Imagine

[Barry Beckham]

Ever since I was a boy, I was captivated by prehistoric times. I recall a radio show for schools back in the early 50's where the narrator spoke as if he was there, millions of years ago. I could almost see what he was describing.

The inspiration came after reading an information board in the Tambourine Mountains in July 2011, which said that the vegetation we now see around us, is still much the same as it was 25 million years ago.

Just imagine it.

PC and Mac versions at the page below

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/slideshows_3.html

[Lakelandlass]

Barry - an absolutely beautiful piece of work with dramatic music to match.

Maureen

[SheilaG]

Hi Barry,

Your AVs never disappoint.

The concept of the 'living fossils' grabs us and takes us into the fabulous landscape, that exists without human intervention, and gives us a 'background thought' against which to see the images. The little bit of gentle panning and zoom also adds to that feeling of timelessness. I've never been able to look at a fern or a crocodile without being reminded of how 'young' mankind truly is. Hope you can tell that I liked the sequence!!

I'm a member of 2 photographic clubs, and a small AV group, within the L&CPU in England. Through that involvement I go to a number of inter-club competitions and look at many salon acceptances on cds and their websites. In other words, I see an awful lot of REALLY good photography and yours is up there with the best for quality of composition, capture in camera and editing afterwards.

And getting to AVs ....... I've probably looked at most of yours from your website and, even when the subject material wasn't of particular interest to myself, recognised the attention to detail, that you always bring to your sequences, which makes them so worth watching.

I already include your website on a list of useful links that I have on some 'How to ....' downloads that I have on my own website and I will happily add a link from my Links page. I will also add one from my club's website links page. (in fact - DONE!)

Regards,

Sheila

ps ..............I liked the choice of music, as well!

[Barry Beckham]

Thank you Sheila and Maureen

I have always made sure I stayed away from obvious music for my AV's over the years, but I have always loved that soundtrack. On this occasion I made an exception because it really set the scene for the images, simple because it is such a well known peice.

A lot of hours went into that sequence

[David Porter]

As always, excellent photography and a good story line. However, I don't understand the need for all the mini pans and zooms as I don't see what they add to the show. It reminds me of what my smart phone does when I press "slideshow"

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Mick, although I haven't seen the show, I too make mini pans & zooms where the original picture doesn't warrant cropping, so getting a 3-2 original into 5-3 I have to either pan or zoom or have a black border.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[Lakelandlass]

Thank you Sheila and Maureen

I have always made sure I stayed away from obvious music for my AV's over the years, but I have always loved that soundtrack. On this occasion I made an exception because it really set the scene for the images, simple because it is such a well known peice.

A lot of hours went into that sequence

Yes, Barry, and it shows. Superb.

Maureen

[colin hill]

Barry,

Short and sweet.....a superb masterpiece. I thoroughly enjoyed it and excellent photography along with the music.

Colin

[nharris]

Ever since I was a boy, I was captivated by prehistoric times. I recall a radio show for schools back in the early 50's where the narrator spoke as if he was there, millions of years ago. I could almost see what he was describing.

The inspiration came after reading an information board in the Tambourine Mountains in July 2011, which said that the vegetation we now see around us, is still much the same as it was 25 million years ago.

Just imagine it.

PC and Mac versions at the page below

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/slideshows_3.html

[nharris]

Hello Barry:

I enjoyed looking at "Imagine" Good photography,great A.V and the music supports it all.

As a Queenslander I really enjoyed the landscapes.

[BootZilla]

Barry -

Great sequence. I'm not usually a fan of rousing music for slideshows but in this case your choice was perfect. The music is majestic along with several of the images and when the music calms the images suite the change of the tone of the theme. Very well done indeed.

Greg

[Barry Beckham]

Greg

Yes a fair amount of effort went into getting the images perfectly right for the music that was playing, glad you noticed. Its often lost on some viewers.

[paulziets]

Barry,

Excellent as usual. I thought I detected a bit of movement in the waterfall right near the end which looks brilliant.

Regards,

Paul

[Paulcl]

Well done Barry on the show. I felt that the gentle panning and gentle zooming of the images really made the show. It has made me think of how to incorperate some of your ideas into some of my future productions.

Regards

Paul

[Barry Beckham]

I think it's a fine call, when it comes to animation. In my view it can either be a hinderance or an improvement. After all, the vast majority of slide shows we see here are Image based, not story based and then animation is often used, because the pictures are not strong enough on their own. I happen to think that moving images about does little for their appeal. So, I had to think long and hard before adding the animation myself. When you add animation, generally that means the image will be on screen longer than usual, so the question the author should be asking themselves is :- Is the image strong enough to be seen for that long. I am not sure there is a perfect answer or a black and white right or wrong.

I have watched my own show dozens of times and when you do that, any weak areas generally show themselves to you. So far I am reasonably happy with what I view and the animation isn't getting on my nerves yet.

[coopernatural]

Barry,

You can do much better than this subpar effort.

The premise of the show as a step back to prehistory was weak and unconvincing.

A thinly veiled attempt to disguise a rebadged presentation of Rainforest III,rather than a Jurassic Park III.

The departure from your usual type of music is encouraging,but not here.The scale,grandeur,reverence and timing of the piece was lost and seldom matched.

Rainforests must be great places to visit in real life,but something is lost in your AV translation,same as with Rainforest I and II.Devoid of life,this is anything but exciting.

Some excellent images/tweaking,but then again,some not so great.

So for me,it’s not one of your best works,but I do think a combo of Rainforest I,II and III could yield a good AV/Slideshow.

Music/Musak and timing would have to match though.

Davy

[BootZilla]

DaveC -

What have you been smokin'???

Greg

[coopernatural]

Bootlikka,

Smoking is a disgusting habit.Much like sychopancy.

You should really try giving it up,or start smoking instead.

Davy

[Ken Cox]

well he is living in the right province if he decides to take it up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Bud

ken

[Almark]

Wonderful work, well done!

[goddi]

Ever since I was a boy, I was captivated by prehistoric times. I recall a radio show for schools back in the early 50's where the narrator spoke as if he was there, millions of years ago. I could almost see what he was describing. The inspiration came after reading an information board in the Tambourine Mountains in July 2011, which said that the vegetation we now see around us, is still much the same as it was 25 million years ago.

Just imagine it.

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

Barry,

The images are magical and I enjoyed the show. However, the most distracting thing about the composition is the beginning text. I did not like the fact that proper punctuation was not used. Why didn't you put periods at the end of the sentences? Why did you capitalize nouns that did not need to be capitalized? I had to keep going back to make sure I was at the end of the sentence or the beginning of a sentence. The lack of periods at the end of the sentences and capitalization of nouns where there should not be, distracted me all the way though the show. Perhaps this is a style you intended to have? For me, it did not work well. It reminds me of many of the postings on this site that lack proper punctuation to the point that I really am not sure what they are trying to say. My other critique is that I expected a different type of music. I think the mood of the show would have been better with a 'rainforest' type of music to make it more mysterious, which would match the images.

Gary

[David Porter]

Gary,

You must hate getting emails or, heaven forbid, texts! The main thing, Barry, is I understood it (too many coomas?).

[goddi]

Gary,

You must hate getting emails or, heaven forbid, texts! The main thing, Barry, is I understood it (too many coomas?).

=====

True. I hate getting emails with poor spelling and lack of proper punctuation. I don't like to have to guess at what someone is trying to say. Oh...I don't get text messages, thank goodness! I don't want to start a ruckus here, but I do think there is great room for improvement. We have spell checkers and grammar checkers. All we need to do is use them. Sure we understood what Barry was trying to say. I just think his text portion should have matched his impressive images.

Gary

[Barry Beckham]

Goddi

Yes, your right, its one of my weaknesses, I usually give my text to my better half to proof read for me and she picks up on these things. On this occasion I must have got blinded by the project, but I have corrected it and also the coomas. It was originally written to be commentary, read by an Australian accent. Then I changed my mind, but I am not a great fan of scrolling text, but needs must sometimes.

I don't agree with your views on the music though. I have been around AV for a very long time and when a piece of music inspires a sequence, that sequence usually works that bit better, so on this occasion, I think the choice of music is right. The music came first and inspired the choices of images, but I accept we cannot all like the same thing. I would like you to define what Rainforest music is, because I have found this topic the most difficult to find music for. Music that works OK for almost any other subject just doesn't for Rainforests.

[goddi]

Goddi

Yes, your right, its one of my weaknesses, I usually give my text to my better half to proof read for me and she picks up on these things. On this occasion I must have got blinded by the project, but I have corrected it and also the coomas. It was originally written to be commentary, read by an Australian accent. Then I changed my mind, but I am not a great fan of scrolling text, but needs must sometimes.

I don't agree with your views on the music though. I have been around AV for a very long time and when a piece of music inspires a sequence, that sequence usually works that bit better, so on this occasion, I think the choice of music is right. The music came first and inspired the choices of images, but I accept we cannot all like the same thing. I would like you to define what Rainforest music is, because I have found this topic the most difficult to find music for. Music that works OK for almost any other subject just doesn't for Rainforests.

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

Barry,

I just see that the use of proper punctuation, grammar and spelling has gone downhill, in general. Most emails I see are froth with mistakes and it makes it a lot of work to 'interpret' what the writer means to say. Thanks for the understanding. Your text just did not do the rest of your show justice.

Music is probably the hardest part of creating a show but the most fun when you find something you like and it fits. It has to present the proper mood and a reasonable length to fit the show. Sometimes next to impossible. What I mean by 'rainforest' music is something like what I found in the YouTube videos (I hope these links work):

Rain Forest - Ambient New Age Reiki Music Video

Amazon Rainforest Relaxation Video

There was nothing wrong with your choice but I wanted to have a more mysterious mood to match the mysterious 'prehistoric' images. Just my thoughts.

Gary