New Slide Show

[Barry Beckham]

I have just completed a slide show at the link below

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/slideshow/solitude.zip

It should be viewed on a monitor running at 1280*1024 or higher or you will not see the show as I intend it to be seen.

If you have any issues with that, I would rather you didn't view the show and I will try and live with that disappointment

[fh1805]

Barry,

You certainly do produce some inspirational work! This one had some wonderfully evocative landscape images; although I felt that, somehow, it lacked the visual cohesion of "Another Time" and "Fountains Abbey". Perhaps this was because the images seemed to be from differing locations and taken at various seasons in the year.

I particularly liked the decision to present it as a monochrome sequence. Unfortunately, the introduction of colour and then the fancy effect on the final image broke the magic spell that you had woven on me all the way through the sequence to that point.

Many thanks for sharing this one with us all.

[canteau]

It should be viewed on a monitor running at 1280*1024 or higher or you will not see the show as I intend it to be seen.

If you have any issues with that, I would rather you didn't view the show and I will try and live with that disappointment

Hi barry,

Why this Windowed mode and no Fullscreen ???

look ! Resolution 1600 X 1200

http://s185256515.onlinehome.fr/Solitude.JPG

http://s185256515.onlinehome.fr/Solitude2.JPG

Very very restrictive or my question is stupid ???

Bernard

[d67]

It should be viewed on a monitor running at 1280*1024 or higher or you will not see the show as I intend it to be seen.

If you have any issues with that, I would rather you didn't view the show and I will try and live with that disappointment

Probably a milestone for digital slideshows but with such an introduction I too will try to live with the disappointment not to have seen your masterpiece !

Happy for your warning ... this prevented me from a non-essential download !

[dpeterso]

I have just completed a slide show at the link below

Very enjoyable Barry. The monochrome accents your photographic skills, especially in composition. Well done agan!

Dave

[Barry Beckham]

Hi barry,

Why this Windowed mode and no Fullscreen ???

look ! Resolution 1600 X 1200

http://s185256515.onlinehome.fr/Solitude.JPG

http://s185256515.onlinehome.fr/Solitude2.JPG

Very very restrictive or my question is stupid ???

Bernard

No, it's not a stupid question and the way you see my show with a resolution of 1600*1200 is I agree less than perfect. However, at the present time (as I was informed on this forum only a short while ago) 1024*768 appears to be the standard resolution. Having said that among digital photographers it is already probably 1280*1024

What I want to do is to keep control of every ounce of my image quality and to prevent PTE5 from expanding my images to the size of the monitor they are being played on. If I allow that to happen, then you would see my images enlarged bigger than they were created. That affects quality and is unacceptable to me.

(I notice many PTE users do this and probably don't even know that some viewers are seeing their images degraded.)

I don't want to fill the screen and turn the format I get from my camera almost into a square, its not the right thing to do in my view. AV is primarily about presentation, so it surely has to appeal to the author first. Unless I am missing something we cannot make slide one slide show to match every format, if we wish to reatain full control at the same time. In fact my last two shows would display better for you, had I used PTE4.49

In an ideal world I would like to have PTE first create a colour that fills any screen resolution, black, white, grey, something I can control if possible. Then inside of that display my slide show retaining the format/size I select. So, on the examples you attached you would not see your desktop around the edge.

I have an idea I would like to try if you don't mind. I wish to create a small menu and have you launch the slide show from that menu to see how the slide show then displays on your large monitor. (it will not be a large file)

1600*1200 is something I am giving some thought to as my next monitor will almost certainly be running the same resolution as yours. It's not that I am being awkward or obstinate, but I want total control of my slide show without black bands top and bottom of the screen. I also want the best quality images I can get, so I don't want them expanded by PTE5.

Finally, my output is largly for enthusiasts who shouldn't really have a problem changing resolution, even temporarily, but I was thinking more of them changing it from 1024*768 to 1280*1024. I admit I didn't give much consideration to anyone with a larger resolution monitor. Also at the format I make them I can show them at home on my monitors all running 1280 and when doing a demo I can change the resolution of the PC driving the projector and my shows display perfectly.

One has to make the slide shows to please oneself primarily and if others like them, that is a bonus.

[Barry Beckham]

Bernard and others running monitors at 1600*1200

Here is something to try. At the link below I have a zipped file which contains a small menu. (less then 1 MB)

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/menu.zip

Unzip and place the file called 1600 in the same folder as my slide show solitude.

Then double click the 1600 file. What I hope will happen is your screen will be filled with the background of my choosing that I set up on my menu. You will see one button in the centre to start the show. When the show opens it should play within the menu window I created and my 1280 border may look as though it was created for 1600 monitors

Your views would be interesting

[baldsparky]

Hello Barry,

I was first introduced to P2E through an article you did in digital photo magazine, for which i thank you, i have also been to one of your lectures at Ely, which was both enjoyable and informative, i have also thoroughly enjoyed the many slideshows that you have produced over the years.

I own both a laptop and desktop pc with a 16:10 screen ratio running at their native resolutions of 1440 x 900 pixels and fitted with a nvidia 7600 graphics card, and i don't believe i am able to change to the 1280 x 1024 (as 1440 x 900 is the largest option to be able to choose) resolution that you recommend to view your latest slideshow, with your comment about not bothering to download the slideshow, does this mean that I will not be able to view and enjoy any of your slideshows again? That would be a great pity.

Having just purchased both laptop and pc monitor fairly recently, I doubt that I would be able to convince my good lady to buy new again .

Many thanks.

kind regards

paul

[JPD]

Very nice slideshow and nice photos for those who can see it.

I tried your add-on, there are 2 problems at 1600 x 1200 : a white line on the left and the bottom of the screen and the windows taskbar is not hide.

I made a little utility call Background which work on all screen definitions until 4096 x 3072 (Lin wrote one day that soom screens are to day at 3840 x 2160).

It launch your slideshow. For both utilities, it would have been better that the tiled background picture of the first slide of your slideshow is the same that your background. It would be perfect and impossible to see any difference between the utility and your slideshow.

I made it with PTE V4.49 because V5 can't do that and use Marcovelo's utility "Hidetaskbar" as I did a long time ago in Corsica, so there isn't the windows' taskbar.

[brian65photo]

Hello Barry,

Another superb show with beautiful images and very complimentary music. The music 'sits' quietly in the background, adds the emotional content and lets me concentrate on the imagery. Just as it should. The only thing I wished, as an improving photoghrapher, was that the images were on screen for longer so I could visualise where you stood to compose the picture and how you have edited them to produce such images with such impact. Never mind - I'll just have to keep watching it over and over!

I have a 1600x1200 monitor and with respect to the appearance of the slideshow your first version shows as a window in the centre of my desktop as per the screen grabs mentioned above, and which seems to distract. However, the 'menu' version plays nicely in the middle of a grey surrounding background which is probably what you intended and is very acceptable. Perhaps we can all benefit from using this method if you will let us in on the secret.

Now the strange thing is that the following shows sit nicely on my monitor in either a black or white surrounding background also :-

Ireland 2007

Fountains Abbey

Howarth

- so why is it now different? Is there adifference between PTE 4.49 and 5.0? ( NB, as a newcomer I have not experienced 4.49).

Your quote in a reply to Bernard - No, it's not a stupid question and the way you see my show with a resolution of 1600*1200 is I agree less than perfect. However, at the present time (as I was informed on this forum only a short while ago) 1024*768 appears to be the standard resolution. Having said that among digital photographers it is already probably 1280*1024

I cannot see how 1024x768 is a "standard" resolution for shows. Monitors have gradually been improved and PC's become more powerful and and we march relentlessly towards bigger screens and better resolutions. I'm sure there aren't many 640x480 screens left but I'll bet some still have 800x600 monitors. At the other extreme I expect many members have high resolution widescreen monitors. I also have two 1280x1024 (5x4) monitors for my stereo slideshows. So what's the standard screen ratio? 4x3 as original, or 5x4 as some are, or 16x9 widescreen. And what about my HD widescreen Tv - 1280x720 - for which I hope to burn some slideshows to Dvd?

The other thing that confounds the issue is our original image ratio from our cameras. I have a Dslr which is 3x2 ratio. I also use a new 12 Mp compact camera which takes 4x3: 3x2: 16x9: and 1x1! So what's the "standard" image ratio?

Obviously, nothing can be "standard" and we will just have to make the best of it. At the moment it seems that PTE 5.0 outputs shows at 4x3, 5x4 or widescreen ratios, so if we choose one that suits ourselves, it won't suit everyone. So, as I asked above, is output from ver 5.0 different from ver 4.49 and if so how? and will it solve the resolution problem if we ask for the output to return to as in vers 4.49?

We have a similar problem at our local photographic club. For years we have been projecting slides (3x2) and have recently acquired a new digital projector for our digital images which defaults to 1400x1050 (4x3). As most of us use Dslr's and compose our pics at around 3x2 we simply crop them to the ratio that suits the image, size them to 1400 wide or 1050 high max and place them on a black canvas of size 1400x1050. They are always project perfectly.

So I have decided to make my shows to an image ratio that I prefer and to place them on a 1600x1200 black or coloured background so that they will view perfectly on my (or anyone elses) 4x3 monitor. What I need one of you kind gentlemen out there to tell me is how I then "pick-up" all of the images and "drop" them onto a 2130x1200 background so that I can then output them from PTE as a widescreen Dvd show for my HD Tv.

Regards,

Brian

[brian65photo]

Jean-Pierre,

Looks like you were working hard whislt I was writing my reply to Barry. I have just downloaded and tried your 'background' solution and it works perfectly.

I need to try it on a widescreen background

Regards,

Brian

[xahu34]

Hello,

let me say that I like the Beckham-Shows very much, and I wonder about the discussion on screen resolutions. In my photo club, there is nobody with less than 1280x1024.

Here is another very simple way to watch these shows under WinXP on big monitors:

1. Configure the taskbar (and office bar) not being always on top.
   
2. Copy the path to the show into the run window (leave it open)
   
3. Open a black object with Adobe Reader, IrfanView or ... in full screen mode
   
4. Use Alt-Tab to bring the run window on top and press ok
   
5. After watching the show: Reconfigure the taskbar
   

Kind regards

Xaver H.

Munich

[Barry Beckham]

Paul

I didn't mean what I said literally, I was having a pop at some daft comments previously thats all. I think I made a mistake with my last slide show by holding the size to window mode.

If you don't mind, download the slide show from the page below and see how it playes on your monitor. I have removed the window mode.

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/freestuffdigslidesw3.htm

Brian

Forgive me, but your missing the point a bit (IMHO) To make good AV that really flows we must match our images to the music. Often it's the music that determines when a slide needs to be changed. There is nothing worse for me to watch a show I have downloaded and when the music is crying out for something to happen nothing does. Then, just when we should have a static image on screen, it then begins to change. I appreciate this involves a great deal of ones own personal taste, but I think many images are on screen far too long. Many are not strong enough to hold the attention for the time on screen.

One I saw recently from this site has one image on screen for something like 50 seconds. With respect to that author, the image was not strong enough to hold the attention for that length of time and animating it all over the screen does nothing to the appeal of that image.

You are also suffering from the daft setting I added to that slide show, if you wish to, try it again from the link above. Its not a large file, less than 10 meg I think.

Now I want to take a look at JPD utility to cover the screen, because it sounds just what I want. The test menu I created uses MMB Multi Media Builder to create a 1600*1200 menu page. That can be made at the same tone/texture as any frame and therefore should blend in seamlessly for larger screen resolutions. That menu will stay on screen and provide the background needed.

Igor

I don't know if you are following this post and its a point I made in the very early beta days of PTE5. Is there not a way we can set up a screen filling colour/tone/image and have our slide show play on top of that. Something that would allow smaller shows to be played on larger monitors, but with the author controlling how it looks. Irrespective of format ?

[Barry Beckham]

JPD

I never even considered the task bar because I always have mine set to auto retract, but I did create my menu background in the same tone and texture as the slide show frame and it should have been seamless. Probably I should have used black. Currently there is a little disruption when the mini background slide show fires up the main show, but that is minimal.

I assume that is what you intend, for the background to start the main show?

[JPD]

Currently there is a little disruption when the mini background slide show fires up the main show, but that is minimal.

I think it's because the background of the first slide isn't the picture of the background but a black color. I haven't try but it must be the reason.

[brian65photo]

Barry,

The only thing I wished, as an improving photoghrapher, was that the images were on screen for longer so I could visualise where you stood to compose the picture and how you have edited them to produce such images with such impact. Never mind - I'll just have to keep watching it over and over!

Please excuse my inadequate use of English grammar. This wasn't meant as a criticism of the length of image displays - the show is a perfect combination of images and music - and your consistent high quality is the standard to which I hope to aspire.

No- what I meant to convey was that after watching and appreciating the show I want to see how you had composed and edited each image in order to emulate and improve my own photography. But it seems that whilst it sounds OK "in my head" as I type the stuff it doesn't always come out right as the written word when you read it a day later. It's the lack of inflection in the written word I'm afraid.

I realise now that I can simply log on to your website and look through your galleries.

I have just watched your latest version of Solitude and it plays OK on my monitor now, full screen with a little black background showing down each side.

Regards,

Brian

[Barry Beckham]

Brian

Oh, I see what you mean now, it is sometimes difficult to get into type what your thinking, I have that problem too.

However, you won't get an idea of what I do to my images by watching a slide show, because most of the work would be hidden and you would need to see the originals to appreciate the difference.

I work with Raw Smart Objects in Photoshop often in 16 bit and make sure the tones, contrast and colours are spot on to my liking using layers, layer masks and many of the other tools of Photoshop.

Have a look at the link below for some idea of the difference a litle carefull work can do. Although the start images are only thumbnails you can see that that don't look much to start with.

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/downloads/...masterclass.htm

[Peter S]

Nice one Barry. You certainly wound up the contrast wonderfully in some of your images and it works really well in this show.

It might be interesting if you could give some idea of how long you take to put one or two of your shows together. Judy Kay made a comment on a post a week or so ago about there being different types of shows and attitudes. I think she is right. There is a world of difference between putting a lot of images in a sequence and attaching some music and structuring a really creative AV. There is nothing wrong with putting the family snaps on a slide show with music and PTE makes it a doddle but how log does it take to produce a masterpiece?

Kind regards

Peter

[Barry Beckham]

Peter

Well, I don't think I always get it right, but I have been into AV for 35 years on and off. Its difficult to say how long it takes, but probably a lot less than you think. Once you know you way around Photoshop and PTE everything speeds up.

The solitude AV took a couple of hours I guess, but then the images had already been created and I only had to add one or two. I do come back to my shows onother day and then adjust what doesn't appear to be working. The Another Age show probably took all day to produce, but it was done over time rather than in one go. It could have been 8 hours or more.

I agree there is nothing wrong with putting a few family snaps together in a slide show, I don't think those types of sequences will appeal very much outside the family though. Fancy presentation effects are fine in some circumstances, but they keep being used inappropriately and once again we are affecting the charm and impact of our show.

I think many AV enthusiasts today miss some very important points. Firstly and despite what is often said on this forum, you should create your show for yourself. If you try and please all of the people all of the time, you will fail miserably. Make the show, so you like it. If other do to then great, but be aware that whatever you create, the human tendancy is to find something to say about it and more often then not that will be a negative comment.

There is a great deal of difference between what is right or wrong or just someones personal preference.

Be very critical with the images you select. I see out of focus and poorly exposed pictures being used all the time and all they do is to destroy the very charm we are trying to create.

Ask the question when you reach for the animation screen. "What will this animation add to my slide show" I bet the answer 70% of the time is nothing and in those circumstances it actually detracts once again from the charm we are trying to create. We have to learn to recognise when these advances in PTE5 are helping and then make full use of them and when they are not. We can't have a weak image on screen for 50 seconds in the hope that animation will make it stronger, because it doesn't

Choice of music, well it's essential that it matches perfectly, we will all have different views, but generally whatever those views are, the music will either work or it won't. Our ears and eyes should tell us that.

There is no reason why a sequence cannot be good and put together in a hour or two, the length of time we spend on a project doesn't affect it's quality and appeal, neither does the size of images either.

It takes as long as it takes

[neil]

Barry,

As always a great show.Your work has no doubt been an inspiration to so many, myself included.

I really can't understand all the fuss and bother over the screen size !

It took me approx 5 seconds to change to the size you recommended. I think maybe that some of these folks have a lot longer that that to spare!!

Anyway all the best with your future plans, keep taking great images and sharing them with all.

Thanks

Neil

[Barry Beckham]

Neil

Well, that what I thought, but it appears to be a real problem for some. Still, I am trying to get over the disapointment