Almark

I am giving a talk to the Bangor branch of the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) this Thursday. The subject is New Zealand and I have over 800 photos available to show. The talk is for one hour 30 mins., Most of the photos will only be shown for a second or so, while others will have story to tell. But I prepared an AVof the best photos, and wonder whether I should show it at the beginning of the talk - to set the scene - or at the end? What do you think, beginning or end, or both? All advice is most welcome. http://www.markallenphotography.co.uk/markallenphotography_galleries/nz.exe

Thanks Andrew, to do it right I will have to spend some time with PS to remove and correct the blemishes. I have already done some work on them, I need to do more.

My good lady often complained that I was always doing AV's for weddings for other peoples' weddings and that she, and we, did not have an AV of our own wedding. So I suggested that she buy me a scanner. Sadly she did, and it was one of the new all in one printer / scanner / photocopier. The scans were just awful. So I used the scanner at my camera club and they were much, much better. The photos were damaged by time, but I was able to get some decent images. They need a lot of work, my black suit looks as it I had been in a dumpster all night! So I offer my first draft. Note that in 1979 there was no such thing as digital photography, no FULL wide screen HD 1920x1200, and so on. The ratio of the day was 1:1 or square. All suggestions on how I could improve this are very welcome! download here Slower version download here

Hi folks, this has been a 'hobby horse' of mine. I can never get it right, but often re-visit it and try again. I liked the MUSE version of 'Micro cuts' as the words were hard to make out and the vocal screams seemed to me to fit the images. However I have received a lot of feedback that the music was awful ;-) So I have tried again, with another loud track. When I say loud, I mean I want you to turn your volume up. This time it is 'The Prodigy', with 'Fire Starter'. I hope the images 'bounce' to the soundtrack. Intended audience: My son was with me when I visited New York just after 9/11. We were welcomed by new yorkers, who went out of their way to help us out. This for him. download here...

Hi Brian, It is great to see another 'Norn Iron' member on this world wide forum. Feedback and observations - purely for your information - as requested 1. The title slide in from the right. I suggest a simple fade in to the centre. 2. With the title being about the Glens of Antrim I expected to see the glens! but no, you have a derelict building, wind turbines, cows, wind turbines, and then an area that includes a gravel or tarmac car park on the left... 3. however; the images of the river are great, with good lead in lines 4. some of the images have blown highlights 5. the images of the boats are again good, with great lead in lines, the composition of some of these are excellent. But the bottom line is: is this an av of the glens or simply County Antrim? Again: just feedback and observations - purely for your information - as requested. Feel free to ignore or come back and ask for more information.

Thanks for the feedback David

Perhaps a 'skip' or 'next' button?

I think one of the best ways to get appropriate feedback on AV's posted here is to let folk know of the intended audience. Clearly; there is a big difference between an AV that the author is intending to submit for an AV competition and one that he is sending to his grandparents or grandchildren on the other side of the world just for fun. So if you want feedback, simply ask for it! Tell us who the intended audience is and we may be able to offer better and more appropriate and constructive feedback.

One of the points highlighted at my camera club was the tilt-able screen that the SONY NEX-5 offers. For example: _DSC0072 by Mark_Allen, on Flickr ] With bare feet I was able to walk into the rocks and pools and simply bend down and using the tilt - able scren compose my image. With my D700 it could have been done, but it would have been much harder to do.

Hi Gary, thank you for listening and seriously considering my comments. This is how the forums works best. As I am sure you are now aware there was no intention, on my part, to insult your integrity or belittle your photographic prowess ;-) Just observations that a fresh eye can often see - that the author sometimes can't. It is a bit like proof reading a document, the author has seen it so many times, has done so many alterations and edits and they miss some of the basic stuff that that others can pick up on. That is why in business we circulate a final draft document for comment. I have found the feedback here on this forum to be excellent and therefore sometimes want to repay the advice, guidance offered to me, by trying to do the same for others. One of the crucial factors is the intended audience. My last Av (France 2010) was made for viewing at my local camera club. I showed it to my wife - who was most unimpressed. Where are the photos of this and that... you took hundreds of photos and only include about 20! and so on... The Av was not for her, but I thought she might like to see it. The av was for the members of the camera club to provoke discussion on composition, the technical merits of a APS_C sensor in a compact camera, the use of the tilt lcd screen and so on... Therefore sometimes if the Av is for a specific (rather than a general) audience, it is good to add this info when posting.

Barry, well said!

Barry I fully agree. On my AV's I use music that is not royalty free, but comes from CD's that I have bought. I know this is not strictly legal, but as far as I am concerned I bought the CD and the AV's are not for any commercial purpose. So, to build on Davy C's earlier posts who give a s**t! No one I suspect. Snapcam, was this pp presentation done with office 10? I can't open it in open office. It seems to be xml based. May I as you to save it in an earlier version with a ppt extension please?

Hi Gary, I found a number of problems with your AV. If you are interested in feedback then please read below, otherwise feel free to simply ignore my comments. The green drop shadow on the title page makes it look like 3D gone wrong. I suggest you change it to grey. The animated map showed your route, I expected it to stop at the park. You overlay text on images that have text and that makes it hard to read both. From a photography point of view, many images have clearly blown highlights. Many of the images appear to be over sharpened. The guitar music has a noticeable series of clicks in the background. You might want to place your portrait images together. I hope this helps.

Andrew, I am using Win7 64bit. The first time i ran it I thought it had stuck on the first page as I was able to read the text twice. BTW, there is a space missing between 'blockhuas,then'. I right clicked and got the second image and so on but no sound.

Back to the original point - sometimes you simply do not know if the image is subject to copyright. Indeed it may be almost impossible to find this out. I suspect the key element here is the use the images are put to. If they are used in a commercial venture, and a breach of copyright is discovered, then you will have the possibility that you may have to pay the consequences. However if it not a commercial venture and a breach of copyright is discovered, then I think an apology might be enough. Although even this is not clear cut. Say I did an AV using archive material and post it here and on Beechbrook, with links on Flickr (and so on). I am then approached by an image agency legal team to tell me that I have breached their copyright. While I can delete the offending image, I cant delete the image from all the downloads. In Tim's case (mentioned above) there was just one breach - on his web site. But for me, in this hypothetical case, there could be hundreds of breaches. OR What happens if someone: 1. collects downloaded AV's from here (or Beechbrook, or wherever) and puts together a compilation of AV's, and then puts them on a CDROM and sells it along with a PTE tutorial? 2. collects them and saves them to their laptop, and then does a talk tour to camera clubs - showing the AV's and gets paid as a guest speaker? Who is liable? Who knows!

Thanks all for the feedback. Davy I did this one the other way around, to my usual approach. I found the music first! Maybe you are right ;-)

Good Grief! What a carry on... ;-) What more can I say? Apart from this: a mate of mine, Tim, was recently contacted by lawyers of Getty Images. They pointed out that he was using one of their copyright images on his web site. He immediately apologised saying that he had got the image from the Internet, via Flickr, and had asked the guy for permission to use it. As he got no reply he ASSUMED it was OK. It turns out the Flickr post was a breach of copyright and the author of the account could not be traced. Flickr immediately removed the account and all the images. But Tim was traced, via his web site. The lawyers were able to say that the image was first posted on his web site on 'such and such' a date, and as it had been on his website promoting his commercial venture for 6 months they demanded a $300 payment. While they accepted that Tim was 'mistaken' in his belief that the image not subject to copyright, they insisted that if he did not pay up, they would take the case to the local small claims court and ask for maximum damages. While this smacks of blackmail (demanding money with menaces) it was quite clear that they were prepared to take the case to court (to perhaps make an example, get publicity, etc.) Tim sought legal advice but as a result he paid up. Of course the crucial issue here is that Tim used the image on a business web site. Most of us here on the forum do the odd AV for our own entertainment, or to show at a camera club meeting. We are not selling our wares... However: the fact remains that the rights of some old archive images my be owned by - Getty - Magnum - etc., and merely saying 'this Av must not be used for any commercial purpose' may not be enough! Once it is on the 'net who knows how it will be used? ;-) I hope you all noted my little ;-) above. The problem with text forums (and email) is that sometimes you can't get across what you mean at the time. As a result, others will pick up on the words, perhaps misinterpret them and reply with a vengeance. Heated debate is fine, but 'flame wars' here on this forum is not what I come here for! I come here to see others AV's and to learn, providing feedback and getting feedback on my own work.

Great work Davy, I still play with my version... download here

Just some photos of a recent holiday, illustrating the abilities of the SONY NEX-5, 16mm f/2.8 [Audience: camera club members] Download here

I didn't like the fullhd approach. I found that by stretching the images so that they would fill the screen - they lost some of the design and composition elements I had intended. So I have gone back to a 4:3 approach and am much happier with the result. I removed a couple of photos to allow more time for the pano, (30s to 40s) and also removed the black image that followed it. Thanks for the suggestions, I think this is much better.

Thanks for all the feedback, I have updated the Av, same link here Titles reduced in size, the correct spelling for the bride's name Katharine instead of Katherine, and all landscape images are full hd.

Thank you all for the feedback. All useful information.

At this wedding I was using a D700 with a fast lens (24-70 f/2.8) I had to use an ISO of 800 with the d700, and 1600 with my D300 (with 18-200VR lens). So I wasn't sure if I could get any decent photos with a compact. But the Sony HX5V worked very well with the low light conditions. It really is so simple to use. I have found that I can get almost 360 when it is set to wide, rather than standard.

Unless you know the folk getting married, a PTE Av of their wedding, will not have much interest. However, I know many members of this forum like to see the photography and critically assess the techniques used and so on. A friend of mine asked me to help out with a wedding that he was doing for a friend of his for free! I used a Nikon D700, 24-70 f/2.8 and D300, 18-200 VR and a Sony HX5v for the panoramas. As this was a freebie I haven't done much work for the Av, it is roughly full HD, 1920x1080. I have played about with the images in Capture NX2. Some images have 'pop colour', while others have a selective and graduated mono background. As always I seek feedback. I know that many images are not exactly right, as far as the AV is concerned. But I welcome all other feedback, especailly on my photography approach. PTE Download here YouTube

A year has now past, the first anniversary of his death was grim. People expect the family to get over, or come to terms, with bereavement after a year. This was true when my parents passed away, and other friends / colleagues, and so on. But when you are pre-deceased by your children, it doesn't work that way. Quite simply, life will never be the same. The PTE AV is still on-line here I have also created an on-line memorial page using the 'gone too soon' web site. If you have time please visit and light a candle. You can visit the site here.