Friday, October 23, 2015

Fall Pix, October 2015 --- unsorted images in random order

This is not a carefully composed slideshow, but rather an intermediate stage in the making of one. The individual images are in random order, more or less for test purposes. Many near identical images will have to be removed. Right now all images (except the first and the last) have the same viewing and transition times. Eventually the succession of images will be influenced by many factors, one of them is how pleasingly one fades over to the next. This can prove decisive in "feel-good" shows like this. It takes many tries to find good solutions, with no guarantee to end up with a high quality show. If you are interested  in production aspects of image shows using the ProShow Producer program you can read more further down.
 

Clicking on the HD mark lets you choose a resolution. “720p HD ”provides the best image quality. Please avoid “AUTO”, available for newer posts: Erratic jumps betwen high and low image quality can occur.
Unfortunately there is a problem with VIMEO at present. The jump between qualities can at times be observed at any resolution selected! Hopefully the situation will improve soon.

Important: To go back to the blog after full screen viewing just end the full screen option: Press "Esc" button on the keyboard or click on the "Exit full screen" symbol in the film's toolbar.

Windows users only: Supreme image quality can be obtained here: Fall Pix, October 2015. File size on the Photodex streaming server is almost 400 Mb, so do be patient if the loading (buffering) takes a little time. And be aware that you must allow the self-installation of a plug-in if its the first time you play a proShow file.

In the following I describe a process that is by no means the only possible method to arrive at an image show, but it works well for for lengthy "feel-good" shows where you are faced with a large number of images connected to the theme. There usually is no given logical order of succession and it might well be possible to present images randomly. The crucial question though is: Can the show be made more effective by recognizing certain esthetic and psychological aspects and make appropriate changes to strengthen the composition?  That is where this string of images is right now...

Once I have a grip on the bulk image material for a given theme, I send all pictures into the show program's timeline (ProShow Producer), usually in the order of date and time of photographing. That way related images, say, a subject from slightly different angles or taken with variing camera settings wind up side by side for easy comparison. This string of pix I might view a few times. Obvious failures and unconvincing shots can be weeded out at this stage.

I always have a hard time deciding which shots to select. Proceeding in the way above takes in more pictures than called for, so it is rather a matter of throwing out a good number. At this stage I let the program's  automatic randomizing function create a new succession order for all timeline images. Usually I assign one particular viewing time to all slides and one particular transition time as well. This is a quick and easy step and can be changed just as easily. Now I try to observe psychological and esthetic aspects of viewing and especially of transition performance. For feel-good shows the slow cross-fading transition is pretty much the only one I use. The length of the transition time is of great importance and eventually will need individual adjustment. Some pictures will cross-fade beautifully over to the timeline neighbor, some fades will be ugly, while the majority is so-so.

This is a good point to save save the work file, which is small in size and can be saved instantly. A work file contains only the data for building an eventual show file. Then I let the program randomize a new order, which often reveals new aspects and leads to new ideas and insights. A number of randomized work files can be saved before the crucial decisions have to be taken. All along different music tracks can be tested as well.

It would be a daunting task to subject all images to full scale Photoshop processing. For an image to function well within a screen show often only minor adjustments are needed, typically for e.g. brightness and contrast. ProShow Producer has some quick adjustment tools built in, thus only images requiring more advanced processing need to be taken care of by Photoshop or a similar program. The show released here is not finished and a painstaking, time consuming work is needed with a tighter selection of images, individual adjustment of viewing and transition times and the possible introduction of zooming and panning effects.

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