Jane and Chico - HELP !

Post a link to your shows created with ProShow Gold and get feedback from others. Please include a short description or title for each show link along with the approximate running time. If you don't want to chance getting criticism, please don't post your show.
Honorary ProShow PHD
User avatar
Posts: 510
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:20 am
Location: a brazilian photographer, living in Finland.

Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby climax » Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:54 am

Hi,
A friend of mine got married last wednesday. It was only the civil register, and she called me to photograph it.
I was happy with the invitation, but unfortunately I feel I failed her. My pictures are grainy, shaky, out of focus, not to mentioned that I missed important moments of the ceremony... I'm so upset with myself :x
I need a photography course urgently :roll:
That whas one of those days when everything goes wrong...

Normally I would never post this show here, but I have to try at least to make a decent show for her. Therefore I count on you guys to help me a little bit to improve what can be improved in this show.
It's 4 min something long.
I would really appreciate some advice.
Thanks,
Cristina
Cristina

Honorary ProShow PHD
User avatar
Posts: 510
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:20 am
Location: a brazilian photographer, living in Finland.

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby climax » Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:49 am

:shock: :shock: :shock:
Oh my God !! I'm so upset that I forgot the link :oops: :lol: sorry...
here it goes,
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... alb=153540

thanks,
Cristina
Cristina

.
User avatar
Posts: 5391
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:55 am

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby debngar » Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:04 am

Technique doesn't come quickly, but over time and effort. I think that holds for both camera technique and post processing. I make plenty of mistakes too, hopefully learning from them to avoid problems later.

These are just suggestions as far as approach to the show and maybe some thoughts on post processing in attempt to rescue some images.

If you could save an image of the two people to use at the end that might give a conclusion. I know how I might do it in Producer, but you don't have masking capability so this is trickier unless you can make a composite image in Photoshop or Elements and just use that one image rather than trying to layer them.

You could try a softer background than black - see how that looks. But maybe it doesn't fit the images considering it was a civil ceremony. I just don't know.

If you have access to the rings, set up some shots to take pictures of them and put it in the show.

Take the couple out for a day outside for some candid shots in the park to add to the show.

Post processing: I'm not going to go into detail as to how to do this exactly but if you know how, these are things I'd try:

Try to address the shots with off color skintones - too red or too yellow cast. I struggle with that too. It's a matter of white balance and hard to get right, especially if one isn't working with raw images. Jpgs are more difficult to fix with less bits to work with.

On the over-exposed shots, try turning down the exposure/light tones, and up the dark tones and contrast and maybe even saturation to see if that works or add a multiply blend layer which is available in Photoshop and Elements. Sometimes copying the multiple blend layer more than once is needed.

If you know how to apply selective adjustments in an image, try a bit of brightening to bring out the faces but not sure how far you can push that if they are already noisy.

Blurry shots can't really be fixed. What's done is done but sometimes applying a glowing kind of effect on them makes them salvageable even though it doesn't make them look sharper. Virtual photographer is free http://www.optikvervelabs.com/default.asp.

I use Lightroom for most of my post processing these days and only use Photoshop for certain photos.

There is no easy fix unfortunately.
Debbie
Photography http://deborah-green.com

Honorary ProShow PHD
User avatar
Posts: 510
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:20 am
Location: a brazilian photographer, living in Finland.

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby climax » Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:35 am

Hi Debbie,
Thank you so much for these great tips
But I have a problem... I don't have Photoshop or Elements.
I loved the idea of going out with them some other day !! Didn't think about that.
It's genious.... thank you
I really appreciated your effort in helping me Debbie
Cristina
Cristina

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:01 pm

I don't know if it's me, Photodex, or evil spirits, but your show doesn't play at all. The image comes up, but nothing can be clicked on to start it. :(

Barbara
The Frame Locker - styles, transitions, frames, backgrounds, & more.
Subscribe to Frame Locker News for alerts to new products.
How-to's: ProShowThink

Honorary ProShow PHD
User avatar
Posts: 510
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:20 am
Location: a brazilian photographer, living in Finland.

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby climax » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:16 pm

Hi Barbara,
I'm always having trouble with my menus. The text Jane and Chico was supposed to be able to start the show when clicked. But I know it doesn't work...
I selected drop shadow to the captions when I was creating the menu, but as usual it didn't work. The strange thing is that it used to work before. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...
Anyway, did you try to right click and then play?? That is how I get it to play.
Sorry for the inconvenience,
Cristina
Cristina

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:29 pm

Never even thought to right-click it! :D

After everything you said, I expected to see the worst possible photos, but you had a lot of really nice ones in there. You're being much too hard on yourself.

What I'd suggest for the show is to pick one or just a few things that, when repeated, help bring everything together. Some people do this with a repeated special effect, others do it with the background, and I, of course, do it with frames.

If you plan on continuing to grow with slide shows, you'd better get yourself a decent image editor. I believe most of the people here on the forum use Photoshop Elements and nearly all the rest use Photoshop. There's no need to go through the huge expense of buying Photoshop, but Elements is very reasonably priced, so you should think about getting it soon.

Oh, and one more thing: You can always cut parts out of a photo, but you can never put into it what was never there. For this reason, photographers always back off just a bit when taking pictures, leaving room for cropping to get just the right composition. It looked to me as if you periodically zoomed in just a little too close to your subjects, and this left you with little "wiggle room."

Barbara
The Frame Locker - styles, transitions, frames, backgrounds, & more.
Subscribe to Frame Locker News for alerts to new products.
How-to's: ProShowThink

Honorary ProShow PHD
User avatar
Posts: 510
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:20 am
Location: a brazilian photographer, living in Finland.

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby climax » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:42 pm

Thank you Barbara!
I'll give it a try with some frames, and backgrounds as you and Debbie advised me.
There are so many things that I want and need to buy.... Photoshop, upgrade to Producer, an extra battery for my camera... just to start ... but for now I simply can't :roll:
And I'll keep in mind your advice about less zoom for my next shots.
I'm already feeling a relief with Debbie's idea of inviting them out for some more pictures. I believe this will save the show, and I think they'll appreciate my effort in making it up to them.
Many thanks Barbara for your comments,
Cristina
Cristina

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:48 pm

Cristina, many of us here are struggling financially. You are NOT alone! :D

Barbara
The Frame Locker - styles, transitions, frames, backgrounds, & more.
Subscribe to Frame Locker News for alerts to new products.
How-to's: ProShowThink

.
User avatar
Posts: 1950
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Beautiful Virginia Beach, Virginia StarlightPPS.com

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby alcain » Sat Oct 03, 2009 12:57 pm

Cristina, I will give you my best critique - however, Debbie and Barbara have done an excellent job of offering suggestions.

I know why you opened with the little girl shot, but this is the brides day and her wedding. Maybe use the little girl shot later to fit the lyrics, "remember when...".
Your capture and presentation of the groom and bride using the rule of thirds is very professional looking. Nicely done.
At .31 where you have the bride and groom in a high key image that fades to a regular image - I really liked the high key effect and would hold it through the entire frame.
Again at 1:23 I like the high key look - It works well.
The blurred image of the bride at 1:49 is perfectly acceptable - it conveys movement and excitement which are things we expect after a wedding ceremony.
The image at 2:05 has issues - the little girl is looking out of the frame. If you have room in the original image, crop her on the left side of her face. A subject should always have space in the image in the direction they are looking.
At 2:31 - that image is my favorite so far. She looks radiant - just exactly how a new bride should look. However, maybe you could crop or clone out the lady to the right. This shot should be just about the bride.
At 2:39 same thing. This is a great shot spoiled by the people at right.
Here is a technique issue - at the rice throwing section - all of the images seem to be taken from the exact spot on your part. As a wedding photographer - you must constantly move around the subjects, snapping away all the time. This will give you many angles and different perspectives of the couple. Never stand still.
At 3:22 you have cut off the brides face! Move in to eliminate that issue. Remember above all else and at all costs - make the bride look beautiful and whole.
The last shot of the bride - hmmmm, I would have liked to have seen a last image of the two of them together.
The saving grace in these images is that absolutely gorgeous smile on the brides face - it is so captivating and full of heartfelt love for Chico.

Of course I thought the music very appropriate.

Final thoughts... Since this is a "remember when" theme... how about if you tried converting all of the images to a slightly sepia tented film grained black and white show... It would give several benefits. an old time look, a dream look and it would color correct any problem white balance issues. Just a thought.

One more thing. In the beginning you used a frame border then suddenly at .19 you switched to an odd frame - not full, not bordered - just black bars on the right and left. I would back off and have the black all around the image instead. The next frame does fill the frame appropriately.

I think you have enough to complete this show, just open your imagination and see what dreamy effects you can place here and there. Any pictures of them as children?

There - I took my mean pill before reviewing this show and I hope you are not too angry with my suggestions.

Your Photography Friend always, ~al
Using Producer V4, PS CS5, and the Nikon D80, D90 & D7000 for all of my professional work.
BFA with a major in Communication Design, Texas State University, 1978
And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

.
User avatar
Posts: 1950
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Beautiful Virginia Beach, Virginia StarlightPPS.com

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby alcain » Sat Oct 03, 2009 1:10 pm

Cristina, many of us here are struggling financially. You are NOT alone!


Good point. The wife and I struggle too, but with the help and grace of God we seem to make it work.
One thing we believe in very very much is charity and tithing.

Some months when it looks gloomy and we scratch our heads wondering how... God comes through, as He always does. My wife gives appropriately to our church, even at the expense of paying a bill sometimes.

I give of my time, my talent and my resources - most of the time depriving my business of profitability for almost a year. As you know, all of my income from photography for this entire month will go to Op Smile. I will never re-coup that money - but God will supply my needs, He always does.

Just some final thoughts from a friend, ~al
Using Producer V4, PS CS5, and the Nikon D80, D90 & D7000 for all of my professional work.
BFA with a major in Communication Design, Texas State University, 1978
And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

.
User avatar
Posts: 9321
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:37 pm
Location: E. Greenbush, NY

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Oct 03, 2009 1:24 pm

Cristina, Al always gives good advice...except for the few things he mentioned that you can't do until someone gives you Elements as a gift. Do you have a birthday coming up? Oh, wait a minute! There's always Christmas! :D

Barbara
The Frame Locker - styles, transitions, frames, backgrounds, & more.
Subscribe to Frame Locker News for alerts to new products.
How-to's: ProShowThink

.
User avatar
Posts: 1950
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Beautiful Virginia Beach, Virginia StarlightPPS.com

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby alcain » Sat Oct 03, 2009 1:45 pm

Christina - two things...

If you do re-schedule a photo shoot of the couple, make very certain that they wear the exact same clothing as they did in the wedding, otherwise the shots might not work in the show.

One thing else, I own Elements and will never ever use it (I use Photoshop CS3). Maybe I could drop it to you in the mail??

Blessings, ~al
Using Producer V4, PS CS5, and the Nikon D80, D90 & D7000 for all of my professional work.
BFA with a major in Communication Design, Texas State University, 1978
And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

.
User avatar
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue May 27, 2008 2:29 pm
Location: Shingle Springs, Northern California

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby ChrissyC » Sat Oct 03, 2009 2:00 pm

Hi Cristina, I also was expecting really bad photos and saw some lovely ones..everyone has given you very good points, taking them out for a photo shoot is a good idea :)
I wanted to tell you about your menu, I always see your posts saying your menu doesn't work...maybe it's a small thing your overlooking....
when you click create output
then share a show
then menu up at the top
menu layout
create custom menu
Captions
now you'll see on the left the name of your show, use the minus bar to remove any captions you don't want...you should see below the captions on the left a box that says ACTION ON CLICK
in that box it should say Play a Show....any of the captions you have highlighted, if you look in that action on click you have choices to use....I remove all captions except the name of my show and make sure it says Play a show in the action click box....and believe me I also forgot that box so there was nothing to click on!!
check that setting, it might be a simple fix..if you have Play a show in the box and it still won't work then I'm stumped! as long as you have Play a show in that box whatever you have highlighted will play your show when clicked...
let me know!!
hugggs, Chrissy

.
User avatar
Posts: 5391
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:55 am

Re: Jane and Chico - HELP !

Postby debngar » Sat Oct 03, 2009 2:17 pm

alcain wrote:Christina - two things...

If you do re-schedule a photo shoot of the couple, make very certain that they wear the exact same clothing as they did in the wedding, otherwise the shots might not work in the show.

One thing else, I own Elements and will never ever use it (I use Photoshop CS3). Maybe I could drop it to you in the mail??

Blessings, ~al


If the purpose is to make it seem like the shots were from that day, yes that's a good point. I wasn't necessarily referring to having to do that, only to have additional image/content to add to the show that are related in a sense.

I've seen instances where photographers have included engagement images with wedding images in a show, perhaps due to a short number of hours for wedding coverage - dunno. But it looked ok in those instances. Maybe it wouldn't in this one because they weren't in dressy outfits for the civil ceremony. So you may have a point.
Debbie
Photography http://deborah-green.com

Next

Return to PSG - Sample Shows & Feedback

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests