chris
Affinity Photo is a fully fledged alternative to Photoshop/Photoshop Elements and is currently available for just £35 (60% off) if you buy it direct: click this for the link… https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/#buy
It is available for Windows, or Mac, or some Ipads , and there is no subscription. Several members have already taken advantage of the offer this week. Like Photoshop and all advanced editors, there is a lot to learn but it is very rewarding.
Chris
ps. I know of three members have already taken advantage of this offer!
[Note! Files can be extremely big so please do not try to send them electronically via mobile or non-fibre-based broadband.]
POSTSCRIPT Our first 10×20 meeting went extremely well with 24 presentations from 17 different members. Using a web-based form for entries helped enormously in keeping track of entries and planning the evening. It also prevented me from losing or forgetting anyone’s files and most people had no problems uploading their files via our website.
PechaKucha (Japanese for chit-chat) is a storytelling format in which a presenter shows their 20 chosen PDIs for 20 seconds each with commentary (6 minutes and 40 seconds total). This is being tried by various camera clubs around the country. In order to encourage more in the club to take part we have decided to change the format to 10 PDIs for 20 seconds, i.e. 10×20 instead of 20×20. This can be with dialogue, without dialogue or if you prefer just add text. The images do not have to be of competition standard but ones that please you. It is a non-competitive, non-judgemental fun evening, not to be confused with an A-V presentation or with our A-V evening in January even though you may use the same software. You may find it helpful to read our recent notes on “Preparing A-Vs” for a guide to software.
The easiest method to create a 10×20 is to use Faststone Image Viewer available free on line for Windows PCs. After placing your selected images into a folder, just select your images in Faststone and choose Create/Slide Show Builder. The window then allows you to add, delete or re-order your images and set the time per slide. After pressing “Create” button, your file is saved as a large application “.exe” file which you can then either upload or bring on a stick on the evening. Presentation files are generally very large files because they can include audio/commentary as well as many video effects such as complex fades: their size can be much larger than your original jpg files.
Windows Movie Maker is also easy to use but creates a bigger file as an mp4 media file.
Please give it a go. The success of the evening depends on members participating!
DEADLINE for entries is set to be one week before the meeting to leave us enough time to resolve any problems you may have and to plan the evening.
We already have a new upload facility where you can upload completed presentations in a wide variety of media formats which you can access via a Media upload link just below the normal Competition Entries link. You need to complete a simple form where you can opt to either bring your presentation on the night on a USB memory stick or – provided you have a fibre-based internet connection – to upload directly to the SCC Dropbox. Uploading allows us to properly test the presentations run on the club laptop beforehand.
We have a revised post on preparing AV’s following our meeting on 31st Oct 2019 but members need to be logged in to find it, either in recent posts or by following this link ( shaftesburycameraclub.org.uk/2019/preparing-audio-visuals-nov-2019/ ).
Remember you also need to be logged-in to view competition results.
Our annual members’ A-V Evening is always very popular and a good way to show off a different aspect of your talent, i.e. putting a 3 or 4 minute slide-show of one of your photo sequences to music or commentary. Brian traditionally leads this and holds a brief workshop each season to introduce new members […]
You can download to print and/or view our leaflet summarizing this year’s revised arrangements by CLICKING HERE
By the way, sorry if some of our jargon isn’t clear! We use PDI (Projected Digital Image) to mean jpg images that conform to our entry requirements which are simply those that fit into our 1600 pixels wide and 1200 pixels high maximum limits. We will have a pre-meeting workshop to explain all this at 6:45pm in the small committee room on our next club night, Thursday 26th September. Just turn up on the night and we hope to cover both PDIs and Print requirements.
[Note some clubs use the term DPI instead of PDI: we prefer PDI to prevent any confusion with “dots per inch”. (And for those expecting to be told to use a particular “dpi” such as 72 or 300, this value does not matter when used on our projector. If you are concerned set it to 300dpi.]
Even if you are not yet ready to enter any Prints or any PDIs, you are always welcome to have a go “to break the ice” or if you prefer, please just talk with Helen or Chris about the photos you might like to submit. There is no pressure to enter competitions (except perhaps for our light-hearted Ladies v Gents) but most people find entering rewarding and helps to have impartial feedback. Don’t worry if your early scores are at the lower end: we all do from time to time except for one or two extremely talented members!
Bill’s programme for our forthcoming season is now finalised and printed copies and will be available at our first meeting on Thursday 12th September starting at 7:30 pm in the Royal British Legion Hall, Coppice Street, Shaftesbury.
You can view the full programme via our Programme tab on the Menu above or if you prefer, simply download a pdf copy to print at home, please use THIS LINK.
Competition Entries (members only)
for Prints and PDIs
10×20 & A-V Entries (members only)
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Photo Venues
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Our Noticeboard on the web
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Pixels Our Virtual Workshop
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CONTACT US BY
PHONE or EMAIL
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