Re: Hard Photo edges

Maverick wrote on 2/8/2004, 12:49 PM

HI all

I am adding a number of bw photos to a widescreen project (PAL) as part of an intro to a tribute DVD. I no longer have access to the photos for rescanning.

On my first viewing of the DVD I noticed that the hard edges were so visible as many of the photos didn't fill the 16:9 screen fully even during sections where I had zoomed in. I am fading from one photo to the next by having each photo fade in over two second and out for the same duration with the total overlap of three seconds - does that make sense.

To be rid of the hard edges I have used a rectangular cookie cutter with .20 feathering and a size of .54. This does the job except that I get the feathering at the top & bottom, too which means I have to zoom more that I would want to to get rid of it. Is there a better way of acheiving my aim?

Cheers.

Comments

TeetimeNC wrote on 2/8/2004, 5:23 PM

Hi Maverick,

Be sure you have set you aspect ratio to 16:9 for each photo. Then use the pan/crop tool to adjust the crop size to just inside the smallest dimension (i.e., the width for a portrait format, height for landscape format). Unfortunately, you will lose much of your photo if it is portrait format. Typically, I do a slow pan across the photo to address this issue. This also adds some interesting motion to your stills.

Also, an easier way to do the transitions is as follows:
1. Under Preferences/Editing set the following:
- New still image length to your desired display time per photo
- Enable Automatic overlap, and set the desired characteristics

2. In the media bin, select all the photos you wish to place in your video, and drag the selected group to the video track. All of your transitions will already be done for you.

3. I also use a script called AspectRation.js I downloaded from the Sundance site to automatically set the aspect ration for the whole group of photos, eliminating that step in the process.

Good luck with you tribute DVD!

Jerry

Maverick wrote on 2/9/2004, 11:34 AM

Thanks for the reply TeeTime. I am a bit concerned...

In the viewer I have what seems to be a regular looking 16:9 display and the photos, as they have been entered, seem OK. When I cahnge the apsect ratio to DV Widescreen they start to look as if thy've been expanded left & right (like a 4:3 tv prog shown on 16:9).

Is this how it should look and, if so, will it look OK on my widescreen TV. If the answer is yes could anyone please try to explain why this would be?

There is still the issue of the hard lines seen where th photo ends as this seems unavoidable. These were scanned a while agao t only around 160dpi so don't enlarge very well plus some were small to start with. So there is the hard edge between the light edge of the pictures and the dark background.

Cheers.