CO / SD Slideshow - Now with data

[MarkBarbieri]

Our summer vacation this year was a two week trip to Colorado and South Dakota. The Colorado portion was spent primarily in Estes Park at my parent's house. We did include a visit to Elitch Gardens and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. On the way to South Dakota, we stopped at Fort Laramie. In South Dakota, we spent our time in the Black Hills, visiting Mount Rushmore, Reptile Gardens, a wax museum, and a few other touristy places.

Our trip was delayed by a day and a half while my oldest son recovered from what we thought was strep. It turns out that it was mono, which explains we he was pretty run down during the trip.

As usual for our vacations, I compiled a bunch of pictures (90) into a slideshow set to music. The slideshow is about three and a half minutes long. At the moment, I only have a downloadable version that plays on Windows computers. I'll make a streaming video version in the next few days. You can view the slideshow by going to our Vacation Slideshows (http://photos.barbierifamily.org/Slideshows/Vacations/4978695_gxH3d#298235417_EPujq) page. I hope that you enjoy it.

[MarkBarbieri]

I should add that you'll see more pictures of me in this slideshow than is typical. We brought two DSLRs (5DM2 and 7D) and my wife carried one much of the time. A lot of the pictures in the show were taken by her.

Here's a rough equipment list for the trip. Keep in mind that we drove our van rather than fly, so it was easy to haul lots and lots of stuff.



Cameras - Canon 5DM2 and 7D for my wife and I. Canon G9 for some time lapse experiments. Canon D10 for my youngest son.
Lenses - 300mm f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8, 24-105 f/4, 85mm f/1.2, 17-40mm f/4, 24 f/3.5 TS-E, 15mm f/2.8 fisheye. Carried but not used - 1.4x extender, 2x extender
RRS TVC-33 tripod w/ BH-55 ballhead, Gitzo GT2540 tripod w/ Acratech ultimate ballhead, Wimberly sidekick
2 Canon 580EXII flashes, two small shoot thru umbrellas, warming gels, 1 normal lightstand, 1 small lightstand
Close up filter, polarizer, VariND filter, 8 stop ND filter, blue-gold polarizer
Wired remote, wireless remote

[plyeng2ff]

Nice job on the slideshow and pictures

[klmall]

I tried to download your slideshow twice around 9:55 pm EST and got a Trojan.Backdoor blocked message from Norton so I can't open it!

[ChiSoxKeith]

Nice job on the slide show!

Thanks for sharing.

[klmall]

Mark - I really enjoyed your animal scenes and the beautiful mountain and lake shots. I've backpacked through some of those same places in RMNP many years ago and they still hold wonderful memories.

Your camping photos with the family are the best though; can't replace the moments outside with each other and the stars!

Thank you so much for posting this.....like a mini-vacation!

[NateNLogansDad]

I tried to download your slideshow twice around 9:55 pm EST and got a Trojan.Backdoor blocked message from Norton so I can't open it!

I get the same message using AVG :surfweb::confused3

[ChiSoxKeith]

McAfee says the file is fine.

[MarkBarbieri]

I get the same message using AVG :surfweb::confused3

That's annoying. I'm assuming (although I could be wrong) that it is a false positive. I plan to recrop the pictures in 16:9 and make a new version. Hopefully that won't have the issue.

For anyone that does not want to download the executable slideshow, I now have a streaming video version of it. To see it, go to my Vacation Slideshows (http://photos.barbierifamily.org/Slideshows/Vacations/4978695_gxH3d#298235417_EPujq) page and click on the August, 2010 - Colorado/South Dakota Streaming Video (http://photos.barbierifamily.org/Video-Slideshows/Vacations/2010Summer/13626002_qE9KC#994330653_onJwU-A-LB) link.

[Amy]

Thanks for sharing, Mark! We spent a week in the Black Hills and Badlands in June and your slideshow brought back a lot of memories. The camping photos are precious!

BTW....Kapersky also gave me the trojan warning when I tried to download the Windows version. Video streaming was fine.

[ssanders79]

Thanks for sharing.

[MarkBarbieri]

I completely rebuilt the downloadable version. I changed the aspect ratio and the picture quality. I suspect that the virus warning is a false positive with the virus signature coincidentally matching part of the old file. I would appreciate it if someone that was getting a virus warning before would try the new version and let me know if they are still getting the warning.

[NateNLogansDad]

Same thing still. It says Trojan horse BackDoor.hupigon5.BBHN in the AVG report.

[Twigs]

I was finally able to see them and they were great! I need to go and see that part of the country!

[MarkBarbieri]

Same thing still. It says Trojan horse BackDoor.hupigon5.BBHN in the AVG report.

This is frustrating. I just downloaded and installed the free version of AVG. I usually use Avast at home and McAfee at work. I checked my entire PC, I checked my slideshows folder, and I checked a downloaded version of the slideshow and they all report clean.

I uploaded a few more file versions for testing if you are still willing to help.

Slideshow with no music (http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow/2010SilentSummer.exe)
Reloaded slideshow (http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow/2010Summer.exe)
Old slideshow (http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow/2010SummerStudio.exe)

[WDWFigment]

Do you get much use out of that blue-gold polarizer? What about the close-up filter?

[KYCruiseCrazy]

Great photo's and video mark!!

[MarkBarbieri]

Do you get much use out of that blue-gold polarizer? What about the close-up filter?

blue-gold (http://www.singh-ray.com/goldnblue.html) - Very little. It is easily my lowest value/dollar filter. Maybe I'm just not very good with it.

Close-up (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/87503-REG/Canon_2824A002.html) - I didn't use it much on this trip. Just a few shots in the reptile house. On other trips it has seen much more use. It is not as good as using a true macro lens, but it allowed me to travel with one fewer lens (and my macro is on loan anyway).

I much prefer shooting with a close-up filter over a set of extension tubes. Here's a good quote from Bob Atkins on the subject:

Unlike extenders, which multiply the focal length of the original lens and are placed between the camera body and lens, close-up lenses attach to the front of the lens, like a filter. Like an extension tube, close-up lenses eliminate infinity focusing in favor of reducing the close-focusing limit of the original lens. Unlike an extension tube, they do not cause any light loss. And, when used with a zoom lens, they maintain focus as the lens is zoomed. (Zooming the lens with an extension tube attached changes the focusing distance drastically.) These characteristics, added to the fact that close-up lenses often provide greater magnification factors than tubes* and plenty of working distance at the same time, make close-up lenses far more convenient to use than extension tubes for close-up photography with zoom lenses. High-quality double-element close-up lenses, like Canon's 250D and 500D series, provide superb image quality from corner to corner if you stop down to the optimum aperture of the lens, which is usually around f/11 to f/16. Settings like these are easily attainable with high-quality medium speed transparency films (ISO 50~100) by using electronic flash.
Nikon also make excellent double-element filters like the 6T, though you will require a step down adapter for 58mm thread lenses since they come in a 62mm thread size.
You can achieve marginally better image quality by using a true macro lens, but you have to work a lot harder for it, because unlike a zoom lens/CU lens combo, the macro lens forces you to move closer or further from the subject to adjust magnification.
For many folks, the image quality produced by a high quality close-up lens in combination with a decent telephoto zoom like Canon's EF100-300mm f/5.6L or f/4.5-5.6 USM represents a better value overall, especially when you consider how much use you get from the zoom for your conventional photography.


Incidentally, close-up filters are like any other filters in that they aren't mount specific. You need to worry about the thread diameter, but a Canon filter will work on a Nikon lens and vice versa. Just about everyone I know that uses close-up filters uses the Canon 500D. They also make a 250D designed for shorter focal lengths, but I haven't use it. I lost my 500D for a while and purchased another just before finding it, so now I have a pair. I'm ready for 3D macro.

[NateNLogansDad]

This is frustrating. I just downloaded and installed the free version of AVG. I usually use Avast at home and McAfee at work. I checked my entire PC, I checked my slideshows folder, and I checked a downloaded version of the slideshow and they all report clean.

I uploaded a few more file versions for testing if you are still willing to help.

Slideshow with no music (http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow/2010SilentSummer.exe)
Reloaded slideshow (http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow/2010Summer.exe)
Old slideshow (http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow/2010SummerStudio.exe)

Absolutely 100% whatever you need. That being said, I was thinking about this whole thing today while out on my boat fishing (I'm still a computer nerd at heart.) A while back when I did the whole computer thing to pay the bills, I remember someone else going through the same problem. This person, like yourself, would not (to the best of my knowledge) do anything like this and goes to great lengths to make sure everything is perfect. Back then, the problem wasn't the file he/she/it sent out to over 1/2 the legal department, it was the definition file. Back then I pushed out new definitions every morning, the newer file came out that afternoon. The old file gave a false positive. The new one was put in place a few minutes after we figured it out and everything was right with the world.

Just came home and ran an update. I did have a definition and security update. I downloaded all files you put up and all are working with no problems at all. Just before the update they all gave a false positive and said they were infected when I downloaded them. Sorry to make you pull your hair out, but when I saw that I wasn't the only one getting it (and using a different AV) I thought I should speak up.

If you want me to go back to the old definitions, I can do that if you need to know anything else.

[MarkBarbieri]

That's good to hear. You weren't the only one. I also got a message from someone on Facebook. I think I'm going to write it off as a false positive and be done with it.

I'm not that worried about this for future stuff. I think I'm going to move to strictly video based slideshows. I like the higher quality of the downloadable slideshows, but they are too much of a pain. The Full HD versions as streaming video are good enough.

Thanks for your help.

[NateNLogansDad]

That's good to hear. You weren't the only one. I also got a message from someone on Facebook. I think I'm going to write it off as a false positive and be done with it.

I'm not that worried about this for future stuff. I think I'm going to move to strictly video based slideshows. I like the higher quality of the downloadable slideshows, but they are too much of a pain. The Full HD versions as streaming video are good enough.

Thanks for your help.

Anytime. B/T/W amazing photographs!

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm a data guy. It's what I do for a living. Here is some data on my shooting. I've broken it into three categories - All, Keepers, and Slideshow.

"All" is all of the pictures that made it into Lightroom at home. It misses a few shots that got deleted on the camera or culled while on the trip. I'm sure that it has 90+% of my shots. I excluded the shots used for a time lapse experiment.

"Keepers" are the shots that survived my initial cull in Lightroom. Sometimes I cull because I have several of the same shot and I don't want them all. Usually I cull because the shot was bad - either technically (out of focus, motion blur, bad exposure) or compositionally (why did I shoot that?).

"Slideshow" are the shots that made it into my slideshow. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are the best. Some lousy shots get in because I want them for the story they tell. Some good shots get cut because I have better shots that say the same thing. There is also a bias towards landscape shots rather than portrait shots in the slideshow.

I have eight columns in the tables. The raw number columns are the numbers meeting the row criteria for all shots, keepers, and slideshow shots. The first percentage column for each grouping is the number of shots for the row criteria divided by the number of shots in the grouping. The second percentage (only on the keeper and slideshow shots) is the number in each grouping that met the row criteria divided by the number shot that met the criteria.

That's confusing. The first percentages tell you how the shots in that category break down by criteria. The second percentages tell you what percentage of shots taken survived the culling rounds. That's still confusing, but it'll have to do.

My wife and I shared photography duty and there really isn't a way to break down our shots by shooter. So the results are a hybrid of our shooting styles. My wife shoots on full auto about 75% of the time. I gathered this data using Lightroom and I didn't see a way to break down by shooting mode (Av, Tv, etc).

The first chart is the breakdown by camera. The 5D is the favored camera, so it got the most use. The 7D was used for hummingbird shots and was used as the "B" camera when two were in use. When used, the cameras clocked similar "keeper" rates, except the statistically insignificant keeper rate of 33% for the G9. Only the DSLR's shots got used in the slideshow.
http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/995894830_zbbUp-O.jpg

The second chart is a lens breakdown. The three general purpose zooms got the most use. Keeper rates were relatively similar.
http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/995894875_AtPQm-O.jpg

The third chart is apertures. I grouped apertures by stops except at the very open end. I thought people might want to see a more exact breakdown of low apertures.
http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/995894833_sC8RZ-O.jpg

The fourth chart is ISO. I grouped the ISO settings by stop. The last grouping is >=3200, but I don't think we shot anything over 3200. It looks like about half of our shots were at ISO 100-160.
http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/995894874_BYgiE-O.jpg

The fifth chart is orientation. I've been shooting more landscape shots lately. I like them better for slideshows. I'm also happy to crop from landscape to portrait, so I don't fuss over portrait shots as much.
http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/995894896_qZAdN-O.jpg

The sixth chart is flash usage. It doesn't track how many flashes were used or whether it was bounced or anything. It's just whether I used a flash or not. Wow, I need to use my flash more.
http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/995894858_69w5L-O.jpg

[disneyboy2003]

Beautiful pictures and wonderful slideshow! Great job on your hummingbird pictures and wildlife photos, too!

And I really enjoyed pouring through your data, too. Did you simply use Lightroom's Library Filter to collect the data manually and enter them into an Excel sheet? Even the color scheme for your data charts looks very Lightroom-esque. :)

[WDWFigment]

Thanks for the information regarding the filters. That is enough to keep me from moving them higher in my "need to buy" list for the time being. Perhaps in the future as funds allow.

Very interesting statistics. I am surprised by the low flash usage by you. I pegged you as more of a lighting kind of guy, although to be fair, location may have dictated lower usage. I'm still surprised usage was that low, though.

[WDWFigment]

Thanks for the information regarding the filters. That is enough to keep me from moving them higher in my "need to buy" list for the time being. Perhaps in the future as funds allow.

Very interesting statistics. I am surprised by the low flash usage by you. I pegged you as more of a lighting kind of guy, although to be fair, location may have dictated lower usage. I'm still surprised usage was that low, though.

[Josh125]

Mark -- Are you composing the slideshow in Smugmug or prior to uploading it? Beautiful pictures as always.

[MarkBarbieri]

Thanks for the information regarding the filters. That is enough to keep me from moving them higher in my "need to buy" list for the time being. Perhaps in the future as funds allow.

Very interesting statistics. I am surprised by the low flash usage by you. I pegged you as more of a lighting kind of guy, although to be fair, location may have dictated lower usage. I'm still surprised usage was that low, though.

I'm lazy. That, and taking a camping trip with school aged boys keeps you pretty busy. I'll do better next time.

[MarkBarbieri]

Mark -- Are you composing the slideshow in Smugmug or prior to uploading it? Beautiful pictures as always.

I composed the slideshow prior to uploading it to Smugmug. I used a video program (Adobe Premiere) and created a video file. Then I uploaded the video file to Smugmug. You can display pictures in a Slideshow on Smugmug, but you can't set it to music.