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20th RPS National AV Championships 23rd & 24th September 2017 Bookings and entries are now coming in for the RPS Nationals, but you still have four weeks to get in your entries and to book to attend the Championship judging. Entries and Bookings close on 28th August. You will know by now that the Championships are being held this year at the Leeds Trinity University, north of Leeds city centre in Horsforth and just south of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. We have a wonderful auditorium in which to show your AVs (if you've been to an RPS Great Yorkshire day recently, you will know the venue). And we are keeping the prices down, so it will be a good-value weekend. We are leaving you to nd your own accommodation; the Leeds/ Bradford Premier Inn is just round the corner but there are plenty of other choices locally. If you are planning to enter you will see that the rules are more or less the same as last time, except for the aspect which taxes us every year - pre-selection. We only have a certain time to show AVs at the weekend, so if the entries exceed this then we have to select only the best to show the audience. For this Championship we have decided to show at least one entry from every entrant and, should we need to pre-select, the judges will chose the best AVs from the entrants' second choices. The judges, by the way, are Martin Fry, Marion Waine and James Hamill. There are two ways to enter and two ways to book and pay. If you are wary of electronic transfers you can put your AVs on a disc, ll in your entry form, sign a cheque and put the lot in an envelope to me: Howard Bagshaw, 9 Haywood Heights, Little Haywood, ST18 0UR. If you want the convenience of electronic transfer, then use a service such as WeTransfer to send an electronic copy of the entry form with your AVs to my email address (howard.bagshaw@ntlworld.com). Transfer your monies using a bank transfer, which goes straight into the NAVC's bank account (details of how to do this on the forms). To book to attend, you can also use the post or the electronic systems. Closing date is August 28th. All the forms are on the RPS NAVC website, which is www.rps.org/NAVC - this is a direct link, which saves you trying to navigate your way through the complexities of the RSP website. But again, if youâ€™re struggling ring me (01889 881503) or email me and I'll post the forms to you. Please support this event and make sure that other AV friends are aware of it.

AV News 209 | August 2017

In This Issue 2

Chairman's Chatter

Howard Bagshaw

Editors’ Welcome

Editors

Harmonising Judging

Charles Hulse

Getting to Grips with PTE9

Tony Collinson

Rough Cut to Final Cut:

Editors

- End of the Road

Paul Byrne

- Shooting A Princess

Martin James

- The Journey

Brian Harvey

- The Story of Books

Les Spitz

The Third Image

Ian Bateman

Editors AV News

As I See It … Whither AV

Brain Harvey

Hints and Tips

Malcolm Imhoff

Alastair Taylor Production Editor

Setting the Trend

Alastair Taylor

Maureen Albright

Edgar Gibbs

Around the AV Groups

2017 Adelaide AV Festival

John Hodgson

BIAFF 2017

John Smith

IPF Show Down Results

Lilian Webb

An Adobe Game Changer?

Ian Bateman

Depth of Field in Photoshop

Keith Scott

Recent Results

Future Events

AV Group Chairman Howard Bagshaw

Secretary Alan Tyrer

Scott Antony Copy Editor

Subscriptions are open to all at £22 per year including postage. Please contact: David. R, Neal AV Group Treasurer 16 Fern Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. TN38 0UH 01424 712394 david-neal@talktalk.net

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AV News 209 | August 2017

Chairman's Chatter Howard Bagshaw ARPS, MPAGB I've been to a couple of International AV competitions recently, judging at Adelaide and attending the '321' competition in Capel Curig. ‘International’ meant that we saw a huge range of styles of different lengths from all over the world. It made me realise how much variety there is in AV work, which we miss if all we see are AVs from our local group. Subject matter and delivery style can be so varied, as I was reminded after showing some of my AVs in Adelaide when one of the audience commented they were all 'very English'. What did he mean? I guess that they tend to be factual, documentary, the style we so often see from UK workers. Whereas Italians seem to love gritty, grainy, monochrome, full of emotion, and with a 'story' that makes you think, but often with no narration. South Africans love to show high quality photography, or 'play' with graphic ideas. The French seem to love philosophy, emotion and the power of a seductive French voice. Not surprisingly, the three judges at Adelaide had somewhat different views on what made 'the best' AVs, but if we'd all agreed totally there wouldn't need to have been three of us. I was also aware that the length of an AV can be crucial. The time limitation in the '321' competition - 3 minutes 21 seconds - allowed us to see a huge number of 'snappy' AVs, 113 of them in a day. I must commend the North Wales 'gang' for organising the only UK showing of the competition and also compliment the 19 of us who sat through and marked every one of the entries. It was quite a day! But what I found most interesting was the variety that can be had even in that short time. The photo harmony style featured fairly strongly of course, but there were funny ones, sad ones, good ones, bad ones. What there couldn't be was the extended documentary style AVs we’ve become used to in the UK. The competition was judged in many places around the world and I look forward to seeing the nal results (now available at www.challenge321.org) and the way in which different countries rated the different types of AV. I'm sure you won’t need reminding it's time to enter the RSP National AV Championships and to book to attend - more details elsewhere in this issue and on the NAVC website at www.rps.org/NAVC. Lastly, can I thank all of you who have taken the time to write, email and comment on the way AV News has developed over the last couple of issues. Many thanks to our Editors for taking our publication forward, and please do respond with your thoughts and ideas. Page 2

AV News 209 | August 2017

Editors’ Welcome ... Alastair Taylor LRPS (Production Editor), Scott Antony (Copy Editor) There are some thought-provoking articles in this issue on which we would welcome your views, having had no ‘Letters’ in response to the last content. Charles Hulse’s article, for example, proposes a numerical framework for competition judging. If generally adopted, together with common guidelines on what constitutes good AV production, could this make for a consistent method across all competitions? Moreover could such guidelines also help to formulate production values independently of competition? Measures that could be applied to any AV regardless of its placing in competition, where it’s one against another rather than an appraisal against agreed benchmarks. That task is of course the meat of the RPS Distinction, but it’s a big and different jump from entering a diverse range of competitions to presenting for a Distinction, all the more so when its current standards are obscure, if indeed they exist in a coherent and accessible fashion. However it’s been said that if the AV Group did come forward with, say, recognisable bronze, silver and gold steps as merits in their own right plus possible precursors to the Distinction, then the RPS would view that as unwelcome competition. On the contrary, having tested the idea, the RPS would applaud such a move as developing the skills and con dence to encourage more and better submissions. Of course it would be essential that the AV Group and the RPS Multimedia Panel shared the same guidelines. And who might best coalesce those guidelines? Some grouping from the excellent producers at the top of our game would be the obvious choice, thereby contributing their successive triumphs to the common and lasting good. And after or during that process there would be a dovetailing with the RPS Panel, whose members may not all share our specialisms but who would ensure the wider standards the RPS wish to maintain and promote. In short, our ambition for AV News is that it should be a forum for supporting and enhancing production, with collaboration the key. As one small step we’re can now tentatively launch the Rough Cut > Final Cut feature, which we hope will develop as a worthwhile sounding board for edgling creations. The photographer Linda Bembridge wrote recently of her own group of colleagues: “They are passionate about what they do. They’re not bound by the camera club world and driven by the competition aspect of photography, which I nd quite negative. Their motivation is to produce a beautiful image and to share it, to build a network of friends. It’s a safe environment to learn and make mistakes in. Everyone is generous with their knowledge.” Bravo. Page 3

AV News 209 | August 2017

Harmonising Judging Methods Charles Hulse FRPS, AV-EFIAP, AV-FAPS Judging methods in AV competitions and festivals vary considerably. In the UK the ABC system is extensively used, where A is a de nite Acceptance and possible Prize Winner, B is a possible Acceptance and C a de nite NonAcceptance. But there is only one mark and that is for Overall Impression, taking into account photography, audio and all of the other attributes that audio visuals have. Plus and minus marks are then allotted to provide more grading points. Other competitions favour numerical scales such as points out of ten or some other number. In some of these systems the photography, audio and overall impression of each AV can receive separate marks. I’ve observed this variation of judging methods with interest as for about 30 years I was, among other things, a sensory analyst for a large brewery. This involved both tasting beers from all over the world and running and training tasting panels to evaluate beers. In fact, the local newspaper at one point declared I had the best job in the state of South Australia! The culmination of the results from the panel of trained experts was a scienti c paper that I presented to an audience of a hundred brewing scientists at a convention in Singapore. Yes, large breweries do employ a considerable number of scientists and PhDs. So during those years I had to learn all about the characteristics and selection of judges (another story), rating scales, the development of tasting descriptors and the analysis of the data. Complex statistical techniques were used to see if the results had any validity in terms of whether panellists could really tell the difference between two beers, or could identify the factors that caused one beer to be preferred over another. The methods and forms I helped to develop were adopted as standard practice by all breweries in the Lion Nathan group across Australia. One thing was clear from this work: the scales used to measure panellists hedonic and intensity responses had to be numerical as the numbers could be added and averages computed. Some methods do use a line on which panellists place a mark to denote, say, the intensity of a avour – e.g. bitterness. But even then the mark has to be interpreted and a number derived from its position on the line. So I’ve never been totally taken by the ABC method as it does not involve numbers and also, importantly, it seems to me that it isn’t possible really to say whether an AV is an Acceptance until all the judges results are considered. Page 4

AV News 209 | August 2017 When I was invited to judge the 2016 International Water competition, organised by Jeff Morris from South Africa, I knew my fellow judges Ian Bateman and Malcolm Imhoff would want to use the ABC method. Thinking about this I realised that in fact the ABC system and the nine-point scale I had used in taste testing are the same; see below together with the sort of descriptions used in my brewing ratings. Mark

Description

A+ A

Mark Description 9

Definite Acceptance (Possible Prize Winner)

A-

B+

Possible Acceptance (For Discussion)

B-

C+

C C-

Not Accepted

Excellent Good Average Poor

2 1

Very Poor

A nine-point scale is good as it has a mid-point and is suf ciently long to enable discrimination between AVs after marking the attribute being judged. In the case of the Water competition and others in Australia where I have used the system, the judges gave marks for Audio, Photography and Overall. In the Water competition it was decided that the marks for Photography and Audio would be consulted to decide between close entries. Otherwise, the Overall average mark was the main judging criteria. To make life easier for the judges, it so happened that Ian Bateman had previously devised a scorecard on an Excel spreadsheet in order to facilitate the judging of competitions in which he was involved. I rst encountered this when judging in Adelaide and, recognising its value, I became convinced it should be more widely adopted. After inputting the marks out of nine (or the translated ABC marks) from each judge, the spreadsheet computes the average points out of 100 for each of Audio, Photography and Overall and produces the combined Total Average score for each entry. The spreadsheet can then be sorted at the click of a button, with the highest score on top.

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AV News 209 | August 2017 Harmonising Judging Methods continued … This makes discussion of the results very easy. The percentage contribution of the Audio, Photography and Overall marks to the Total score can be altered e.g. 25:25:50, 20:20:60 or 0:0:100 if using it as a pure ABC system. In the last case the Audio and Photography scores are not counted thanks to the exibility of Excel formulas. Alternatively, judges can enter various ratios to see the effect of giving more weighting to say Photography. One of the strengths of this method is the ease and speed with which results are displayed, and the judges’ debate is much aided by the ready availability of their combined scores. And if several categories are included, such as Documentary or Theme, then the top entry in each category is immediately seen. The judging of the Water competition went well using the system (and Jeff Morris has since used it for other competitions). As it turned out, the marks for Overall Impression were a good guide to the nal results, but in some cases the Audio and Photography scores helped us to make dif cult or close decisions. And asking judges to enter marks for Audio and Photography causes them to concentrate and think hard about the AV and its components. Also, in the Water competition we had guidelines by which each of Audio, Photography and Overall were to be judged. And I think it important that all judges do have guidelines of some kind in mind when judging - but guidelines not rules. Overleaf is my distillation of the many general, judging guidelines that I for one have come across. In conclusion, judging is not an exact science and never will be as it depends on the opinions and judgments of people being bombarded by streams of complex visual and audio information. However, that should not prevent us trying to inject some organisation and commonality. My aspiration is that the method I have outlined will receive general and wide acceptance in the AV community and that it will make a positive contribution to the judging of future AV events. For the present I hope you will at least nd ideas to ponder here and I welcome your comments, queries or requests for further information. The Spreadsheet Scorecard can be downloaded from www.rps.org/avnews To use the scorecard, enter the titles of the competing AVs, plus authors, running times, category, club or country details as needed. Judges rst enter their scores on their own paper scorecard, usually provided by the organisers. These are then transferred to the central scorecard during breaks. Clicking the ‘Rank/Sort’ button makes the magic happen and discussions can begin. Note, the system needs Excel vintage 2010 or later to work.

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AV News 209 | August 2017

SOUND MUSIC

Selection and suitability to â€˜set the sceneâ€™ and convey mood.

SOUND FFECTS

Selection and use to create atmosphere (when and if appropriate).

SCRIPT/ NARRATION

The quality, content and suitability of the script and its delivery (when used). Skill in expressing emotions, thoughts and ideas to support the vision and story.

RECORDING TECHNIQUE

Skill in laying down and combining the elements of sound.

VISION QUALITY

Technical quality of all visuals, including titles, graphics and video (if used).

CONTENT

Image content and artistic and compositional suitability of images to illustrate the concept.

SEQUENCING

Story flow. Arrangement and progression of images in regard to format, colour, tone, brilliance and logic.

TRANSITIONS

Choice and use of appropriate transitions and special effects. Use of suitable fade rates.

OVERALL PRESENTATION CONCEPT

The strength of the idea or theme of the story.

REALISATION

Style, originality and development of theme to sustain interest. Use of appropriate presentation pace and production length. Timing of vision to sound. Clarity of theme or plot development.

OVERALL

The success of the production in entertaining, educating or stimulating the intended audience. The coherence of the complete production. Emotional, visual or aural impact.

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AV News 209 | August 2017

Getting To Grips with PTE9 – Part 1 Tony Collinson LRPS, DPAGB In order to keep up with all recent developments within PTE 9 it is important to ensure that you have the latest version installed. This can be done quite easily by selecting the Help tab on the menu at the top of the screen and ‘Check for updates’. A window will appear advising that either the latest version is being used or that a newer version is available. Newer versions can be downloaded from the WnSoft website and installed following the onscreen instructions. At the time of writing, the latest version is 9.0.10 but this may well have been superceded by the time of publication. The main page in PTE 9 has four windows that are, from left to right, the File Tree, the File List, the Mini Player and the Timeline. Along the bottom, by default, is the Slide List but this can also be switched to show the Timeline by selecting the appropriate tab at the bottom right of the screen as required. I think it is important that the correct terminology for the various features of PTE 9 is understood in order to avoid any confusion. (See Fig 1below)

With the dedicated slide show folder selected in the File Tree, all the images and audio tracks now appear in the File List and, as such, the File Tree is no longer required to be visible. By selecting CTRL+G the File List is expanded to cover the File Tree giving greater visibility of the les. This is just one of the many ‘hotkey’ shortcuts available in PTE 9. (See Fig 2 top overleaf) Page 8

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AV News 209 | August 2017 Getting To Grips with PTE 9 â€“ Part 1 continued ... To create a simple title slide select the rst image in the Slide List and on the bottom toolbar select the Slide Style button. From the window that appears select the Captions tab, where there are various options for title slides. Choose one of these and type the title of your slide show in the Caption box at the bottom right of the window and then Apply. There are various ways of producing title slides but this is probably one of the simplest if you are just starting using PTE. (See Fig 3 below)

Resizing Images The le size of images produced by modern digital cameras is growing and I would like to share my own views on the resizing of images. I have been involved in judging Slide Shows on numerous occasions and have found that many believe that the larger the image, the better the quality will be when displayed on the screen and consequently the executable le sizes are enormous. Let me give you an example from my own equipment. The le size of images taken directly from my camera is 5472px x 3648px and 24 Mb in the RAW format.

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AV News 209 | August 2017 A straight conversion to a jpeg image of the same dimensions in the 3:2 aspect ratio produces a le size of around 10.8 Mb. If these were to be used in a slide show with, say 35 images and a piece of music, this would produce a le size approaching 400 Mb. If animation and video were to be added then the le size would increase even more. Now because my chosen aspect ratio is 16:9. I crop and resize my images to 1920 px x 1080px in Photoshop CC and Export and Save For Web at a quality somewhere between 80 and 100 which gives me a le size of around 1 Mb per image. The resulting exe le produced in PTE is now around 50 Mb instead of 400 Mb and the screen quality is as good as - probably better - than had the full size image been used. When HD monitors and HD digital projectors are only capable of displaying images to a maximum resolution and size of 1920 px x 1080 px I can see no reason using images larger than these. The only exception would be when it is intended to use the Zoom, Pan or Rotate facilities and in this case a larger image is preferable. My recommendation would be to use images in the aspect ratio of choice and resized to a maximum of either 1920 px in length or 1080 px in height whichever gives the best t. If the aspect ratio of choice is 3:2 then the images size would be 1620 px x 1080 px. We have now introduced the images into the Slide List in the required order and have included a title slide using Slide Styles; in the next issue we will look at using the facilities in PTE 9 to add and edit an audio track. ——————————————————————————————————-

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AV News 209 | August 2017

We are pleased to at last be launching what we hope will be a regular feature, providing helpful and constructive comments for participating producers. Links to directly view or to download the four AVs for this issue are given immediately below. Once viewed we hope that many of you will email considered comments to the Editors â€“ magazine@avnews.org.uk - and we will then forward them to the producer concerned. The participating AVs will be available to view on line for the rst two months of each issue of AV News i.e. over August and September for this edition. If commenting please always include your identity, but the producer can choose whether or not to receive comments anonymously; the thinking being that this may help to maintain focus on the value of the feedback itself rather than its source! Comments are, of course, entirely for the producer to take or leave as he/she sees t and no dialogue is anticipated, unless both parties so wish. In a nutshell, with your help we hope to create a sounding board to assist the creative decision-making our hobby involves, away from its competitive framework but bridging our often thinly spread community. If you would like to contribute an AV for the next issue please contact the editors â€“ we expect usual inputs to comprise a couple of paragraphs by way of background and requests, plus a photo from and access to the AV in question. In other words, something akin to the rst and last AVs in the list below, all of which are introduced by their producers over the next pages. If we can achieve six AVs per issue then we will consider the experiment properly underway, and can encompass more producers, and commentators or course, if the service proves useful. To view all or any AV go online to: www.rps.org/avnews End of the Road (2m 52s) Shooting A Princess (3m 12s) The Journey (8m 32s) The Story of Books (3m 19s)

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AV News 209 | August 2017

End of the Road Paul Byrne APRS, APSNZ, AFIAP (Tauranga NZ) I stumbled upon an old car yard or wreckers yard a couple of years ago. The interesting thing about the yard is that its two adjoining elds are full of cars and parts from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, in some cases the 1920’s and earlier. If you were a car enthusiast, as I am, you would wonder how you could possibly choose one or more of these wrecks to restore to glory. This AV is made in memory of that visit and the sombre music is chosen to re ect the passing of an era in motorcar manufacturing. “They don’t make them like that anymore.” I welcome comments, good or bad, about the combination of music in relation to the pace of the AV. Is it too long or too morbid? Should I have included close up shots of rust or is that best left to a separate AV. Could it be improved with a commentary or do the images speak for themselves? On the few occasions where I have used text, is that appropriate and useful or best removed? The curious thing about this yard is that none of these vehicles ever reached the crusher, whilst all the modern cars are swiftly dealt with and despatched. The yard is almost a museum piece in it’s own right!

Photograph courtesy Paul Byrne Page 13

AV News 209 | August 2017

Shooting A Princess Martin James Background I’d welcome your constructive feedback on an AV that came about completely by accident. I'd been asked to help with the lighting on a model photo-shoot for a local children’s entertainment company. When I arrived it was apparent that my wide-angle lens was better suited to the con ned space, so with the tripod centrally positioned, it was simply a case of remotely shooting around 6 shots per pose whilst the models acted out scenes from recent children’s lms & fairy tales. Four hours later and we had over 1,100 shots for selection.

Photograph courtesy Martin James Concept I had the idea of placing all the decent, unedited shots together in a slideshow so that the company could display a 'behind the scenes' look at the shoot on their website. I chose what I thought would be a suitable soundtrack and it was completed and uploaded within a couple of hours.

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AV News 209 | August 2017 Realisation As soon as I had played it back, I realised this could be the basis of a simple AV and set to work in rearranging groups of shots to best t with the soundtrack. After a few days I had around 900 shots roughly synced to a three-minute track. The images for rst ve beats of the track were processed, but other than resizing I chose not to do any editing to the rest so as not to detract from the rough and candid quality the audience would see. Disney cation After replaying this version many times, I had the idea of 'Disney cation' – could I somehow transform the characters into cartoons? There is an old movie technique called Rotoscoping which enables live footage of objects to be overdrawn by animators. After a bit of googling, I found a program called Akvis Sketch that could simply batch process all my images into a cartoon form within a few hours. This worked best when the characters were set against a plain background, and after reshuf ing the images the last third of the running time was thus transformed. Odds & Ends Although I'd had the title in mind from Day 1, it was much later I came up with the idea of gunsight crosshairs shooting the title to the sound of a camera click. I now essentially had the start and middle section of the AV but needed a decent ending. How about I simply show what the nished processed images look like on the website? Perfect, in that it also explains the whole reason for the story. Enter Stage 2 All the above is what I normally call Stage 1 of the process. This slideshow is now saved as an HD movie le and then re-imported as a single slide into Proshow to allow for Stage 2 – Adding Extras. I wanted certain words from the soundtrack lyrics to ow seamlessly across the page to become an integral part of the AV. Although this sounds complicated, I'd developed this technique in some of my earlier ‘Slug-Shorts’ - see https://vimeo.com/103520705 First Appraisal This early version was entered into my Photo Club’s annual AV competition last year, at which Andrew Gagg was the guest Judge. He must have liked something about it to give it the award. Bond – James Bond Previously the soundtrack had been silent during the start and end zones. I have now added 'James Bond' style Start & End themes nishing with zooming crosshairs right at the end. More lyrical text has been added, especially so over the 'Cartoon Dinner Party' backdrop. I've also been busy with the graphics at the point of cartoon transformation, and also at the end where I try to give it a rework 'Disney Castle' effect.

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AV News 209 | August 2017

The Journey Brian Harvey ARPS, In an effort to encourage discussion regarding various ideas and techniques used in AV, this article describes my latest production entitled The Journey, which has been shown at the IAC Peter Coles Competition, the Essex-East Anglian Competition and the Adelaide AV Festival. It has not received any awards, placings or judgesâ€™ comments and my only feedback has been from interested audience members. I am not seeking to criticise the judging but just want to receive any comments and constructive criticism, and the new Rough Cut to Final Cut format seems the ideal way to gain some feedback. But rst it may be helpful if I clarify my approach. Aim - I have always had an interest in space travel and I love Sci-Fi movies. I thoroughly enjoy the visual techniques used by moviemakers, particularly modern computer generated graphics. I wanted to make an AV that gave a simple history of man's efforts to get into space and then move on to a ctional, future journey of discovery. My aim was also to produce an AV without copying third party images and without using video, although I did feel the subject matter required some movement. Requirements - after research I listed what was needed to provide a brief history of space travel. I did not want to get too technical or long-winded, or cover the whole of rocket development, as this would bore most audience members and make the AV far too long. I aimed at a length of between 6 to 8 minutes, the maximum I felt most viewers would tolerate. I just wanted to provide a simple history, prior to the ctional second half. The sound track with historical recordings would help with the history of man's rst trip into outer space. For the ctional, second half journey I initially tried using a simple, commercially built, die cast model spacecraft but soon learnt of possible trade mark/copyright problems, and also the model detail became very poor in the required close-up photography. After this rst, unsatisfactory attempt I decided to employ the talents of an expert model maker, my own model building techniques leaving much to be desired. After much web-based searching I eventually found an enthusiastic and expert model designer and builder, Gary Welsh of Hectors House of Models & Miniatures, who happened to live only about 25 miles from me. After contacting Gary we viewed some of my AVs and I explained I didnâ€™t want some total, futuristic, fantasy model but a craft that looked as if it could be created in the near future.

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AV News 209 | August 2017 Once he understood what I was after he set about designing a one-off, purpose-built miniature. After a couple of months and some 72 hours of model building Gary delivered a near four-foot spacecraft, complete with full, weathered styling. Although I had seen the model during construction I was blown away with the detailing he had applied to this one-off, unique, scratchbuilt miniature. I decided to name the mother craft 'Discovery' and to tie in with the opening images of the AV the shuttlecraft was named 'Genesis'.

Both photogrpahs from The Journey courtesy Brain Harvey Photography - whilst awaiting completion of the spacecraft I worked on producing the images for the sequence. For the historical rst half I decided to shoot smoke streams from incense sticks rather than using third party, copied images of early spacecraft etc. The smoke stream patterns were then modi ed in Photoshop to give the required effects and the text added. I used my old slide rule rather than a calculator in one shot as I felt this related better to the time period. Some of my old engineering college notes were also used (now I know why I kept them). The ctional space travel required much investigation into how to produce images of star elds, nebula and planets, again rather than using third party images from say NASA. I thoroughly enjoyed producing the space scenes using layers of cloud formations etc. Photographs of gravel from my drive were used to create asteroids. Obviously much manipulation was required to produce these scenes, probably frowned upon by those who don't like Photoshop manipulation.

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AV News 209 | August 2017 The Journey continued … For the spacecraft images I used studio lighting and a 10 - 20mm, wide-angle lens on a tripod-mounted camera to photograph the two spacecraft. The spacecraft images were then processed through Lightroom and Photoshop, with dodge and burn tools creating directional highlighting on the craft. All the spacecraft images were extracted from the background and saved as png les. The only third party images used in the AV are the NASA shot of the planet Earth and Apollo lunar orbiter. AV Construction - now came the job of putting it all together in Pte. The various background star, nebula and planet shots simply dissolve and blend continuously. The spacecraft png les were then overlaid so pzr could be applied to create movement of the spacecraft across the space scenes and try to give perspective. The shuttlecraft 'Genesis' delivered seeds to a planet to try and indicate there must be other habitable planets in the solar system. A soundtrack was mixed from various music CDs of historical speeches, selected verses from poetry and some material from the NASA sound archives. The project started around April 2016 and was completed for entry

into competition early 2017 (although it’s still open for development). As already stated The Journey hasn't had any success in competition but do I regret putting it together? Certainly not. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed compiling it, had great fun creating the images, learnt new camera techniques and Photoshop skills, and above all met a new friend, Gary, with whom I will stay in touch. There was of course far more work and detail than stated here but I just wanted to give an idea of what went into the production, and any constructive criticism will be appreciated. Page 18

AV News 209 | August 2017 And now I've put my head over the parapet perhaps some other AV producers, establsihed or otherwise, will do the same using the Rough Cut to Final Cut facility. ——————————————————

The Story of Books Les Spitz ARPS This AV started out as an attempt to photograph people reading books. This was inspired by Andre Kertesz’ book of photographs titled ‘On Reading’. When it came to producing the AV, I decided to add in the early days in the history of books and ending with a look at the current trend towards reading on electronic devices. Most of the photographs are basic street photography but added in a few archival images and a few of objects taken in the British Museum. Fortunately the nal prediction in the AV seems to be a long way off as interest in printed books has increased and Kindle sales have reduced! I would like to hear comments on the AV and particularly – how it can be improved.

Photograph courtesy Les Spitz Page 19

AV News 209 | August 2017

The Third Image Ian Bateman FRPS, MPAGB, AV-AFIAP, APAGB For this issue’s ‘Third Image’ feature I’ve chosen one that is somewhat different from that created on the dissolve between two adjacent photos. Nevertheless I think it ts the bill in that it combines two separate images to create a distinct third, albeit with a little judicious help in the processing. So here are three pictures from my recent sequence The Chapel, The Devil and the Bar of Soap. The idea for this one came when we were in North Wales for the Peter Coles competition in March 2016. It suddenly occurred to me that we were in striking distance of Salem, a chapel that was the subject of a famous (at least in Wales) painting. After some hasty Googling we found the chapel and were thrilled to discover that its interior was untouched and virtually identical to that depicted in the painting. There was even a copy of the painting in the chapel, so with a carefully chosen viewpoint I was able to take a photograph that more or less mirrored that of the painting. After that, it took some Photoshop work to partially layer the main characters into the scene for the middle image, and nally an overlay of the nal painting into its location in the chapel. First Image (top left) The Chapel Second Image (top right) The Painting Third Image (bottom) The nal effect Message from the Editors. Do you have a suitable Third Image i.e. created on the dissolve between one image and the next. We will be pleased to receive your contributions.

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AV News 209 | August 2017

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AV News 209 | August 2017

As I See It … Whither AV? Brian Harvey ARPS Recently there have been several discussion threads regarding aspects of AV to which I would like to add my thoughts. First a de nition of AV From the RPS: “Audio Visual is about combining photographs to tell a story, enhancing the images with music, narration and other sound effects. It is a different way of presenting your work and ideas. AV sequences combine projected photographs and possibly video with a soundtrack”. Whilst AV is very dif cult to de ne in a couple of sentences it would be nice to see the word ‘creative’ included. A better de nition is provided by the Australian Photographic Society (APS): “Diaporama/Audio Visual is de ned as a sequence of still images where the storyline or theme, sound, transitions and images are interdependent. An effective sequence will have unity of its three parts: the conception, the visuals and the sound. Generally, these three elements should reinforce each other such that any one without the other two would be unsatisfactory. Adequate conception involves an idea with a suitable introduction, an interesting development of the idea and an appropriate close. Narrative or text may be employed but is not mandatory. The medium is very exible and artistic expression within it can take many forms”. Which brings us to Video The RPS de nition states “combine projected photographs with possibly video”. It doesn't say video alone is acceptable as an AV sequence, nor should it. To me AV and video are separate categories. It may be dif cult to give a percentage for video allowed in an AV but we must be very careful that the magic of still image AV (and the creation of its third image) is not swallowed up in a generalised, multimedia category. Indeed looking further at the APS website, video is not allowed in Documentary, Poetry and Song, Photo Harmony or Theme categories but only in Fusion. So the APS has a clear understanding of what is and is not AV. Malcolm Imhoff (Issue 207) states that the IAC's BIAFF also see a difference between AV and lm. Yes we need to encourage the modern generation to take up AV, but not by rushing down the video route, otherwise where do we draw the line between video and AV presentations?

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AV News 209 | August 2017 Now a de nition of Photo Harmony Using the clear de nition of the Bridgend 5 to 8 competition: “Photo Harmony is intended to demonstrate skill in the production and visual progression of still images linked to sound. No words or story with a speci c beginning, middle and ending are required. The emphasis is on matching the images with appropriate transitions and harmonising them with sound. Video clips are not allowed in the sequence”. This de nition gives a fairly clear idea of what Photo Harmony is, but what of us who fall in the crack between AV de ned as requiring a story/narration and Photo Harmony requiring no story? And unfortunately, there is also a view that Photo Harmony is of a lesser quality, thought of as a beginner’s way into AV and occasionally referred to as ‘not proper AV’ because it doesn't require a scripted voiceover. Yet many of my own AVs fall somewhere between Documentary and Photo Harmony: they have a structure, a beginning, middle and end; sometimes tell a visual story, although are not documentaries as such and usually don’t feature a spoken script. So where do I t in with regard to competition entry? I'm not providing scripted narration, so I assume no marks in that direction although my soundtracks are carefully mixed from various sources to compliment the images, which are carefully selected with creative transitions and an eye for the magic of the third image. Many competition entry forms ask which category an AV falls into but then the judgements are made overall and not by category. And how do judges account fairly for non-narrated and narrated soundtracks if marks are weighted, as they often are, towards the quality of scripted soundtracks? And the thorny issue of third party images and creativity? Again, a dif cult area: I can well see the problem of an historical AV needing to copy third party images. However, I challenge Richard Brown’s inference that landscapes are only copies of nature’s creation (Issue 204). Put 10 photographers in front of a landscape and you will probably get 10 different photographs. Get 10 people to copy a third party image and they will all be the same, although I accept skill is needed in ‘re-versioning’, as Richard puts it. But it's the over-use of third party images that I most object to; where do you stop?

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AV News 209 | August 2017 As I See It … Whither Av? continued Setting aside the copyright issue, is it also in order to use third party images to ll gaps in say a travel AV? If I could turn Richard’s argument the other way round: is it acceptable to use third party landscapes to create a non-historical travel sequence, and if so to what percentage? I think a set limit for third party images would create a competitive balance for those who don’t employ third party images. After all, most of us use copied music (with appropriate clearance) and if we then allow most images in an AV to be third party, we will be judging only the quality of the producer’s assembly skills. Whilst very important is this all we want to judge? Surely we also have to take into account original image quality (given many of us portray ourselves as photographers) plus the quality of soundtrack, narrated or not, plus the overall production skill. Richard also disparages a trend towards highly complex, 'fantasy' pictures being favoured in competition. What's wrong with creativity? Do we always want to be lectured, with documentaries becoming the only accepted form? I've heard it said in some coffee break discussions that there are not enough people trying out new, experimental and creative ideas. Diversity and creativity, with equitable encouragement, are what we need to strengthen our love of AV and enlist tomorrow’s producers.

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AV News 209 | August 2017

Drawing a Blank Malcolm Imhoff FRPS, FACI(M) As I mentioned in Hints & Tips 10, some AVs launch abruptly as soon as the projectionist clicks the exe le to start. For the viewer this can be uncomfortable. We like a little time to settle down, for our eyes to accustom to the dark and to anticipate what we are about to see. In the good old days of PTE 4.49 there was a wonderful facility to ‘show rst transition effect from desktop’, which meant you could programme in a beautiful slow fade from your front page menu to the rst (blank) slide. And then at the end of your sequence you could ‘show transition effect to desktop after last slide’ so there would be a lovely fade back up to your menu. I understand this is not possible with later versions of PTE because current versions of Windows (ha!) will not allow it. It is still good practice to start and nish with a black (blank) slide however, and although the effect is not the same it is more comfortable for your audience. And it’s easy to make a blank slide of the same size as the rest of the images in your programme, but PTE has the facility to ‘Insert Blank Slide’ [Alt+S] or ‘Slide/Insert Blank Slide’ from the menu (Fig.1). Do it. And can anybody tell me why, when you have inserted your Blank Slide, playback (marked by the playback cursor in Fig.2) starts at the end of Slide No.1 and not at 0.00?

Figure 1

Figure 2 Page 27

AV News 209 | August 2017

Setting the Trend Alastair Taylor LRPS

I very much enjoyed attending the Peter Coles AV Competition in North Wales last March. This small and intimate competition attracted an entry of 83 AVs from around the world. Lasting two days, it is something of an endurance test for the audience and judges alike. I attend these events with the vain but lasting hope that my work might get a mention from the judges, but with so many entries I should be more realistic! But more than anything I attend to learn new AV tricks and to share thoughts with others. In this article I want to share some observations on AV work I viewed and the lessons I took away. As we all seek to raise our game the challenge is to remember different approaches and think about how we might apply some in our own work. My rst observation is that there are a number of AV production programmes being used. Pictures to Exe (PTE) is widely used and the various effects it offers through masks, objects and animations, plus the inclusion of good quality video, are being put to good use. I am especially impressed by the way in which this programme maintains image quality as the same cannot be said for all programmes. Some countries submit entries in video format, with huge les sizes and often with compromised quality. You know when one of these is about to start as the laptop hangs for several seconds before the programme starts running. There is no particular lesson here other than Iâ€™m pleased to continue with PTE and hope our Apple Mac friends can soon share this AV tool.

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AV News 209 | August 2017 I was impressed by the production quality of several entries, for example The Grey Ghost by Keith Leedham. Telling the story of the life of the RMS Queen Mary, the sound track was highly technical and there was real skill in the use of music, with a succession of scores matched to the ship’s unfolding history. With these changing tracks running behind the main voice, I never got bored. How many times have we seen an AV time-bound by the music used? Not in this case. Peace and Love by Keith Brown was another ne example. I have known Keith for years and his love of the Beatles made it easy to guess the subject – Ringo Starr. The soundtrack was well researched and drew on archive clips of Ringo talking about his life in Liverpool and with this famous group. Various Beatles tracks were used to link the story and, though well known to most of us, it left me with a deeper understanding of Ringo and his music.

Martin Fry has been producing AV’s for as long as I can remember and his latest production, Winter’s Gift, is up to his normal high standard. Martin’s love and knowledge of the Cotswolds is clear from his ne photography, which is the starting point for an excellent AV. This show matched highly appropriate music to some great photographs linked by a succession of good dissolves and fades. The ‘Third Image’ was at the heart of the matter, a great dissolve being a key component of a rst-class AV. Above: From Winter’s Gift . Photograph courtesy Martin Fry Left: From The Grey Ghost. Photograph courtesy Keith Leedham

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AV News 209 | August 2017 Eric, by Jenny and Malcolm Gee, was another great entry. In Eric’s own words it tells the story of one of the last reed cutters in the Norfolk Broads, and was well recorded and edited. A mistake often seen in AVs is for the script to say what is being seen on the screen, but not so in this case. The voice of the last reed cutter, with his broad local accent, was fascinating and there was a touch of melancholy in hearing about this hitherto important craft and seeing its disappearing imagery. The lesson for AV workers is that a dying trade draws on our nostalgia whilst providing a useful record for our social archives. I have always enjoyed Ian Bateman’s work and The Chapel, The Devil and The Bar of Soap was no exception. The title gives nothing away; suf ce to say that I was kept engaged until the revelation at the end. Ian’s lovely Welsh accent is great to hear and has real clarity (a reminder of the voice and work of Ron Davies, who featured in an Italian entry). Any AV producer who can keep the audience in suspense throughout is a winner in my view. Indeed a sting in the tail is often the aim, and John Hodgson from Australia certainly pulled this off in Breaking Up. I have seen a few of John’s productions and he’s very able when it comes to delivering an unexpected ending, and certainly the nal reveal had great impact. A lesson for such AVs then is to ensure a title that doesn’t give away any aspect of your plot whilst you to lead your audience up the garden path! I enjoyed too 80 Degrees North by Colin Balls. This charted his visit to the Arctic in search of Polar Bears, which are rather dif cult to locate – a white spot on a white background makes for challenging photography. The ability here was in telling the story of the search with a light-hearted approach, weaving in some laconic humour and a number of storylines, some serious, some humorous. This takes real skill given it’s hugely dif cult to make a script sound natural and ‘off the cuff’. Nor was the voiceover spoiled by excessive or inappropriate sound, with periods of silence when the beautiful photographs alone told the story. The best, rst-time entry was Journey of the Soul by Rita Nolan from Ireland. I have always enjoyed Irish work. The Irish accent is so soft and engaging; the approach often so lyrical, even spiritual. This work was no exception and told the story of a long-lost outpost of Island life - a worthy winner. Finally, I will mention In Search of Christina by Richard Brown, which demonstrates Richard’s ability to cover a broad range of approaches from humour to documentary. Many locations were used including London, Dorset and Buckinghamshire. The lesson is that if you nd a compelling story to tell then research it well, come up with a production plan and then get out and about to take the photographs. This sequence was approaching twelve minutes long and kept me gripped until the very end! Page 30

AV News 209 | August 2017

From In Search of Christina. Photograph courtesy Richard Brown

The outright winner for 2017, Kelpies, and the runner up, The Land God Made in Anger, both came from the same person, Howard Bagshaw - unusual in AV competition but well deserved, and I’m sure you will have more opportunities to admire two of the best we can offer. I enjoyed my two days in North Wales. The company was great and the winners all worthy. I didn’t get a mention – so nothing new there, but I will be at the next AV competition looking, listening, learning and marvelling at the skills and imagination of my AV friends. I urge you to do the same, notably as regards our up coming Nationals. See you in Leeds in September.

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AV News 209 | August 2017

Around the AV GROUPS Leeds RPS AV Day Anne Harbron If you haven’t yet got round to attending a Great Yorkshire AV Sunday - this year’s was on 9th April - then perhaps it’s time to make a rm resolution to visit the next one. Just as AV is so much more than a few images with a bit of music, this AV Day is so much more than a meeting with a few AVs. It is a social occasion where newcomers can be certain of a warm welcome, where news of this AV community is disseminated, where acquaintances from many miles distant can meet up, where help can be sought and inspiration found. Some things remain the same. Keith, the MC, still keeps tight control of procedure, ensuring courteous conduct in critique plus accuracy in timing for the day. Tony deals very rmly with the technology. Bryan and his cheerful, friendly team do everything in their power to ensure that it is a perfect day. The day began, as usual, with attendees’ sequences; a time for consideration, encouragement, validation. These ranged from rst time submissions to the work of seasoned producers and what a varied morning we had in terms of subject and style. No “same old, same old“ to be seen here, not for a single moment. For the audience this is more than an opportunity to sit back and be entertained; this is a time to learn from the way in which others have chosen to present their ‘story’. Here are some snapshots from the proceedings. A sequence about the National Arboretum demonstrated that well composed pictures can truly be worth a thousand words to convey emotion and atmosphere. Another work, Autumn Re ections, contained not only superb photographs of re ections but also the quoted re ections of poets. A submission entitled simply Autumn was a joint effort from a U3A, made in a morning by photo group members trying their hand at AV. An unusual choice of music proved perfect for Norwich Cathedral; the Sound of Silence suited the subject admirably. As always, these AV days suggest places to visit. A beautifully clear voiceover described a Nature Reserve, which held special personal signi cance for the producer. Also included this time were two AVs with animations. One was based on just a single picture with an accompanying poem. Brilliant idea! The other animation used skill sets I fear I could never hope to acquire. I’m rather jealous of people who can ‘do animations’. What’s my own resolution, after I’ve watched all of these? “Must try harder and, in particular, pay more attention to detail.”

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AV News 209 | August 2017

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AV News 209 | August 2017

New AV Group in the South West Ian Bateman FRPS, MPAGB, AV-AFIP, APAGB After living in Wantage for almost thirty years and being very familiar with Wantage Camera Club and its AV Group, I was looking forward to the challenges of a new camera club after taking early retirement and moving to Exmouth in Devon. The Exmouth Photo Group is a very well respected club within the WCPF region, and encourages members to produce ‘project evenings’ where individuals show their work. I was delighted to discover that several members were using PTE to do this, so the software was already being used in the club. Apart from Sheila Haycox though, few members had made the leap to productions with music and narration, and had not really thought about how pace and timings could affect the result. So we formed an AV Group with a separate meeting once a month, and have a regular attendance of between 15 and 20 members. We’re now in our second year and have covered the basics of using the software, voice recordings, audio editing and the like. We’ve even run a practical workshop (see photo) where the attendees produced a nished sequence from the raw materials. As a goal, the members were encouraged to produce a sequence to enter into the Bridgend 5-to-8 Competition, and it was very encouraging to see an enthusiastic group take up the challenge. One member, Christine Chittock, despite never having used PTE before, achieved a Highly Commended award with a sequence on Stourhead that had a highly complex set of animations. Another member produced a presentation for a local walking group - so we’re off to a ying start.

Photograph courtesy Ian Bateman

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AV News 209 | August 2017

2017 Adelaide International AV Festival John Hodgson EFIAP/b, AV-AFIAP, FAPS, AV-FAPS, ESFIAP, Hon.FAPS The 13th Adelaide AV International took place from 19-23 April last. The event was organised by a committee chaired by John Hodgson, festival Director, other members being Judith Hodgson (Secretary), Adrian Kermode (Treasurer), Julie Kermode and Tom and Libby Hobson. 142 sequences were submitted from 13 countries including: Australia, England, Wales, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, France, South Africa, New Zealand, Poland, Norway, Sweden and the Irish Republic. We were delighted to have the Chair of the RPS AV Group, Howard Bagshaw ARPS, MPAGB, oversee the jury. The other members were Alia Naughton, AV-AAPS, Chair of the APS AV Division, and Keith Seidel AFIAP, MAPS, SSAPS, a prominent Adelaide photographer and judge. No preselection was used, Judging commenced on Thursday, continuing on the Friday and concluded mid-afternoon on Saturday. A Gala Presentation of the award-winning productions was held on the afternoon of the Sunday. Theme was the largest Section, with 55 sequences, followed by Documentary (34), Music, Poetry and Song (23), Natural History (22) and Humour (8). A pleasing aspect was the diversity of entries and this was re ected across the award winners. The increase in the number, while pleasing, has brought us to the point at which for future festivals we may have to reduce the number of entrants, or limit the total playing time per entrant. Prior to the commencement of judging, Howard presented a workshop in which he deconstructed a number of his successful AVs, with particular emphasis on enhamcing registration and dissolves. A summary of the main award winners is shown on page 43.

Photograph courtesy John Hodgson. Page 36

AV News 209 | August 2017

BIAFF 2017 John Smith The British International Amateur Film Festival was held this year at the Three Swans Hotel, an old coaching house in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. Jill Bunting and I had been invited along to present the Friday evening Audio Visual show of the winning entries from the IAC Peter Coles competition, held in Capel Curig, North Wales in March. The evening seemed to go well with the large and appreciative audience of filmmakers enjoying the show. A number came up to us afterwards to remark on the excellent quality of the pictures and sound … and, thankfully, how the sequences were seamlessly presented! They could not however quite understand why we used still images when they considered a moving image would have been much better and why we always seemed to dissolve pictures rather than their staple method of a straight ‘cut’. Happily we were not the only AV producers present and we were delighted to see one of this year’s Peter Coles competition judges, Malcolm Imhoff, in the audience - talk about cavalry to the rescue! We have long been keen to encourage cross dialogue with the film fraternity as we have so much in common – notably the use of sound with the pictures and the skilful use of both, to inform, educate or entertain our audiences. To this end we had already decided we would enter BIAFF this year to see how successful our AVs would be and, more importantly, to stay for the whole weekend to enjoy the films, and the techniques and standards involved. On the Saturday all the 3* and 4* award winners are shown simultaneously in four cinemas - so you have to select what you want to see. On the Sunday there is just one large cinema for the showing of the 5*, Diamond and various special Category award winners. Congratulations go to Andrew Gagg who was there to receive the ‘Cavendish Prize for animation with King Krak and the Dragon! One Diamond award winner was produced by the Wales High School in Sheffield and in our opinion, should have been the outright winner. Don’t miss it on the Friday evening of this year’s Great Northern Festival in December. So how did we do? Well, Jill received 4* for The Colour Thief and I was awarded 3* for The Messiah - both older sequences. Two new ones containing video, The Last Cigarette and Spotlight, both got 2*. Next year’s BIAFF is from the 12th - 15th April at the Cairn Hotel in Harrogate and we can certainly recommend a visit

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AV News 209 | August 2017

IPF AV Showdown Report Lilian Webb AIPF Thirty four people attended the Irish Photographic Federation’s International Showdown at the Oakwood Hotel, Shannon last April. Taking part were Northern Ireland Photographic Association, Stafford AV Group, Melbourne Camera Club AV Group, AV Club of South Australia, Tauranga Photographic Society, New Zealand, AV Makers South Africa and de AV-Group Westland, Holland. The sequences representing IPF were: Journey Of The Soul Sweet Afton Winter Re ections Nature’s Tapestry Bloomsday

Rita Nolan Margaret Finlay Edwin Bailey Helen McQuillan Liam Haines

Celbridge Camera Club Palmerstown Camera Club Shannon Camera Club Shannon Camera Club Offshoot Photographic Society.

Each of the 8 participating groups judged all but their own and the scores of the Top 15 were sent to Jeff to amalgamate. Alan Lyons, Brendan O’Sullivan & Lilian Webb, all AIPF in AV, judged for the IPF. It was interesting to see how the marks varied from country to country and continent to continent. Final results: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 11th 13th 14th 15th 15th

Howard Bagshaw, Stafford - Sudursveit John Hodgson, South Australia - Breaking Up Raymond Hughes, Northern Ireland - To What End? Jeff Mansell & Phil Gee, Stafford - A Case For Conan Doyle Margaret Finlay, Irish Photographic Federation - Sweet Afton James Hamill, Northern Ireland, Mountains Of The Mind. Carol Packwood, South Australia - My Valley Alastair Taylor, Stafford - That Picture Paul Miller, Northern Ireland - Sarah’s Window Mollie McConaghy, Northern Ireland - Wild Justice David Slade, Stafford - Autumn Elizabeth Carruthers, New Zealand - One Winter’s Day Marcel Batist, Netherlands - My Magic Realism Anne Emmett, South Australia - Spirit Of Place Mary Hunter, South Africa - Aerobatics Helen McQuillan, Irish Photographic Federation - Nature’s Tapestry

Group Results: 1st Stafford; 2nd Northern Ireland; 3rd Adelaide. In the morning, Richard Brown FRPS, FIPF, gave an excellent workshop on better scriptwriting, with many tips and examples. He and Andrew Gagg FRPS will be the judges at the IPF’s AV2017 in October. Page 38

AV News 209 | August 2017

An Adobe AV Game-changer? Ian Bateman FRPS, MPAGB, AV-AFIP, APAGB We’re all familiar with Adobe’s image-processing products and have come to expect constantly evolving versions of Photoshop, Elements and Lightroom. New ideas and technologies have given us a whole array of lters and effects to make sure we squeeze the best quality out of our images. However on the less sexy, audio side of the business there have been very few advances in the Audition program, and it’s fair to say that apart from some cosmetic changes the product is very similar to the old Cool Edit software it replaced. This may be about to change though, as a new product was announced at the Adobe Max Conference at the end of last year that has the potential to revolutionise voiceovers. Its called VoCo, short for Voice Conversion, and it essentially allows you to type words into a document that will then read them out in your own voice. We’ve all heard examples of ‘text to speech’ conversions, but the result always has a robotic feel that doesn’t sound natural. VoCo promises to be different and was announced by Adobe’s Zeyu Jin as: "We have already revolutionised photo editing. Now it's time for us to do the audio stuff". The difference is that the software requires you to read out a list of words and phrases into its database that it then uses as building blocks to construct a voiceover from the sentences that you type in. It’s still in the early stages of development and there is no timescale yet for a nished product. The demo at the Max Conference was a bit rough around the edges, but if it does turn into a polished piece of software it could make producing a narration very easy – just paste in the script and let the program do the rest. There have already been concerns about the potential for creating ‘false news’, to coin a phrase, and Adobe say that there will be anti-forgery protection built in so that the audio le will always be agged as a VoCo conversion rather than recorded speech. To see the early demos, go on to www.adobe.com and search for VoCo.

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AV News 209 | August 2017

Photograph courtesy Ian Bateman

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AV News 209 | August 2017 Drag the gradient layer to below the solid ll layer. Select both the ll and gradient layers and click Ctrl + G to place them in a group. Now create an ‘Alpha Channel/Depth Map’. This will be used to keep your chosen foreground sharp whilst allowing the background to progressively soften. While the group that you have just created is still active, click on the ‘Channels Tab’. Select either the red, green or blue channel, it doesn’t matter which although I always select the blue. Duplicate this selected channel by dragging onto the ‘Create New Channel Icon’ at the bottom of the palette, rename this channel appropriately e.g. ‘Depth Map of Soldier’. Now click on the top RGB channel at the top of the channels palette to return to the RGB mode. Click back onto the ‘Layers Tab’ then uncheck the ‘Group’. The black and white masks should now disappear from covering the main image, allowing the normal image to show through. Select the duplicate layer of your image, which should be second layer from bottom, and then select ‘Filter’, ‘Blur’, ‘Lens Blur’. It’s important to note that ‘Lens Blur’ is a destructive process; be sure that this is carried out on a duplicate layer and never on your original background image. When the ‘Lens Blur’ control panel opens ensure that the preview box at top right of panel is ticked. Select either ‘Faster’ or ‘More Accurate’ as desired, but be aware that selecting ‘More Accurate’ will take considerably longer to blur the background. The ’Blur Focal Distance Slider’ should be set to zero. For ‘Depth Map Source’ click on the drop down menu and select the named ‘Alpha Channel/Depth Map’ which you created earlier. Note that the ‘Invert’ box should not be ticked. You can also select several different ‘Iris’ shapes to use. I normally set this to ‘Octagon 8’ but feel free to experiment. The various iris options are intended to replicate the iris found on your camera, although changing such settings makes only subtle differences. The ‘Radius Slider’ controls the amount of blur, slide this to whatever value suits your image requirements; its range is zero to 100 units. Values can also be input manually by using the numerical keypad on your keyboard. Other settings on this control panel make only subtle differences and for now can be ignored, but again feel free to experiment with these settings. Page 41

AV News 209 | August 2017 When satis ed with the level of background blur, click the O.K. button at top of the panel to return to normal view. This ‘Alpha Channel and Depth Map’ method is highly controllable. It may seem complex but actually takes longer to read about than to carry out the process. This adjacent image now looks to have a rather shallow depth of eld, which starts off in the foreground with the uniformed chap sharp and progressively blurs into the distant background. Note the grass immediately behind the chap at the bottom is still relatively sharp. This technique has not left any ‘halo or ghosting’ effect around the man’s outline. Compare this with the original which contained a distracting amount of detail behind the main gure. Selection Alpha Channel Technique Remember the initial selection that was purposely named and saved at the start of the second technique? Well this saved selection can now be used to blur the entire background without having any part of it sharp, whilst still leaving the main foreground subject sharp, and without any halo or ghosting artefacts. Go to the ‘Lens Blur’ control panel and to the drop down menu named ‘Depth Map’. But instead of selecting the named Alpha Channel created from the solid layer and gradient layer combination, this time select the channel that was created when you saved the selection. Photoshop will automatically create ‘Alpha Channels’ when selections are saved. This alpha channel will be named whatever name you gave the selection. This will bypass the depth map created from the combination of solid ll layer and gradient layer, thereby excluding their black masks. This technique can really make a foreground subject stand out from a cluttered background. It looks similar but not exactly like the optical depth of eld effect obtained using a very wide aperture. Like most effects in Photoshop it shouldn’t be overdone. The blurred effects shown in this article are purposely exaggerated for illustration purposes because of their small reproduction size. Page 42

AV News 209 | August 2017