A newbie's flower slideshow

[pkahan]

Hi all,

I've made a few slideshows but never gotten non-family/non-friend feedback.

This seems like a safe and friendly environment so all comments are welcome.

(LOVE making these things and really enjoy reading and learning at this website...can't wait to get into masks, templates, all that stuff...)

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 5847&alb=0

Peggy

[JC Profile Private message]

Peggy,

The program moved nicely and along with the music, matched the theme quite well. Only nit is the the closing music might benefit from some smoothing. The end of the soundtrack was a bit abrupt.

Now, the photography: WOW!!! If you shot these, then you have my sincere admiration for such outstanding work.

And, oh yeah, Welcome to the forum. A very impressive first post.

Jeff

[57Corvette Profile Private messageWebsite]

Peggy,

Sensational show ...... awesome photos, good transitions and fitting music. Great job and I look forward to seeing more from you.

Bob

[lisco]

Peggy-

First off, welcome to the forum. Your show was beautifully done. Excellent photos and nice, flowing music. Great start.

Scott

[HunnyB Profile Private message]

I also like your show alot.
WELCOME.

HunnyB

[Jerry Cole Profile Private message]

Peggy,
Your photography is stunning! You really "blossomed" in your first show. Your choice of music enhanced the whole experience and you didn't succumb to the temptation of over-using the myriads of motions and transitions availible in ProShow. There was a nice, calming continuity throughout.

I am not a huge fan of flower photography when its the entire subject for a slide show, but that is only a personal preference. I enjoy them more in smaller doses and to augment a story that is being told. Again that is only personal preference, and I'm sure there are many who will revel in this type of presentation.

Nonetheless,
Thank you sincerely for posting
Jerry

[lostdutchman]

Peggy,

The program moved nicely and along with the music, matched the theme quite well. Only nit is the the closing music might benefit from some smoothing. The end of the soundtrack was a bit abrupt.

Jeff

Lovely show. And welcome.

As Jeff said, the ending of the music was abrupt. If you were nearly at the end of the music, you could add a fraction of a second to slides here and there in order to get the last slide to end at the same time as the music. Another possibility is t to use the "fade out" function in PSP. The music you used lends itself to fading at any point, so try adding a fade out of 2 or 3 seconds.

I love shows with just flowers--to me the variety of color, texture and the interplay with light gives enough interesting and is enough of a story in it's own right. Hope to see more.
Ken

P.S. I'm doing a show this weekend for a friend that consist of nothing but cactus flowers. It's sort of like "When life presents you with lemons, make lemonaide." When life presents you with cactus flowers--make a slide show!

[debngar Profile Private message]

Wow Peggy,

Those are some of the prettiest flower shots I've seen. I really enjoyed your flower and butterfly images and how you displayed them.

Debbie

[magnusg]

Hey,
Thanks for an excellent show. I loved the super macro photography. It's really a hidden world out there to discover. Your choice of music was perfect.

By the way, which camera are you using?

Thanks,
Magnus

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Loved the show - only comment matches what others said about music
ending. Excellent macro pix -- I don't know how you do it (especially those
on the sea shore). I can pick a dead calm day, grab camera and run out to
get some good shots and instantly, a 10mph gusty wind shows up making
it almost impossible to get any good shots

I also would like a bit of information on what camera/lens/light you are
using for the macro shots please .

Thanks
mikey

[alcain Profile Private messageWebsite]

Peggy. I loved the photography. Well done and bravo. I liked the simplicity of the transitions and the show. The first song was nice, but (personally) I did not think the second song worked for the subject matter. Sometimes I will spend as many hours searching for the 'perfect' song for one of my shows as I spend creating the show itself. I believe that audio is equally as important as the images and how they are presented. But again... I appreciated this show and you have inspired me to break out my macro equiptment once again for an afternoon of shooting close ups... ~al

ps: Here is a link to one of my shows illustrating how effective the right music can be. I photographed my back yard one morning - no spectacular shots like yours, but I chose a powerful piece of music to add some needed 'flavor' to my show. The result is a finished show that leaves an impression on the viewer, even though the images were not all that interesting.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 4840&alb=0

Note to Mikey: The link above was for a show I made because you implied that I do not like too much movement in a show. Every slide has some form of movement...

[pkahan]

Thanks everyone for your comments and welcome. This could be addicting.

Couldn't figure out what everyone was talking about with the abrupt ending...on my program it looked OK. Then I watched it from Photodex and, yep, abrupt ending.
So... just add a few seconds to the last slide? Add a blank slide at the end? More fade? Dang, I'll just have to play with it some more. Also noticed one too many rotating rose buds so I'll take out one rotation.

Question: how to handle an "improved" show on here? Remove the first one and start over?
Answers to your questions:
I love taking flower photos but understand a flower slideshow is not everyone's first preference. But they're such available subjects! I do have a few other shows which I may submit for your comments...
All the shots were mine. Most were using my Canon Digital Rebel and a macro 100mm lens.
The beach butterfly shot was last year with my older Canon G3. We were at a wedding that weekend and I didn't trust my abilities with my new Rebel so had my faithful G3. Good thing as I was talking on my cell with a work crisis back in Oregon (beach was in Delaware) so took the pictures with one hand and cell in the other. Never could have held the Rebel in one hand...
Ken, I do understand what you're saying about music and agree totally that it can not only "make" a show but make a mediocre one really stand out. It's also very personal. I did an Oregon beach slide show the other day and really liked the music. My husband saw it, liked it, then said the music didn't add much for him. So there you go. I thought your selection for your backyard scenes was very powerful. Also liked the rain drops on the screen.

Hope this isn't too long. Thanks again
Peggy

[kaylef Profile Private message]

Now that I know they are all your pictures I'm astounded! What great photos. I loved how your show moved along nicely, not too slow.

The only suggestion I have is to create more interest. It's a flower show, so you have lots of flowers and butterflies, but you can keep up interest by adding some zip after say, four/five pictures. Show the whole garden, add bugs or a path, make it more personal by explaining your love of butterflies and flowers, add a moving background, or even information about the subjects. Keep them wantin more!

It was an eye-popping show of color. Welcome and thankyou for posting an enjoyable show.

Kay

[pkahan]

Thanks, Kay, for your comments. I just had a lot of flower shots so figured I'd put them into a slideshow but hadn't thought much about adding zip. With something that long it's probably a good idea to have some kind of slight change of pace, however brief. Still need to keep within the overall mood of the thing...definitely something to think about.

Thanks again to everyone for their comments.

Peggy