New Sequence- American Civil War

[Tomuk]

Hello All,

As promised heres my Civil War show, please have a look and critique for me, particularly the sound track.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ngdsfxt219n

It's 23 mg in size and runs for about 8 Minutes

Tom.

[fh1805]

Tom,

Seems to be a response problem on the Internet/MediaFire tonight. I'm getting download speeds of 25-30KB/sec where I usually see 200-250KB/sec. I'll try again tomorrow sometime.

regards,

Peter

[Ken Cox]

Speeds were full speed at 17:15 esdst

Tom

good job -- effects are great - close up details great - especially the muskets - good speed for viewing

ken

[Almark]

Hi Tomuk,

The download was a bit slow, but worked eventually. I enjoyed your show, and in particular there are a number of fine portrait shots - the guy with the beard and sunglasses, the 3 star general are just two worthy of a mention in dispatches ;-)

Sound/Music

I found the soundtrack very loud and had to turn down my volume. (Normally I don't have to do this, in almost all cases I find the soundtrack to be just fine and occassionally I find them too low and have to bump them up a bit. This is the first one I have come across that I had to actually turn the sound volume down.)

The 'chatter' background I found to be just a bit too loud and wondered if it should not be constant, rather than the fade in out, or sometimes cut out altogether only to re appear just seconds later. However, clearly you have put a lot of time and effort into this, and I really liked the music/visual link between the introduction of the drum music and the images of the drums - this worked very well. Well done.

I thought the closing fancy graphics were a bit over the top, but that is just MHO.

In summary this show has great potential. But by the sounds of it, you have already worked on this quite a bit, but I think you need to re visit the soundtrack.

[Barry Beckham]

Tom

I enjoyed your show, the venue and variety of images looked pretty good to me. I wish I knew that event was on as I would have liked to have gone too. Why do we always hear about these things a few weeks too late?

I think your soundtrack is OK, but I also believe you could get it a little better. Some of the fades are a little too abrupt for my ears. Fades are one thing that has surprised me with sound editing. They often need to be fairly long to really sound good. I think the chatter at the start of your sequence is the one thing that has to go. In my view it doesn't add anything to your sequence and I am not sure what you are trying to convey. Was it the sounds of a real encampment or the fact it was a general public event with them in the background. Either way I don't think that part has worked so well.

The one battle (pun not intended) we always have with these events is trying to capture some of the history in our images. For reasons we all understand everything is too pristine and clean and we have a great deal of problem trying to dispel that fact. We have the same issues at places like the Black Country museum and steam railways.

I know it is used rather a lot, but if ever a show needed to be in sepia tone, I think this is it. If the images were presented with faded edges like old photographs, you could add a hint of colour every now and again if you wished. Just as though they had been hand tinted as they would have been at the time.

A lot of work has gone into this sequence and even if you change nothing, it remains a good sequence. Remember, you cannot produce a work of art by committee, listen to views, but do what pleases you in the end.

[Tomuk]

Hi! Barry,

Thank you for your kind words.

All your comments have been taken on board and I would like to run through them one at a time.

I accept what you are saying about the fades (in this sound track there are a lot) but I don’t necessary fully agree, I think sounds are a matter of personal choice, rather like colour and saturation, I will however give your suggestion a try and review the results (thank god for Audition project files) making changes should be a breeze.

Now to the crowd chatter, I’ll let you inter a little secret if you promise not to tell anyone..LOL..the crowd noise was inserted in an attempt to hide the poor quality of the underlying music, I struggled trying to find suitable material and I grabbed this from an old video using Audition, sadly the quality wasn’t as good as I expected hence the cover up.

As to your sepia suggestion... First rate.

I have included an image below, Is this what you had in mind? If so I’ll have to construct an action in Photoshop as I have over 90 images in the sequence.

Tom

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi! Barry,

Thank you for your kind words.

All your comments have been taken on board and I would like to run through them one at a time.

I accept what you are saying about the fades (in this sound track there are a lot) but I don’t necessary fully agree, I think sounds are a matter of personal choice, rather like colour and saturation, I will however give your suggestion a try and review the results (thank god for Audition project files) making changes should be a breeze.

Now to the crowd chatter, I’ll let you inter a little secret if you promise not to tell anyone..LOL..the crowd noise was inserted in an attempt to hide the poor quality of the underlying music, I struggled trying to find suitable material and I grabbed this from an old video using Audition, sadly the quality wasn’t as good as I expected hence the cover up.

As to your sepia suggestion... First rate.

I have included an image below, Is this what you had in mind? If so I’ll have to construct an action in Photoshop as I have over 90 images in the sequence.

Tom

Hi Tom

Great show, wish I could do as good. Re the sepia, if you are going on that route, why not try a little grain to enhance the sepia.?

Yachtsman1

[d67]

Hi Tom

Interesting and rich of details sequence and an armful very good shots !

To my thinking there is a problem with the overall sound wich is not of the best quality.

In the very first part, if at the beginning the background crowd noise is a good idea, this is from far not the case when then repeated.

These repetitions don't enhance the images, are too abrupt and finish to be annoying.

I also find that you don't take advantage of the changes of rythm of the music : your slide translations speeds seem invariable for all the slideshow.

In a very few cases, synchronization could be more precise (canon and gunshots).

Anyway, as so, your slideshow is a very pleasant one.

Patrick

[tom millar]

Hi Tom,

As mark said download was long and I had also to turn down the volume.

As far as I am concerned this is a great show and this was why I asked about Sepia tone. I probably haven't got the number off images you have but found that I was running about 6-8 mins. Also the venue was great no people in sight apart

from the re-enactors, unfortunately I have even got a professional photographer smack in the middle off 2

images and the rest where taken at another event where they where in the middle of a square and no matter

where you stood always got someone in the way. Also being new to AV I dont know enough to have enough knowledge on the fade in's etc but they sounded ok to me

Now the Critical part that caught my eye and it has absolutley nothing to do with your photo's, as I told you I am fairly well up on this period of the history. I don't know how strict they are in there respective units in England however 2 things caught my eye which would'nt be allowed over here. (a) I dont think they had sunglasses! ( definately did not wear Celtic Cross ear-rings through peirced ears. I will Stand corrected if someone can offer me proof, but I think they both came later?

I hope to get down to working on my own show I have used another program at present to give me an idea as to what it would look like, but have changed my idea's that many times it is basically all random at present and I think maybe I should have taken some close up shots as you have done with the weapons etc.

At the start mine would have been along the same lines as your show but I came across something that has completely changed my mind as to what I want to acheive. I thought the music was great but I am looking for something slightly different, where did you get yours from? I have some music in mind which falls in with what I want but it is not exactly period and I used to have a list but have remembered it was in some magazines that I threw out. I don't think there is much more to be done apart from a few final tweeks.

all the best for now

Tom

[Barry Beckham]

Tom

Yes, that Sepia is the sort of thing I had in mind, but perhaps an older looking sepia, that one looks a little too red to me, but its what I had in mind.

You could also experiment with some light filteration to try and add some age, not sure if grain alone will do that, but it costs nothing to try a few images.

Best of luck

[fh1805]

Hi Tom (Tomuk),

Taking Barry's sugestion one step further...Be prepared to mix up the sepia styles a little bit (e.g. fade some a little more than others). Not all old photos have exactly the same sepia intensity: some have been faded by excessive exposure to bright sunshine, or imperfect storage).

Another thought: begin in full colour, find an image to use to transition to sepia, run through in "old photo" mode and find a second image to transition back to full colour for the ending.

What ever you eventually do with it, remember that it's your sequence not ours! It needs to carry your personal stamp on it somewhere, somehow.

Good luck with it.

regards,

Peter

[Barry Beckham]

I appreciate that some third party filters are not cheap, but there is a set of Alien Skin filters called Exposure 2 where you can simulate many different old film effects.

There's a turn up for the books eh. Digital, imitating film, whatever next.......

Anyway one filter is called old Daguerreotype and it does give and aged feel to the attached image. I think it would work well for a historical slide show.

[fh1805]

Barry,

I'm not familiar with these third party filters. Are they plug-ins to Photoshop? And if so, do you know whether they work with Photoshop Elements?

regards,

Peter

[Ken Cox]

PETER

SEE

http://www.alienskin.com/

Ken

[Barry Beckham]

Peter

Yes, they will run in any program that supports third party filters. I did a review of them some time ago and have used them in a few slide shows. The Art of Cornwall being one and Fountains Abbey was another, but those sequences used Alien Skin Snap Art filters. Link to the article below.

http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/filters/al...n/alienskin.htm

Thing is they are not the cheapest filters, but in my view they are one of the best makers of filters.

Link to those slide shows below

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

[Tomuk]

Barry,

This made with other software, do you think it's better than the earlier one I constructed using Photoshop controls?

It's difficult to decide on the amount of toning to give, maybe wise to use various amounts for each image, what's your thoughts?

I have used a slightly toned mask for the edges ( an off white effect), I would also welcome your opinion on what brush to use, also at what settings to create pleasing edge effects, I'm not being a pain for asking to many questions am I?

I hope Xaver isn't reading this or he will complain we are once again off topic LOL.

Tom

[Almark]

Some great ideas here. I look forward to the next version.

[Barry Beckham]

Personally I don't change the sepia colour on slide shows I make, but I think that is a personal choice of the maker. There is not a great deal of change you can make to a sepia tone and when we move towards red it looks wrong to me. In my view your example looks perfect given the subject.

There is nothing wrong with the edge effect your using and it works well with your example, but you can use any of the shaped brushes in Photoshop to create what you like. For a slide show where you going to be placing edge effects on quite a few images, perhaps a ready made one (or three) is the best approach.

However, create a new layer above your image and flood that layer with white. Set the blend mode to screen and choose black as your foreground colour. Now you can use any shaped brush to create all sorts of edge efects. If you get it wrong switch to white and the edge effect can be repaired/altered. Try the thick heavy brushes and use the brush opacity down around 2-4%

[Tomuk]

Personally I don't change the sepia colour on slide shows I make, but I think that is a personal choice of the maker. There is not a great deal of change you can make to a sepia tone and when we move towards red it looks wrong to me. In my view your example looks perfect given the subject.

There is nothing wrong with the edge effect your using and it works well with your example, but you can use any of the shaped brushes in Photoshop to create what you like. For a slide show where you going to be placing edge effects on quite a few images, perhaps a ready made one (or three) is the best approach.

However, create a new layer above your image and flood that layer with white. Set the blend mode to screen and choose black as your foreground colour. Now you can use any shaped brush to create all sorts of edge efects. If you get it wrong switch to white and the edge effect can be repaired/altered. Try the thick heavy brushes and use the brush opacity down around 2-4%

Barry,

Thanks for the info, your method above is exactly how I do it, but now and again I'll change the white to very pastel shades of colour for variety, Don't you think it would be great if we could rotate our brushes especially with the none circular types?

I don't make png files of edges, I prefer to have unique effects for each image, but then that's just me, besides I don't have much else to do with my retirement.

Please check your e-mail for news of a forth coming event, I've sent you the detail so this time you don't miss out.

Tom.

[Barry Beckham]

Tom

I am sure there are other brushes available if we search the internet, never felt the need I have to confess. In fact we can make brushes can't we. Not too sure of that statement though.

Thanks for the events list, but you may be a little late,

We expect (hope) to exchange contracts today on our house sale and by the following weekend 18th/19th we will be permanent residents of Brisbane Australia.

You don't have a Pdf list for the Brisbane area do you?

[targa912]

I enjoyed it very much!! Agree with most of the comments. Sepia mix would have been effective IMO. And even I had to turn down the sound. With my hearing that's saying something!!! But I really enjoy it!!!

Bob W.

[Tomuk]

Tom

You don't have a Pdf list for the Brisbane area do you?

Sorry Cobber I don't,

I'll pop over and make some enquieries for you LOL.

Tom

[xahu34]

... I hope Xaver isn't reading this or he will complain we are once again off topic ...

I'm glad to notice that there seems to be an increase of awareness with respect to the off-topic problem

Best regards,

Xaver

[Mufi]

I'm glad to notice that there seems to be an increase of awareness with respect to the off-topic problem

Best regards,

Xaver

Indeed so, should we not regard these threads as bits of conversation in a lively pub somewhere (in Brisbane perhaps)

Anyway, I have waited a little before commenting on Tom's latest to give full play to the many tallented contributers we have here.

The photography is top of the range, as we will always expect from Tom. One of the problems I have had in looking at some of the AV's available to view from these boards have been the iffy quality of the photography. Does quality matter in AV or is the technique of sound track and fades etc. more important?

The AV was very well done for me, though I do agree about the problems with the sound track. I have a project in mind with a similar theme, though shot in a very different location a few thousand miles from Tatton Park in Cheshire UK. Tom is a very tallented AVer, I can see some headaches ahead.

David