The Beauty Of Aftrican Wildlife

[rick235]

This is my first AV show of any description, your constructive comments are very wecome

[morturn]

Hi rick235

Firstly welcome to the forum, and welcome to the world of AV.

I watched your slideshow this morning, and it was clear to me that you have spent time in Africa and you’re a well seasoned photographer.

A really exciting collection of great images, capturing the animals in their natural settings.

One or two of the images were not sharp, which when played with the others was more noticeable, and with a fairly large numbers of good images, they could have been left out.

I somehow had the impression that you used animation, because you may have felt you had to do something. I think your images stand out so well that they don’t need any animation, I found it distracting and did not ‘add’ anything to the show; the images are so good, let speak for them selves.

The music track was bang on, and show time about right, well it held my interest all the way.

Great for a first show, I will be looking out for your next one, thanks for sharing it with us.

[rick235]

Thank you for your kind observation and yes you are quite correct in that i used animation because i felt that i had to do something. Which slides do you think i should remove.

Rick Edwards ARPS

rick234@charter.net

[morturn]

That was quite hard to keep count, in fact I lost count. Such good images I did not want to look down a write.

It may be worth trying unsharp mask in Photoshop first rather then removing them, but take care.

Anyway: have another look at:-

13 and 16 (the zebra close up).

33 (the crowned crane?).

The first image of the saddled billed stork

The animated pan to the lions on the rock with the direction signs

The single zebra amongst the wildebeest image, at the start of the river crossing set.

[Hemjr]

Where is the slide show link. I do not see the link to it.

Howard

[cottage]

Where is the slide show link. I do not see the link to it.

Howard

Howard. Rick's presentation is on my website: http://www.beechbrook.com/pte

Regards,

Bill

[dpeterso]

This is my first AV show of any description, your constructive comments are very wecome

Rick –

First of all, welcome. I must say that your first show is spectacular. The music is fitting and beautiful. And the great photographs carry the show. You apparently are no stranger to shooting wildlife.

Here are a few things that I think would possibly enhance what is already a great show. The beginning slide is very dramatic and could possibly be used again as your closing slide before the music credits. I thought the title on the opening slide was rushed. It needs to move slower in concert with the music. I found the little inserts of pictures disruptive. Believe me, the pictures by themselves will carry the show. Also, I would not use the pans because they add nothing to what’s being communicated. In one case, the pan was too fast and short. So, I’d just leave them out. It may have helped to mix up the wildlife shots a bit more. Frankly, I watched it part way through once and then exited out because I was getting tired of seeing just elephants. Then I read Morturn’s response and decided to give it another try. I’m sure glad I did because you have some really great shots further into the show. I also appreciate your providing the music credits in detail. Out of Africa is one of my favorite movies.

I’m curious about your post processing. In the image of the wildebeest jumping into the river, the background looks like a Gaussian blur has been applied, making part of the image look like a painting. I also saw some odd looking blurs in the image of the pile of ivory tusks, especially in the people standing near by. It’s not that this treatment doesn’t look nice; it’s just that it looks unusual.

All in all Rick, a great show, and a great first-show. I hope you accept my suggestions as my own, and not that you need to change anything. I’ just want to be helpful if I can.

Best regards,

Dave

[rick235]

Rick –

First of all, welcome. I must say that your first show is spectacular. The music is fitting and beautiful. And the great photographs carry the show. You apparently are no stranger to shooting wildlife.

Here are a few things that I think would possibly enhance what is already a great show. The beginning slide is very dramatic and could possibly be used again as your closing slide before the music credits. I thought the title on the opening slide was rushed. It needs to move slower in concert with the music. I found the little inserts of pictures disruptive. Believe me, the pictures by themselves will carry the show. Also, I would not use the pans because they add nothing to what's being communicated. In one case, the pan was too fast and short. So, I'd just leave them out. It may have helped to mix up the wildlife shots a bit more. Frankly, I watched it part way through once and then exited out because I was getting tired of seeing just elephants. Then I read Morturn's response and decided to give it another try. I'm sure glad I did because you have some really great shots further into the show. I also appreciate your providing the music credits in detail. Out of Africa is one of my favorite movies.

I'm curious about your post processing. In the image of the wildebeest jumping into the river, the background looks like a Gaussian blur has been applied, making part of the image look like a painting. I also saw some odd looking blurs in the image of the pile of ivory tusks, especially in the people standing near by. It's not that this treatment doesn't look nice; it's just that it looks unusual.

All in all Rick, a great show, and a great first-show. I hope you accept my suggestions as my own, and not that you need to change anything. I' just want to be helpful if I can.

Best regards,

Dave

[rick235]

Thanks Dave,

The image of the Wildebeest jumping into the water was shot on slide film with a Nikon F4S, 600MM F4, 2X coupler plus a 1x coupler i was in my vehicle about a quarter of a mile away. when i saw what was happening, the film was a new film that i was testing for Kodak Kenya that never came onto the market. The reason for grouping the animals together is because i thought the viewer would get confused if i mixed them up.

About 45% of my work are vertical images that are used for front covers of magazines around the world and then find the only way i can find to use them in PTE is as inserts.

A thought that viewers would get bored with a straight slide show but after reading your comments and Morturn's i agree with both of you it's just to busy.

Now that i know what is required for PTE shows i will put it into practice when i return to Kenya for three weeks this coming Tuesday.

Thanks once again for your well founded comments they are much appreciated.

Best regards

Rick Edwards ARPS

rick235@charter.net

[Barry Beckham]

Rick

If those images were taken on one African Safari Holiday, then you had a belter of a time. A fabulous show which includes some stunning individual images. I have a number of comments I would like to make on your sequence, but I make them from the standpoint that this is a great show just as it is, but with a few changes, I think you could elevate this to outstanding. Firstly the music was absolutely perfect in my view, it did what music is supposed to do in a slide sequence like this, add to the mood and the feel of the show and you did capture a mood here. The quality of the images was stunning with a few exceptions.

There was one transition where you used the page curl and one where you used the mosaic. I think you should lose those two transitions and stay with what you used throughout the remainder of the show.They were out of keeping with the rest of the transitions in my view. There was a panned image that appeared to me to be going the wrong way with animals going backwards, it felt a little awkward to me and I would lose the pan or reverse it. There was another where the quaility wasn't good, that has to go. I think it was cats on that distance marker

The inset images worked pretty well, but I think they can work much better. Slow the animation down so that they come to a gentle stop rather than an ubrupt stop. I don't think the rotation of some of the insets was in keeping with the style of the show and in my view you should remain with a more gentle animation. You should also make a derivitive of your show with static Picture in Picture rather than animated and see what you think after watching that variation a few times..

There are a few images that you need to remove, the first being that elephant image that appears to have a green cast, it doesn't fit in with your others and they are much stronger. There are also one or two images where the quality doesn't match the majority. Remove them as your show has enough stunning images to be able to lose them easily. The show isn't short so the loss of 6 images isn't going to do you any harm at all. In fact the removal of a weaker image will enhance the overall show.

This sounds like I am being really critical, but if you did nothing your show is still a great one

I don't know if you have been following the thread on image size, but another thought came to me while watching it. This is a great sequence and I wonder if a year or so when and if you get a larger monitor that you will not regret making it larger and staying with an oblong format rather than 1024*768. One or two animals were jammed into the frame a little tight.

If you told me you had spent 6 months in Africa getting these images together it wouldn't suprise me.

Lastly have you thought of adding just a little commentary? The reason for the burning tusks is pretty obvious, but I wonder if limited commentary would really work a treat here.

I wished I had been with you on that safari and this is one of the best sequences I have seen for a while. It ticked all the boxes for me.

[dpeterso]

Thanks Dave,

The image of the Wildebeest jumping into the water was shot on slide film with a Nikon F4S, 600MM F4, 2X coupler plus a 1x coupler i was in my vehicle about a quarter of a mile away. when i saw what was happening, the film was a new film that i was testing for Kodak Kenya that never came onto the market. The reason for grouping the animals together is because i thought the viewer would get confused if i mixed them up.

About 45% of my work are vertical images that are used for front covers of magazines around the world and then find the only way i can find to use them in PTE is as inserts.

A thought that viewers would get bored with a straight slide show but after reading your comments and Morturn's i agree with both of you it's just to busy.

Now that i know what is required for PTE shows i will put it into practice when i return to Kenya for three weeks this coming Tuesday.

Thanks once again for your well founded comments they are much appreciated.

Best regards

Rick Edwards ARPS

rick235@charter.net

Rick,

After reading the suggestions of others, I have an addendum to what I said earlier. I agree with Barry that it would have been really special to have the resolutions set for larger wide-screen formats. PTE will scale it down for those viewing on smaller monitors. The pictures are too good to have to squint to see them. (Exaggeration) Also, if you do remove a few of the pictures, then that creates gaps regarding the soundtrack. You could fill the time gaps with either a voice-over explaining a little about what we are seeing, or even use some scrolling text to set the stage. Things like: where you were, how long, equipment used, etc.

Have a good Labor Day.

Dave

[rick235]

Rick

If those images were taken on one African Safari Holiday, then you had a belter of a time. A fabulous show which includes some stunning individual images. I have a number of comments I would like to make on your sequence, but I make them from the standpoint that this is a great show just as it is, but with a few changes, I think you could elevate this to outstanding. Firstly the music was absolutely perfect in my view, it did what music is supposed to do in a slide sequence like this, add to the mood and the feel of the show and you did capture a mood here. The quality of the images was stunning with a few exceptions.

There was one transition where you used the page curl and one where you used the mosaic. I think you should lose those two transitions and stay with what you used throughout the remainder of the show.They were out of keeping with the rest of the transitions in my view. There was a panned image that appeared to me to be going the wrong way with animals going backwards, it felt a little awkward to me and I would lose the pan or reverse it. There was another where the quaility wasn't good, that has to go. I think it was cats on that distance marker

The inset images worked pretty well, but I think they can work much better. Slow the animation down so that they come to a gentle stop rather than an ubrupt stop. I don't think the rotation of some of the insets was in keeping with the style of the show and in my view you should remain with a more gentle animation. You should also make a derivitive of your show with static Picture in Picture rather than animated and see what you think after watching that variation a few times..

There are a few images that you need to remove, the first being that elephant image that appears to have a green cast, it doesn't fit in with your others and they are much stronger. There are also one or two images where the quality doesn't match the majority. Remove them as your show has enough stunning images to be able to lose them easily. The show isn't short so the loss of 6 images isn't going to do you any harm at all. In fact the removal of a weaker image will enhance the overall show.

This sounds like I am being really critical, but if you did nothing your show is still a great one

I don't know if you have been following the thread on image size, but another thought came to me while watching it. This is a great sequence and I wonder if a year or so when and if you get a larger monitor that you will not regret making it larger and staying with an oblong format rather than 1024*768. One or two animals were jammed into the frame a little tight.

If you told me you had spent 6 months in Africa getting these images together it wouldn't suprise me.

Lastly have you thought of adding just a little commentary? The reason for the burning tusks is pretty obvious, but I wonder if limited commentary would really work a treat here.

I wished I had been with you on that safari and this is one of the best sequences I have seen for a while. It ticked all the boxes for me.

[rick235]

Hi Barry,

First of all i would like to thank for your comments and secondly because without your help with your tutorials i would not have been able to produce the AV at all.

I do in fact have a wide screen monitor a NEC MultiSync LCD 3090WQXI 2500PX BY 1975 PX but because PTE recommended 1024BY768 that's the way i started to put the show together, i had no idea that PTE could or would re-size the image for other sized monitors.

Because this was my fist AV I tried to cram every thing into it, after listening and reading all of the comments i now realize this was the wrong way to go, i will start to make another AV show but this time i will try to correct all the mistakes that i made and will run it by everybody that took the time to comment before i post the show.

All of the images were taken in Kenya when i lived their for ten years and in fact most of the images were shot about three miles from my home in Nairobi National Park, this park is missed by most tourist as they normally head of to more exotic places like the Masai Mara, the number of times i have heard tourists say they had seen everything except Black Rhino while three miles away in Nairobi Park there are more than sixty of these animals. In fact this park produced the largest single litter of Cheetah kittens ever recorded (8), sometimes it's a blessing that few people visit this park because I was the only one as far as I know that managed to photograph them and later sold the images and story of their fantastic mother to BBC WILDLIFE magazine.

Barry would you mind if on the last image i included the words Tutorials by BeckhamDigital.com.

In two days time we are back to Kenya for three weeks to photograph the animals again and because we have lived their and know that animals are like fish in that 90% of the animals are in 10% of the parks hopefully we still know were to look to get the best images.

Once again many thanks for your comments and recommendations.

Best regards

Rick Edwards ARPS.

[Barry Beckham]

Well, no matter how long you were there the images are great.

I have no problem with you giving a credit to our site, but to be honest it doesn't really belong on the end of your show. Save that and pass it on by word of mouth. Keep the end credits to you the author and the music.

With regard size, you have one show made at 1024*768, why not try the next at a size that will fill your monitor screen. The good part about that is the result will still play perfectly OK on your other monitor too

Our website isn't a .com though

www.beckhamdigital.co.uk

or

www.beckhamdigital.com.au

[jfa]

Rick

For a first show this is quite a knock-out, well done.

The images were composed beautifully and almost all were sharp and exposed well. I think the animation you used worked well and added to the show, keep it in the show, in general your presentation was excellent.

The music you used was well chosen and an good match to the subject, again it shows the use of movie music in an AV is a good choice as the music is written to match the theme of the show.

I think the inset images worked very well and as Barry said a little slower would be an improvement they, and the effect enhanced the overall AV and allowed you to show your excellent vertical images.

The mosaic dissolve on the spotted cats was a great choice and I disagree with the suggestion to remove it, the dissolve matched and repeated the spots on the cats and I thought it was a great creative choice.

The removal of a few images was a good suggestion as the show was a little to long. Those images suggested earlier were a good choice or perhaps the section on the destruction of the illegal Ivory may be removed as it moves away from the theme of the show a little, (even though it was very interesting).

Keep this AV as is and make a second with some commentary or with some text as suggested and compare the two.

Yes the resolutions set for larger wide-screen format would be another improvement.

Thanks for sharing your work I enjoyed it and look forward to seeing more.

[rick235]

Hi John,

First let me thank for taking the time to watch the show and write your kind words, as we leave today for Kenya it will have to wait until we return before i start our next show but already i have set the crop tool to 2560px by 1600 px my question to you and anyone reading these comments should i stay at 72px resolution or increase to get a better picture because of the size of the crop.

Once again thank you for your your remarks and rest assured the next show will hopefully be better.

Regards

Rick

rick235@charter.net

[dpeterso]

Hi John,

First let me thank for taking the time to watch the show and write your kind words, as we leave today for Kenya it will have to wait until we return before i start our next show but already i have set the crop tool to 2560px by 1600 px my question to you and anyone reading these comments should i stay at 72px resolution or increase to get a better picture because of the size of the crop.

Once again thank you for your your remarks and rest assured the next show will hopefully be better.

Regards

Rick

rick235@charter.net

Rick -

I may get all tangled up in the web of limited understanding regarding resolution, but it seems to me that you would want to size your pictures with what you'll be viewing them with, now and in the future. Personally, I've started sizing my images at 1920 x 1080 because that is the format of HDTV. Computer monitors are migrating to that format also. So it doesn't make sense to my limited understanding why you'd want to use 2560 X 1600. The only reason I can see to go larger is if you plan on doing panning and zooming in. If you do that, then it's best to start with a larger image to avoid seeing pixelation. Also keep in mind that if you start big, then PTE will downsize for smaller viewing devices.

The 72 pixels/in you refer to ("Resolution of the Document Size") doesn't enter into the equation. It's relevant only if you are printing the image.

Hope this helps. Have a good trip.

Dave

[Barry Beckham]

Rick

As Dave says you don't ned to go that high in resolution if you don't want to and 1920*1200 04 1920*1080 is a good next step for you to take.

I don't make many DVD's so I stay with 1920*1200

If I made lots of DVD's I may choose 1920*1080, but if I find a show anytime that I want to make a DVD from and I really am fussy about filling my TV screen all I have to do is recrop the images and take 120 pixels from the height. 60 pixels top and bottom is no gret problem.

Set your crop to whatever res you want and the PPI will take care of itself.