Hints and Tips on Exposure In this section are a number of suggestions for improving your results when taking pictures or entering into our competitions. If members have any suggestions for tips or would like to submit your own tips, please email them to the webmaster.   Steve Costin, Webmaster Question: What is AV? Answer: A collection (programme) of slides/images presented with sound (music and/or voice commentary). • Decide what your AV theme is about, who your audience will be and how long it should be.  You will need lots of slides/images so try to bear this in mind when first taking your shots.    • Determine if you have enough slides/images.  Make allowance for 10-15 slides/images per minute.  Select your slides/images.  Be careful to clear out the rubbish first and do any masking/editing beforehand.  If digital, copy your images to a single folder (to save losing the originals), then rename and resize them to no more than 300K in size, ideally the smaller the better, with a minimum resolution of 640x480 and minimum 72dpi.   • Select the music you wish to use to complement your AV.  Be careful with copyright if not for personal use.  The internet is a good resource for downloading music, ideally mp3 tracks.   • Organise your slides or rename your images so they are in a logical order. Try to avoid putting extremes together wherever possible, eg dark slide after a bright slide, to make viewing easy on the eye.  Be careful when mixing different slide/image sizes to make the presentation flow easily, try going from a wide (landscape) to a square to an upright (portrait).  Try to keep direction of images similar or balanced, again try separating one direction from another by inserting a straight on shot in the middle.   • Prepare a title and an end slide/image to round off the presentation.   • Compile your AV, either using a slide projector or AV software (Pictures to EXE is recommended within the Club).  Practice and refine your AV, ensuring transitions from one slide/image to another blend well and in sync to the music or commentary.  You can never practice and test it enough.  If digital, select whether you want to save the AV as an executable file, screensaver, AVI file or straight to DVD. Arrange a viewing with some friends or at the Club and enjoy the benefits of your hard work. © Isle of Thanet Photographic Society