Preparing to fulfill my destiny

[Donald]

Right, who saw the film Calendar Girls?

So, you know (if you answered 'yes') the image that the WRI (Women's Rural Institute) has got in the UK.

And, no, I haven't been invited to shoot a calendar. More's the pity! Glenfarg hasn't quite got there yet.

So, just think of the 'traditional' WRI - Scone and cake competitions; Knitted hat competitions; Best winter photo competitions!

Now ..........

I've been invited (don't laugh) to do a presentation of my work and a sort-of tutorial on 'How to take photographs'. And, of course, I get to judge the 'Best Photo' and the 'Best Home-made soup' competitions! Did Ansel ever do this?

Anyway, to the point ...!

How do you/would you present your images on screen? Do you put them into a Powerpoint? Do you show them straight from something like Picassa? How do you do it?

I've never had to do it before, so never thought about it.

[RockNGoalStar]

Hi Donald,

I think you should take it as an honour that you have been asked to do such a presentation! It may be good practice for a future bigger and more important presentation

I have never presented my photos to a group of people, but I do give quite a few presentations with work and I think the best way to present this would be Powerpoint. Given that your 'assignment' is split into two parts essentially; 1. Presentation of your work; 2. Tutorial on 'How to take Photos'; then it would be easier to do it this way.

If I were you I'd focus the presentation more on the tutorial, using your images to supplement what you're are talking about, composition, lighting, etc, and then maybe show a selection of your favourite images, that you didn't use in that part of the talk, at the end.

It will be easier to make a more flowing presentation this way, including text and diagrams to highlight what you are talking about.

Also, remember your audience. Don't make it too complicated. you want them to be able to understand what you are talking about and be able to take it away with them and use it. Maybe focus mainly on composition with some basics of lighting etc - your audience probably haven't got the same amount of equipment / patience / time / inclination as you have!

[wilgk]

Oh my wordy lordy if this doesn't get you an eesh - then give up now!
A great movie that & recently 'Made in Dagenham' was very entertaining as well...... but not nearly so entertaining as your mates from across the hills and down the dales are going to be when they read this, I cannot stop snickering and I have't even read their minds... but I can imagine
Anyhoo you poor dear - as a lamb to the slaughter you go...

Rob!....... Steve! Donald needs you

[Colin Southern]

Hi Donald,

What are you presenting the images on? TV? Projector?

Will you have a laptop or PC?

Do you need other text or graphics?

[Donald]

Sorry, Colin. Should've explained.

The idea was to use my laptop and a data projector to put them onto a screen.

I hadn't planned to be using text. I may do such things as overlay a 'Thirds grid' onto one or two of them. And I'm quite comfortable with doing that sort of thing if I was using Powerpoint.

[Colin Southern]

Ps: Pop into YouTube, and search on Joe McNally Google, and take a look at how Joe effortlessly presents and teaches ... This guy is the "gold standard".

[mastamak]

I had to do something similar recently with a presentation on how to geotag photographs. Being a complete novice I sought help from an expert, namely my daughter. On her advice I went with a powerpoint presentation and having never done it before I found it pretty easy. To make it simple and to add a more professional presentation, search the web for free powerpoint templates. There are thousands available. I selected a theme that matched my presentation (maps of the world, etc) and then it is just a matter of inserting the images and adding text into the template. You can add pages, change the fonts and all the usual stuff. One word of warning, however, the powerpoiont file soon grows to a massive size - easily well over 100MBytes. If your WRI branch has a computer and projector and you just have to take the PP show make sure you buy a sufficiently large USB stick for your presentation. Best take your own laptop, also, as a backup.

Grant

[Donald]

Thank you folks. That's all helpful.

I use Powerpoint a lot in my work and would consider myself a pretty competent user, so the idea of dropping text and graphics in is fine. I've got my own Tablet PC and easy access to a projector. It looks as if that's the way to go.

ps - And I've just discovered the 'Photo Album tool under 'Insert'.

[rob marshall]

Eeeeeesh! (long aspirated Eesh) I really cannot believe this. What drugs are you on up there? What time is it in vermont? Has Katy seen this yet?

Right, who saw the film Calendar Girls?

Why don't you start a poll on that one? You can tick the NO box for me. Helen Mirren with her kit off... eesh (sorry, I meant urf!)

Glenfarg hasn't quite got there yet.

and it probably never will with a wine-swigging, swash-buckling Laird in charge. What exactly is a swash?

Scone and cake competitions; Knitted hat competitions; Best winter photo competitions!

I'm getting over-heated with excitement here...

Did Ansel ever do this?

If he did (and I seriously doubt it) he managed to find time to take some very fine landscapes in-between judging the best pastry comp, and manning the veg stall at the WI market on Thursday afternoons. I think the answer no.

I've never had to do it before, so never thought about it.

Are we still talking about projecting images?

Create JPEGS 1024 px max on the long side, and save them to a memory stick or memory card (whatever the lap top has) Use Windows picture viewer to display (Bridge might be better if it's on the PC), but you need to make sure the colour profiles are correct for display on the lap top. I've done it several time, although I must confess, never with the WI.

Good luck, mon ami.

[Donald]

but you need to make sure the colour profiles are correct for display on the lap top.

Ah hah! Had forgotten about that one.

Thank you.

[rob marshall]

PS: I'd suggest that once you have decided how to do it that you have a trial run to make sure the equipment and settings are all correct. Don't want to let the ladies down.

[rob marshall]

Ah hah! Had forgotten about that one.

Thank you.

I did a presentation a couple of years ago and all the shots looked yellowish. Turned out the projector was not set to the right profile. I think it needs to be sRGB, but Colin probably knows better.

[Colin Southern]

I did a presentation a couple of years ago and all the shots looked yellowish. Turned out the projector was not set to the right profile. I think it needs to be sRGB, but Colin probably knows better.

Definitely sRGB

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Donald,

Good luck with it, my advice, not based on experience, just theory; would be to downsize the images to fit (well) within the projector resolution (and any borders PPT puts on) and sharpen at that (probably surprisingly low) resolution, or they may look soft.

I think Rob touched on the same point.

Having them smaller will probably save on disk/pen drive space too.

Cheers,

[Peter Ryan]

I would break it down into sections.

Show images and discuss photographic principals.

Light
Depth of Field
Shape
Composition techniques

I use Bridge quiet often, as I can select a thumbnail just hit the space bar and the image opens in full screen and if I hit again it collapses I can immediately see the EXIF data if asked a question about shooting details and believe me they will ask.

I would use PowerPoint to aid discussion between shots and just use Control + TAB to shift quickly between each program.

I use a laptop and projector plus I went to a cheap office stationery store and got a laser pointer.


Well done and good luck. Once you have done one you will soon be doing workshops.

[Shadowman]

If you have one or the organization, use a multimedia projector and do a slideshow right off your laptop. No converting files, just display jpegs and while you are at it, do a little photoshop display of RAW conversion.

[Dizzy]

Donald,

Congratulations on being invited as the honored speaker, and after reading many of your posts here on the site (and providing you speak as well as you write), I have no doubt you'll be a stonking success.

Not a soup fan myself, so I would pack along a clean handkerchief and keep it in hand just in case. A quick false "sneeze" will let you get rid of a foul tasting soup sample without offending the chef..

Let us know how it all turns out!

Mike

[Sam Smith]

Donald,

I do alot of training of the employees as a added "benefit" of my current job using Power Point and a projector. I believe it is the way to go to show your work as it allows you to put notes in as to what you want to say. Good luck and congratulations on being asked to show your work.
I have to agree that matching the photo to the projector is the way to go.

[Donald]

Thank you, again, for the helpful comments. All will be taken on board.

[Peter Ryan]

One thing I know you will get right is understanding the knowledge base of your audience. No matter what you present you need to aim it at their level.