Creating image CD for presentation

[Donald Miller]

Hi everyone,

I am having a dickens of a time creating a CD of my images for presentation.

I have a flat bed scanner capable of scanning at 1200 DPI, Photoshop Vs. 5.0, and a CD burner.

My scanner will allow me to scan in color and output jpeg only. In grayscale I can output as Bmap, Gif, and Tif. My version of Photoshop will only allow me to adjust sharpness, curves etc when I output as jpeg.

I have tried scanning both grayscale and color in resolutions of 600 and 1200 dpi. When I do this I output to a folder and then "tune" the image in Photoshop (with jpeg).

What happens when I output to my burner is that the image goes to hell. It has an appearance of an unsharp and grainy 35 mm image from ISO 3200 in Rodinal.

What am I missing here? If someone would be so kind and walk me through this process I would be most appreciative.

Along the same lines...what is the best digital format for images when one uses them for website presentation?

Thanks for your help.

 

[victor]

donald...
1. make sure that the nagative is flat when u scan it. on the table scanners there is not press to make it flat, and i guees u know what it means.
i have the same problem even with the negative scanner. the negative carrier of the scanner is damaged and it cannot keep the negative flat. but i dont mind, cause i use the scans only as proofs. exemination is done only on the light table with x15 magnifier.
2. tiff - is the best as far as i know. but note... when u scan u have to make the software of the scanner correct for u. test it. there are lots of functions in the scanner software. "curves, contrast, brightness etc etc"
3. get a newer photoshop, if u really need to work on the files. no matter how good is your scanner or your negative, u have to give it appearance u want.
4. for web - only afater finishing to work on the photos give it the function of "save for web". in that window, first insure the size of the image, and then if the size of file is too big, reduce the quality.

well that is from one who himself asks basic questions about digital ..lol

 

[juan]

First, I wonder if you might need better scanning software. Some people like Vuescan from http://hamrick.com, but it doesn't work with all scanners. It's shareware, so you can download a trial version to see if it will work with your scanner.

That should allow you to scan directly into Photoshop by going File/Import/ - then selecting Vuescan as the driver. You should be able to scan as greyscale, make your adjustments, and output however you want.

Email me privately if you'd like.
juan

 

[bmac]

Don, I just sent you a detailed PM.

 

[Nige]

If Brian hasn't sorted you out, ask again... I won't repeat what he's probably told you...

 

[glbeas]

Make sure you are using a low compression ratio when storing the jpeg. High compression turns it all to mush. The option comes up when you save a file as jpeg either the first time or after a change and resave.

 

[Donald Miller]

Thanks everyone for your insight and information. I have now gotten the images scanned and massaged in Photoshop so that they very nearly approximate the actual prints. My next question is this:

Is there software or a program that will allow me to make up a presentation on CD that is not just a bunch of separate images. In other words a presentation that would open and proceed through the following as an example...

1. Title Page
2. Artists resume
3. Index of portfolios
4. Title page of each portolio(s)
5. Individual images of each portfolio
6. Sizing and pricing information
7. Contact information

I have the full MS Office suite of programs...but none of them seem to do what I want. MS Front Page would seem to have the capability of linking but is written in HTML...would this be the way to do this? Most people would have a browser on their computer...maybe have the CD open with Explorer?...I am open to ideas and suggestions.

Thanks for you help.

Donald Miller

 

[glbeas]

It's my understanding that Powerpoint will do this but I'm not so sure it would be appropriate for CDs to be sent out. A Java based HTML would surely do it and should work on nearly every PC you put it on. However my limited experience with it prevents any more than speculation on the matter. I'd be interested in what our Gurus onboard have to say about it as I have projects that would benefit from the same type of thing.

 

[Donald Miller]

Gary,

I tried Powerpoint this morning...perhaps I don't know enough about that program to determine what will or will not work...but it seemed to me that it still left the problem of a series of disparate pages on the CD. This did not bring the CD up to a "run" mode when a potential viewer inserted it in their drive. Additionally it seemed that in Powerpoint and Publisher the page on the CD needed to be opened by the same program on the users PC. This would seem to limit the application since the not all users may have these programs installed. It would seem a more universal "language" needs to be utilized. I am in the same frame of reference as you in that I am anxious to see how this will need to be done.

 

[photomc]

Don,

Check out this link, it may have what you are looking for.

www.graphicssoft.about.com/cs/slideshowswpc/

 

[victor]

donald.. check out the apple software and see if there is something that will work for u.
also, i dont know what is the economical state wheere u live, but here in israel we have lots of unimployed computer people, so many of them or many students will be happy to do the job for relatively low price. thats what im planning to do the as soon as i will free my time only for photo and start to build a digital place of my own..lol

 

[Donald Miller]

Thanks Gary, Victor, and Mike,

Mike this sure looks like what I need. I will try to determine which of these offerings will work for what I want. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks for your help.

 

[Flotsam]

I did my web site in Flash. Not much that you can't do with it. I also did a multi platform CD in Director.

The Devil is in the learning curve.

 

[Nige]

Don, for a powerpoint presentation to be self executing you need to save it as a .pps (from memory) file. The person viewing does need Powerpoint on their system though, which may not really be suitable. You'll be better off with a program that does it independant of a main application. I was looking for one the other day I have here somewhere (I'm sure I have numerous) but couldn't find it! I'm going to check out Mike's link

Also, if you're going to be handing/sending these out, depending on the size of your files, etc you can buy small CD's (8cm) or even credit card CD's that hold less than a full sized CD but if you're data can fit on them, they are a nifty way of sending someone something.

 

[Donald Miller]

Nige, Mike, and Neal...

Thank you. I have downloaded a trial version of a slide show presentation. This does what I want it to do at this point. It is a self executing program in which my cover page opens and then progresses through my images with a transition of a couple of seconds between images.

As I get further into this I may want to customize this more completely to make the presentation more professional. However at this point this seems to be a nice way to get one's images into public awareness.

Thanks again.

 

[photomc]

Don,

Glad it was of some help. Do not have any personal experience with any, but seemed to be the best I could find doing a google search and bookmarked it for myself. Understand what you want, wanting to something similar for family album and had not found much until now that would do slide show, plus the extras, which some of these do. Which one did you try? Keep updated on how it works out.

 

[Donald Miller]

Mike, I downloaded the evaluation of Photodex Pro Gold. This allows me to have an opening page and then a slide show with varying delays that transition into the next image. I would like to have the ability to cover some information in addition to images. This would be information on sizing, pricing, contact information. I these instances I covered this information in a cover letter mailed with the cd. The program is straightforward in it's use. The only problem is the evaluation banner splashed across the bottom of the screen...but that will be O.K. for this instance. Thanks again for your guidance.

 

[photomc]

Don,

Did a little testing with ProShow Gold, download takes a while with a 28.8 dial up connection. If you have Microsoft Power Point, you could create a "slide" with the bio info and maybe a price list, then save as a jpeg rather than a power point file. I would save it to a folder where you have the images you want to include in the presentation, then just add the power point slide (jpeg image) to the slide show.

You may have already figured this out, but just in case I thought I would mention it. Looks pretty good for what it does.

Let me know if you have any questions (by the way you can do the same thing, though it may not look as nice with Microsoft Paint).

Thanks,

 

[Donald Miller]

Mike,

Thanks...I hadn't thought of combining the two. Yes, I do have Powerpoint. I have just used the evaluation program of ProShow Gold to this point. I sent out a couple of cds made with that program today (one to a gallery and one to Lee) I want some feedback on this before I commit to a purchase.

Additionally another Apug member mentioned that he had done a presentation cd using html code. He has an autolaunch command worked out using that method. I have Frontpage and so I could do that as well. Most everyone has a means to read html in their computer and that should be pretty universal in application as well.

Thanks again.

 

[glbeas]

That autolaunch is interesting, did he say what it was?

 

[photomc]

Don,
I agree with glbeas, the autolaunch is interesting. We both know there is more than one way to skin a cat as the saying goes (I'm a cat person, nothing intended)...anyway let us know how this works out. I would agree, that if you can do it all with html, and not have to buy any additional software, why do it.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Donald Miller]

He sent me the "tags" that are supposed to initiate the auto launch. I have not had opportunity to try this myself yet. However I do not doubt that this will work because I value this persons input.

From what I have observed. This would auto launch when the cd is inserted in the drive. From there the viewer would have the ability to manually select and access each of the galleries, individual prints, and other pertinant information. I think that this has appeal in a different way from a slide show. The big thing is that it brings the viewer into an active role. The easy way to describe this would be that it is akin to a website on cd.

I have Frontpage and so it won't be difficult for me to try this out. Perhaps in the next several days. I will keep you informed of my progress.

 

[photomc]

Don,
I agree that this has a much greater appeal for several reasons. First of all all pages will have a more 'polished' look in my opinon. Second, you will have greater control, which I have not seen with the slide show programs. Looking forward to what you find out in the next few days, will see if any of the tech types I work with have any thoughts (now that is funny, these guys always have a couple of hundred ideas on how to do things..just tyring to pin them down is the hard part).

Thanks,

 

[Donald Miller]

Mike,

I just looked over the files that were sent to me. There is an "autorun file" that directs to an index. I am just not sure at this point if the text in that file is the html "tag". I have sent a message to see if this is the "tag" so that I can begin researching this.

As I think about it there has to be an autorun command...all of the software installation discs have it.

This sure seems like a another way apart from the slide show. The slide show is neat...but if a gallery owner wants to look at a particular image for a longer time...then the slide show is limited in this respect.

What you find from your people will certainly be helpful.

I think that this is an excellent means to bring one's work to the awareness of "key" people. Websites are wonderful...but one needs to make the prospects aware of the websites existence first. Magazine ads can do that to a degree--but advertising can be costly. A cd mailing sure looks like another tool in the "marketing toolchest". The two cds that I mailed this morning cost me about $2.50 each including postage

 

[juan]

This is very interesting. I went to google and typed in +autorun +download and got links to a number of interesting programs (shareware) that may do the entire thing. I have no connection to any of them.
j