Bangkok, Thailand

[goddi]

NEW SHOW ON BEECHBROOK: BANGKOK, THAILAND

http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Year: November 2011

Aspect ratio: 16:9

Screen resolution: 1920x1080

Videos: Reduced from 1080p (MOVs) to 720p (MP4s) to reduce file size

Size of file: 103Mbs

Run time: 10:15

Manual control (yes/no): Yes

Camera and lens: Nikon D7000, 18-200mm

Any other info that you can provide:

This is a large slide show but it is due mostly to the added video files. In order to get the size down, the video files were reduced from 1080p to 720p. It is still quite large but I hope you will give it a look.

This trip to Bangkok was our final stop on our several week trip to Cambodia and Thailand. Most of the scenes are of the river taxis that are more efficient than trying to travel around by land taxi. You will note a lot of images show sandbags. This was due to the tremendous flooding that Thailand was experiencing this year. The inner city was mostly spared but was ready for the possibility. The river was high but posed no real problem for tourist in the inner city. Bangkok, as well as the rest of Thailand, is a wonderful place for a visit.

Comments and critiques are welcomed.

Gary Oddi

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Gary

Much against my house rules (nothing over 50MB) I downloaded your show. First reaction I liked it & have kept it. As far as critique goes, the pictures in the main were stunning, a couple could benefit from lightening the deep shadows to bring out more detail, (I assume you have NX2 & can spot lighten?). The video was good assuming it was all hand held? If it was HH it was excellent, probably being on water helped. The music fitted the show exactly. I didn't like the format change from lanscape to portrait, IMO stretching portrait shots to full width & panning them is the lesser of the two evils. Some of the pans & zooms of the stills started & stopped abruptly. Overall an excellent effort that I would be happy to acheive.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[goddi]

Hi Gary

Much against my house rules (nothing over 50MB) I downloaded your show. First reaction I liked it & have kept it. As far as critique goes, the pictures in the main were stunning, a couple could benefit from lightening the deep shadows to bring out more detail, (I assume you have NX2 & can spot lighten?). The video was good assuming it was all hand held? If it was HH it was excellent, probably being on water helped. The music fitted the show exactly. I didn't like the format change from lanscape to portrait, IMO stretching portrait shots to full width & panning them is the lesser of the two evils. Some of the pans & zooms of the stills started & stopped abruptly. Overall an excellent effort that I would be happy to acheive.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

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

Eric,

I can't believe it. I figured you'd be the last one to download it! Thanks much for viewing it. Yes, the video was hand-held. This trip was my first attempt to take stills AND video. I do have NX2 but haven't really used it. My primary editing tool is Photoshop CS5...but recently I got Viveza 2. It works within Photoshop. It is really a gem. If you use only the "Structure" tool, it is worth the price. You can make more precise adjustments.

Yes, I know some people do not like the use of the Portrait format. I don't understand why. When you shoot a vertical object, Portrait is the only way to go, IMHO. I think not having them makes the show a bit boring. But I guess that is my 'old school' mentality. I didn't notice abrupt pans and zooms. I will go back and look more closely. Maybe it has to do with video cards??? Don't know.

I think music is one of the hardest parts of assembling a slide show. It puts the 'emotion' in the show. But working with the set length of the music and the number of slides you want to use, can be the real nut to crack.

Thanks for the critique.

Gary

[davegee]

.............Yes, the video was hand-held. This trip was my first attempt to take stills AND video. I do have NX2 but haven't really used it. My primary editing tool is Photoshop CS5...but recently I got Viveza 2. It works within Photoshop. It is really a gem. If you use only the "Structure" tool, it is worth the price. You can make more precise adjustments.

Yes, I know some people do not like the use of the Portrait format. I don't understand why. When you shoot a vertical object, Portrait is the only way to go, IMHO. I think not having them makes the show a bit boring. But I guess that is my 'old school' mentality. I didn't notice abrupt pans and zooms. I will go back and look more closely. Maybe it has to do with video cards??? Don't know.

I think music is one of the hardest parts of assembling a slide show. It puts the 'emotion' in the show. But working with the set length of the music and the number of slides you want to use, can be the real nut to crack.

Thanks for the critique.

Gary

Gary,

NIK Viveza and Silver FX etc are Integral parts of NX2 - you are "wasting money" buying them twice. All that you get for your money is the presets. Added to that they work on the RAW files in NX2 - they work on the TIFFs in CS.

Portrait - why not show your portrait image overlaying a faded-back or blurred landscape image - that way the change of AR doesn't hit you in the face?

Music - it's a simple matter to repeat a verse or chorus in a piece of music to add time or cut 4 or 8 bars out without interrupting the flow. With care it can be done in PTE's Audio Utility and will hopefully be even better in 7.5 / 8.

DG

P.S. I'm now going to watch your show.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

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

Eric,

I can't believe it. I figured you'd be the last one to download it! Thanks much for viewing it. Yes, the video was hand-held. This trip was my first attempt to take stills AND video. I do have NX2 but haven't really used it. My primary editing tool is Photoshop CS5...but recently I got Viveza 2. It works within Photoshop. It is really a gem. If you use only the "Structure" tool, it is worth the price. You can make more precise adjustments.

Yes, I know some people do not like the use of the Portrait format. I don't understand why. When you shoot a vertical object, Portrait is the only way to go, IMHO. I think not having them makes the show a bit boring. But I guess that is my 'old school' mentality. I didn't notice abrupt pans and zooms. I will go back and look more closely. Maybe it has to do with video cards??? Don't know.

I think music is one of the hardest parts of assembling a slide show. It puts the 'emotion' in the show. But working with the set length of the music and the number of slides you want to use, can be the real nut to crack.

Thanks for the critique.

Gary

Gary

The method in my madness was I wanted to see how PTE handled your video & you took the pictures.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Gary

Not a good example but I may try similar in my next show where I would normally pan.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[colin hill]

Hi Gary,

A very good show which I enjoyed and a nice combination of still pictures and video.

The portrait format does not bother me personally, though showing them over a blurred landscape image could improve the visual aspect.

Thanks for sharing,

Colin

[goddi]

Hi Gary

Not a good example but I may try similar in my next show where I would normally pan.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

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

Eric,

Yes, I see what you mean. I just find it to be a little distracting from the main photo. Perhaps blurring the background image would help, as Colin posted. This comment has been made before about one of my other shows but I just can't bring myself to do it...yet. Never say never!

Gary

[goddi]

Gary,

NIK Viveza and Silver FX etc are Integral parts of NX2 - you are "wasting money" buying them twice. All that you get for your money is the presets. Added to that they work on the RAW files in NX2 - they work on the TIFFs in CS.

Portrait - why not show your portrait image overlaying a faded-back or blurred landscape image - that way the change of AR doesn't hit you in the face?

Music - it's a simple matter to repeat a verse or chorus in a piece of music to add time or cut 4 or 8 bars out without interrupting the flow. With care it can be done in PTE's Audio Utility and will hopefully be even better in 7.5 / 8.

DG

P.S. I'm now going to watch your show.

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

DG,

At first I was not sure what you meant by 'wasting money' with Viveza. Now I see. I said I have 'NX2'. But I figured out that I have 'View NX2' and you were talking about 'Capture NX2'(?). I did not realize there are two different 'NX2's. I have not tried Capture NX2 so I didn't know what it has. Does it include the 'Structure' tool? I will look into Capture NX2.

I just can't see adding a blurred image behind an image. Since I tend to shoot a lot of portrait images, it would be a lot of work to come up with different blurred images for backgrounds. I wouldn't want to repeat the same background image over and over. But as I said, never say never. I will have to work on that one. I'm not sure why it is so 'shocking' to just show a portrait image with the black background.

I have tried to reduce the length of a music file by deleting portions, but it ends in a mess. I think it would have to really depend on the selected music.

Thanks for watching the show.

Gary

[goddi]

Hi Gary

.... Some of the pans & zooms of the stills started & stopped abruptly. Overall an excellent effort that I would be happy to acheive.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

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

Eric,

I went back and tried to find pans & zooms of stills that started and stopped abruptly. I did not notice this problem. Could you identify a few of these points so I can have a better idea which ones they are? I have played a few of my shows at a photoclub and I noticed they did not run as smoothly as at home. Maybe it is hardware related???

Gary

[davegee]

Gary,

The "abrupt" stops and starts are to do with the way that you have configured the Zooms and Pans and Videos.

Zooms, Pans and Videos should (IMHO) start at the beginning of an incoming transition and end at the end of an outgoing transition.

Many of your Zooms, Pans and Videos start after the incoming transition has ended and end before the outgoing transition has ended.

WRT a blurred image I don't usually use the same image twice. I blur the image before the Portrait image so that there is continuity between the two slides.

DG

[goddi]

Gary,

The "abrupt" stops and starts are to do with the way that you have configured the Zooms and Pans and Videos.

Zooms, Pans and Videos should (IMHO) start at the beginning of an incoming transition and end at the end of an outgoing transition.

Many of your Zooms, Pans and Videos start after the incoming transition has ended and end before the outgoing transition has ended.

WRT a blurred image I don't usually use the same image twice. I blur the image before the Portrait image so that there is continuity between the two slides.

DG

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

DG,

I am trying to understand what you are suggesting but I don't think I get it. Probably because I don't see any abrupt stops and start when I play it. See the attached gif. This is an example of how I usually configure my Zooms and Pans. Let me know what you would do differently. I put the beginning keyframe at the beginning. I don't see any where else to put it. Then I put the ending keyframe in the middle of the fade-out area so it fades-out as the beginning of the next image fades-in. I tried to understand your message about using the KFSD principle but it is apparently over my head. I keep it unticked. Glad you liked the show and it brought back memories...

Ok...I see your technique about blurring the previous image and using it in the background of the next portrait image. Interesting.

Thanks... Gary

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Gary

Rather than me disect your show, check out one of mine that has a number of long pans & zooms which are achieved exactly as DG explained. Try http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?9ak2gix79qggzy1

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[davegee]

if it will help i can send you a small template.

dg

[goddi]

Gary

Rather than me disect your show, check out one of mine that has a number of long pans & zooms which are achieved exactly as DG explained. Try http://www.mediafire...9ak2gix79qggzy1

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

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

Eric,

Thanks for your nice show. I understand what you are saying. But not all portrait images are conducive to panning. If a tall building is panned from, say, bottom to top, you lose its relation to its surroundings. I appreciate your input but I am not swayed from not putting in portraits as I have been doing. Perhaps putting in blurred backgrounds is something I might try. But I will wait until Igor puts in a blurring function next to the opacity function.

Gary

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Gary

I always used to pan portrait images, however in view of recent alternatives suggested I may try a combination of them. I did try different coloured background early on but didn't continue. I agree too much animation can lose the viewer, of the objective, another alternative is to pan full screen then show normal size either before or after the pan with eith blur or reduced opacity.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[morturn]

I always like these travel records, they are a great way of preserving the past, and will act as an amazing memory mnemonic in years to come.

I like the idea of keeping things simple; complications only act to distract.

The video sequences work really well, and do add a little extra when done like this.

Thanks you for sharing it with us.

[goddi]

I always like these travel records, they are a great way of preserving the past, and will act as an amazing memory mnemonic in years to come.

I like the idea of keeping things simple; complications only act to distract.

The video sequences work really well, and do add a little extra when done like this.

Thanks you for sharing it with us.

===========

Greetings Morturn,

Thanks for the comments. Yes, I always feel that in the end, all we have are the memories. I use PTE to preserve as much as I can. It is a blast to look back at places and things we have done and slightly forgot exactly what and where we went. The PTE slideshows are perfect for that. Great fun. But I am wondering about a few comments about 'abrupt stops and starts' in the show. I hope someone would point to one or two spots so I can see what is going on. I don't see them as I play it here on my PC. Just wondering.

Thanks... Gary

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Gary

Had another look through your show & jotted down where I thought it could be improved following previous comments. Starting from the beginning, the transition from the room to the boat IMO would benefit from an overlapping fade of about 4 seconds, The transition from the still to the first video clip likewise, Transition from Tuk Tuk to sand bags, the same, & from s/bags to Tuk Tuk. The transition to the train likewise, from Bike to boat, from bridge to bridge & finally from street to taxi. It's not a resource problem IMO, just different tecnique from mine.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[rick235]

Hi Gary,

Liked your show but about switching from landscape to portrait, why not try two portraits together side by side on the screen at the same time? This helps in eliminating the shock from going from landscape to portrait and going from a wide shot to a narrow shot.

Regards

Rick

[goddi]

Hi Gary

Had another look through your show & jotted down where I thought it could be improved following previous comments. Starting from the beginning, the transition from the room to the boat IMO would benefit from an overlapping fade of about 4 seconds, The transition from the still to the first video clip likewise, Transition from Tuk Tuk to sand bags, the same, & from s/bags to Tuk Tuk. The transition to the train likewise, from Bike to boat, from bridge to bridge & finally from street to taxi. It's not a resource problem IMO, just different tecnique from mine.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

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

Eric,

It is interesting that you zeroed in on the images that I had just fixed. In a PM. DG told me of a better technique to use. I had been putting the ending keyframe of a pan or zoom about in the middle of the ending transition grey section. He suggested that move the ending keyframe to the very end of the ending transition section. I went through the entire show and applied this technique to all images that had a pan or zoom. I had been putting the ending keyframe in the middle of the ending transition, as opposed to the very end, because I have relatively short slide durations (4.1 seconds) and it seemed that the image following the previous ending transition was getting shortened in its duration. Maybe that was just my imagination. But moving the keyframes to the end makes all the transitions much smoother. I think it is a good technique.

Also, I find that to make the transition from a video to a still image, there is another technique that could be used. When a video is dropped in the show, say it is 10 seconds long, and the duration is set for 10 seconds, the video tends to stop during the transition to the still image. To avoid this I move the still(s) (following the video) to the left in the Timeline about a couple seconds or so and that gives a smoother transition from the video to the still, similar to the results of moving the keyframe mentioned above. This means that when you trim your video, you should leave a couple seconds at the end after where you would normally trim so you have something to work with.

Thanks,

Gary

[goddi]

Hi Gary,

Liked your show but about switching from landscape to portrait, why not try two portraits together side by side on the screen at the same time? This helps in eliminating the shock from going from landscape to portrait and going from a wide shot to a narrow shot.

Regards

Rick

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

Rick... Yes, that is a possibility. However, I just can't get over the "shock" effect that some people are having with the use of the single portraits format with a black background that I tend to use. I find mixing it up with landscapes AND portrait formats to be interesting and less boring. Maybe using blurred backgrounds is the answer. And as far a composition goes, when you shoot a vertical object, I think it needs a vertical format. I really don't want to "shock" anyone but I find verticals to be a good technique and mix in a slideshow. I will try in the future and see if I can lean toward less shocking shows....

Thanks... Gary