwarner]

Gary,

You forgot the link to the download but I found it on Beechbrook: http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/downloadfile.asp?id=1874

[goddi]

Gary,

You forgot the link to the download but I found it on Beechbrook: http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/downloadfile.asp?id=1874

============

Thanks...Brain lock!!! I just added it.

Gary

[David Porter]

Hi Gary, I thought your show was wonderful as reminder to you of your great holiday and also to show family and friends. I did find it a bit overlong especially without any commentary plus there were quite a number of superfluous shots that didn't add anything to get the feel of the place. To counter that it seemed to me that the pace of the slides speeded up and they didn't remain on screen for long enough to appreciate them. I did like the route map though and I have been trying to do something similar for a boat journey. I have done it so far with a series of dots and I suppose I could put the dots closer together to form a line but this will take me forever. Is there a quick way of doing it. Hope you don't think I'm being cheeky.

[goddi]

Hi Gary, I thought your show was wonderful as reminder to you of your great holiday and also to show family and friends. I did find it a bit overlong especially without any commentary plus there were quite a number of superfluous shots that didn't add anything to get the feel of the place. To counter that it seemed to me that the pace of the slides speeded up and they didn't remain on screen for long enough to appreciate them. I did like the route map though and I have been trying to do something similar for a boat journey. I have done it so far with a series of dots and I suppose I could put the dots closer together to form a line but this will take me forever. Is there a quick way of doing it. Hope you don't think I'm being cheeky.

===============

Greetings,

Yes, I understand it was a bit long. It is always a bit difficult to get music that you can chop off or fade out to establish a particular length of a show. So I tend to fill in the music's length with images. The music is usually too long or too short. But I think music is just as important as the images for an enjoyable show. I really should make two shows...one for me, and one for the public. But that would make the decision to eliminate images even more difficult! And there is that emotional attachment to each image. And that is why I always put in the NAV bar--you can scoot through them at your speed or pause. And about the pace, it did not change at all, except for the map. It must have been a psychological effect of the different music types??

As far as your boat route, I would use the same technique that Lin and TheDom have demonstrated, and that I used. I would, however, instead of drawing a contiguous 'road' type route in the water, why not just use the round erase brush in Photoshop to make transparent dots in the water for the route??? Just select right sized eraser dot. Piece of cake!

Gary

[snapcam]

Hello Gary

I must say, having been to Dubrovnik your pics brought back memories. You have some really nice images. I loved the lighting in the cloister shots and the concert was very well handled.

You asked for comments and I hope you won't mind my tu'pence worth.

The show is a wonderful record of your trip however if another version was made for outsiders then it could be drastically shortened to a max of around 10minutes. As I said you have really good images and therefore they can be ruthlessly edited. Another tip is to vary the time on screen with a variation in pace from time to time. This will keep the viewers interest. There are good opportunities to use the zoom control on some shots, I only noticed a slight zoom on the last slide. Your pan shots from the air were great. You could also use the smaller format shots two at a time on screen for variation.

One last tip is to conduct the viewer through the show by having a start and finish and not going back and forth.

I really hope you don't mind my comments they are meant for a different audiance.

[dpletts]

Thank you, Gary, for sharing this cracking slideshow. Yes, it was long, but I enjoyed every moment of it. I especially liked the variety of photos which I felt made the show quite lively - one didn't know quite what to expect next which meant that I wanted to see the next picture and so it kept the whole presentation moving. I shall certainly be watching it again a few times.

David P

[goddi]

Hello Gary

I must say, having been to Dubrovnik your pics brought back memories. You have some really nice images. I loved the lighting in the cloister shots and the concert was very well handled.

You asked for comments and I hope you won't mind my tu'pence worth.

The show is a wonderful record of your trip however if another version was made for outsiders then it could be drastically shortened to a max of around 10minutes. As I said you have really good images and therefore they can be ruthlessly edited. Another tip is to vary the time on screen with a variation in pace from time to time. This will keep the viewers interest. There are good opportunities to use the zoom control on some shots, I only noticed a slight zoom on the last slide. Your pan shots from the air were great. You could also use the smaller format shots two at a time on screen for variation.

One last tip is to conduct the viewer through the show by having a start and finish and not going back and forth.

I really hope you don't mind my comments they are meant for a different audiance.

================

Greetings,

Actually, it would probably take me about 6 months or more after a trip to as brutal as I need to be to reduce it down to 10 minutes, and I can not argue with the need to do that. Less really is more...just hard to do it when, as I said before, having an emotional attachment to each image. Each one evokes a memory. I agree with your comments on change of pace and maybe more animations and formats. My problem is an inherent lack of creativity. But comments like yours will open my mind.

I am not sure of what you mean by 'having a start and finish and not going back and forth'. It started in Dubrv. and ended in Kotor. Please explain.

Thanks for the comments... Gary

[goddi]

Thank you, Gary, for sharing this cracking slideshow. Yes, it was long, but I enjoyed every moment of it. I especially liked the variety of photos which I felt made the show quite lively - one didn't know quite what to expect next which meant that I wanted to see the next picture and so it kept the whole presentation moving. I shall certainly be watching it again a few times.

David P

===============

David,

Yes, LONG seems to be the word. Before we invite people over for a viewing, I'll get out my machete and hack away!!!

I see I am in big trouble now since I have about 20 more days of images from this trip to get into a slideshow(s). Excuse me now, I have to go find a knife sharpener.

Glad you enjoyed it...

Gary

[mhwarner]

Gary,

I enjoyed your show very much. I've never been to that part of the world and your photos make me want to plan a trip there. Maybe someday ...

I loved the opening titles and also the aerial shots. I also liked the shot from inside the tour bus looking out. It helped to set up the story, so to speak. I would however, echo the comments of other posters that the show was a bit too long. Perhaps not too long as much as too many repetitive images. For instance, I might suggest cutting a couple of the aerials, and in the little parade or pageant through the streets, I would cut it back to one or two images. Also, some of the fish pictures could perhaps be eliminated. The music seemed quite appropriate although there was one pretty large silence between two music pieces where I began to wonder if somehow there wasn't enough music to finish the show (eventually the next piece began).

I think the thing that I found most bothersome about the show, however, were the transitions between horizontals and vertical images. I know that this has been addressed previously in this forum (probably ad nauseum), but I found it very disconcerting. I am not recommending cutting out the vertical images because most of them were quite interesting and did add to the show, but I would suggest using a transition where there is a horizontal background of say a previous related image and then one or two verticals displayed on top of that. A few that come to mind were a photo of an interesting brick wall where you could then overlay a couple of vertical related street or stairway shots, some of the cat pictures and also some of the fish pictures. There are many ways to do this including having the verticals "fly" in or maybe just have them slowly appear one after the other, or at the same time (through the use of masks or just simple opacity in the object editor). There have been many examples posted here over the years and it used to be more of a hassle to set up using photoshop or an image editor, but PTE now makes it pretty easy to do within the program.

I can also sympathize with your comments about having so many photos to pull from and the difficulty in editing them down to only a few. I just returned from an almost 4-month road trip from Arizona to Alaska and back and have somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 photos. I am trying to figure out how to best organize and present even a small portion of those photos.

Anyway, I do hope you'll take these comments in the spirit of constructive criticism and I very much appreciate your sharing this show. I am looking forward to seeing the next segments.

[goddi]

Gary,

I enjoyed your show very much. I've never been to that part of the world and your photos make me want to plan a trip there. Maybe someday ...

I loved the opening titles and also the aerial shots. I also liked the shot from inside the tour bus looking out. It helped to set up the story, so to speak. I would however, echo the comments of other posters that the show was a bit too long. Perhaps not too long as much as too many repetitive images. For instance, I might suggest cutting a couple of the aerials, and in the little parade or pageant through the streets, I would cut it back to one or two images. Also, some of the fish pictures could perhaps be eliminated. The music seemed quite appropriate although there was one pretty large silence between two music pieces where I began to wonder if somehow there wasn't enough music to finish the show (eventually the next piece began).

I think the thing that I found most bothersome about the show, however, were the transitions between horizontals and vertical images. I know that this has been addressed previously in this forum (probably ad nauseum), but I found it very disconcerting. I am not recommending cutting out the vertical images because most of them were quite interesting and did add to the show, but I would suggest using a transition where there is a horizontal background of say a previous related image and then one or two verticals displayed on top of that. A few that come to mind were a photo of an interesting brick wall where you could then overlay a couple of vertical related street or stairway shots, some of the cat pictures and also some of the fish pictures. There are many ways to do this including having the verticals "fly" in or maybe just have them slowly appear one after the other, or at the same time (through the use of masks or just simple opacity in the object editor). There have been many examples posted here over the years and it used to be more of a hassle to set up using photoshop or an image editor, but PTE now makes it pretty easy to do within the program.

I can also sympathize with your comments about having so many photos to pull from and the difficulty in editing them down to only a few. I just returned from an almost 4-month road trip from Arizona to Alaska and back and have somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 photos. I am trying to figure out how to best organize and present even a small portion of those photos.

Anyway, I do hope you'll take these comments in the spirit of constructive criticism and I very much appreciate your sharing this show. I am looking forward to seeing the next segments.

===============

Greetings,

Thanks for the comments. It is so very interesting how other people 'see' what I don't 'see'. I do appreciate the comments. Actually, I had already taken out some other aerial shots. The flight in, looking at the coast line, is so spectacular, hard to exclude. Yea, I thought of cutting one or two of the pageant images, and I should. The fish...Croatia is a place for fish. Being a coastal country, fish is king and I found it interesting to see their variety of catch. But, I don't share the feeling that verticals can't stand alone without some horizontal background. I will play around with your suggestion but sometimes I find the vertical overlaid over another image is distracting, at least to me. Interesting point, though.

25,000 images!!!! Ouch...you have a job for life.

Thanks... Gary

[snapcam]

================

Greetings,

Actually, it would probably take me about 6 months or more after a trip to as brutal as I need to be to reduce it down to 10 minutes, and I can not argue with the need to do that. Less really is more...just hard to do it when, as I said before, having an emotional attachment to each image. Each one evokes a memory. I agree with your comments on change of pace and maybe more animations and formats. My problem is an inherent lack of creativity. But comments like yours will open my mind.

I am not sure of what you mean by 'having a start and finish and not going back and forth'. It started in Dubrv. and ended in Kotor. Please explain.

Thanks for the comments... Gary

Hello again Gary

When I refer to a beginning and end I mean the flow thro' the show. The start is perfect I love the plane sequence and getting into Dubrovnik. After some shots of the city we go to shots of the sea then back to the city and this continues back and forth. I was suggesting more grouping i.e take the viewer around the city go into the cloisters, use a shot of the entrance to introduce us to the cloister then move on to the nx place of interest as you go around the city. Take us around the harbour. The way you grouped the fish and fruit markets illustrate this point (loved the tomatos pic by the way).

I know exactly what you mean about editing out pics but look at the sequence of I think, dancers/musicians and think if the best half of those pics illustrate the point better thanall the pics together.

I also know that I am criticising your show as you want to see it and that is why I stress that my comments are meant for a future edited version for outside consumtion.

Regards

Snapcam

[goddi]

Hello again Gary

When I refer to a beginning and end I mean the flow thro' the show. The start is perfect I love the plane sequence and getting into Dubrovnik. After some shots of the city we go to shots of the sea then back to the city and this continues back and forth. I was suggesting more grouping i.e take the viewer around the city go into the cloisters, use a shot of the entrance to introduce us to the cloister then move on to the nx place of interest as you go around the city. Take us around the harbour. The way you grouped the fish and fruit markets illustrate this point (loved the tomatos pic by the way).

I know exactly what you mean about editing out pics but look at the sequence of I think, dancers/musicians and think if the best half of those pics illustrate the point better thanall the pics together.

I also know that I am criticising your show as you want to see it and that is why I stress that my comments are meant for a future edited version for outside consumtion.

Regards

Snapcam

===============================

I see what you are talking about. I put together the sequence of my slideshows mostly as the images were taken. You can't really help getting pictures of the sea in many different locations. For example, we took the local bus from the Old City up to where the cruise boats come in. That's where the fish market is...and more sea. Then we walked back to the Old City...more sea pictures. We did the walk around the wall of the Old City...more sea pictures. Couldn't really group them. Then driving down to Kotor...more sea pictures. They are the same...but different.

We were rushing to get to the entrance of the point where you start your walk around the city wall before it closed. These dancers/musicians came out of nowhere to put on a concert in the middle of the town. I wish I had taken better pictures, but I just stood there in their path and snapped away. Same thing with the concert pictures. We hear some music coming through a door and we poked our heads in and found it was a free concert given by the local high schools music class. It was like their final recital. You just never know when something will happen. I love these serendipity moments.

Thanks... Gary

[snapcam]

===============================

I see what you are talking about. I put together the sequence of my slideshows mostly as the images were taken. You can't really help getting pictures of the sea in many different locations. For example, we took the local bus from the Old City up to where the cruise boats come in. That's where the fish market is...and more sea. Then we walked back to the Old City...more sea pictures. We did the walk around the wall of the Old City...more sea pictures. Couldn't really group them. Then driving down to Kotor...more sea pictures. They are the same...but different.

We were rushing to get to the entrance of the point where you start your walk around the city wall before it closed. These dancers/musicians came out of nowhere to put on a concert in the middle of the town. I wish I had taken better pictures, but I just stood there in their path and snapped away. Same thing with the concert pictures. We hear some music coming through a door and we poked our heads in and found it was a free concert given by the local high schools music class. It was like their final recital. You just never know when something will happen. I love these serendipity moments.

Thanks... Gary

Hello Gary

After I was cheeky enough to critique your work I thought I should step into the line of fire.

I have posted this short sequence for comment.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yyxmh7uncmtd46u

Snapcam

[goddi]

Hello Gary

After I was cheeky enough to critique your work I thought I should step into the line of fire.

I have posted this short sequence for comment.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yyxmh7uncmtd46u

Snapcam

====================

Snapcam,

After the record hot summer we have been having, it is a bit refreshing to watch your 'cool' slideshow. From a photographic standpoint, I noticed in the first few snow shots that the snow was not as white as it could be. When taking snow pictures, the camera tends to reduce the exposure because of the brightness of the snow. The result is the snow is not as white as it should be. So you have to compensate by opening the f/stop by one or two stops. Or, lock in the exposure on something that is closer to 15% gray which will get a better exposure to get whiter snow. Or it can be fixed, maybe, in Photoshop.... With a digital SLR, it is easier to do than with a Point and Shoot camera. I used to be more careful with exposure setting when I shot slidefilm, but I admit I tend to get forget these effects with digital, unfortunately.

My other comment is about the lack of user controls. I know this is a very sensitive topic but let me bear my chest on this. Some say, let the slideshow run as the author intended with no user controls being available. The only control your show has is the right mouse button that allows advancing to the next slide. Not even a pause control was available. I always hope that if the NAV bar is not active in the slideshow, at least put in the next/previous/pause keyboard controls. This lets the viewer watch the show as created and also lets the viewer go back or pause during the show. If it is a long show, as I tend to make , it give the viewer a chance to get more popcorn, or answer the phone, without having to start all over again. It gives the viewer the best of both worlds. If we can pause/forward/rewind movies, why not slideshows???

Just my point of view... I am not telling everyone to do this but to keep this in mind.

Gary

[snapcam]

Hello Gary

You are quite right regarding photo technic, Oh, the memories of slides Not making excuses but the first images where taken early in the morning(we tend to loose our snow fairly quickly and the highlights were held back to retain some texture in the snow. But I do see your point.

Regarding controls ,I pulled this from my list because of the file size. It would normally be used in club shows or festivals were no control is required (the rt. click is a surprise to me ).

In future I will include control for any forum posts.

Hope you enjoyed the show anyway.

Snapcam