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Below is one of the drafts of an article that appeared in the January 2003 issue of the Unlimited Possibilities newsletter published by Marcia Stevens. It was written with the purpose of answering many similar questions received each year via email.
Each
year I receive several email notes requesting information on what it takes
to put together the MQS picture CD’s.
I’ve also received notes questioning why it takes so long after the
show for the CD’s to be available. So
I thought I’d give an overview of the whole process to answer these
questions. First
of all, not in my wildest dreams would I have believed that just a few years
ago when I purchased my first digital camera for use with our web, would I
today have taken over 9,000 pictures of quilts.
Nor would I have believed from initial 6-10 requests for the first
pictures taken at MQS on zip disks, I’d be shipping 150-200 CD’s for
each show. The
CD picture process actually starts months before the show.
Since the first use of the pictures is during the show award and
banquet presentations, after the categories, amounts and the sponsors are
determined, these are emailed to me and a PowerPoint program presentation
shell is constructed. Then at
the show all that needs to be done is add the winner information and
pictures to the presentation. I’m
often asked about the resolution used taking pictures of quilts and this
might be a place to make a few comments.
The answer is a little complicated but basically it depends on
circumstances -- when and how the pictures are to be used.
Several years ago at MQS, by chance I ran into the person in charge
of the audio/visual equipment just after we checked in.
I’d had bad experiences with computer projection equipment before I
retired when traveling on business so I wanted to test the equipment setup
and picture projections as soon as possible.
The test revealed a 1024x768 resolution was the best for the
combination of computer, projector, software and time available for editing
of the pictures used in the show presentations.
A quick calculation also indicated a CD could hold approximately 1800
pictures at the 1024x768 resolution and I was using that until I got my
latest digital camera and the 1024x768 was not one option resolutions.
But it did have 1280x960 and that has now become my standard. I still
take higher resolution pictures of some of the winning quilts but 80-90
percent of the pictures take both at MQS and of the quilts we finish are at
this resolution. DVD’s are another media storage option I’ve investigated
but several issues need to be resolved before they could be made available. The
show picture taking starts Sunday morning with the moving of the quilts from
storage at David & Debbie Taft’s to the hotel.
The CD also contains “people” pictures where I try and capture
the volunteers, attendees and vendors before, during and after the show.
The “before” group includes the many volunteers that arrive early
to help with the quilt transfer, the unpacking and sorting for judging,
hanging and other interesting setup events whenever I can catch someone off
guard. For the “during” shots, I always try and capture the
fervor around vendor booths and the attendee’s inspection of the quilts on
the show floor. This group also
includes the ladies “strutting their stuff” during the fashion show. The
“after” group captures vendor takedown activities and the volunteers
involved in the quilt takedown and the sorting and packing of quilts for
return to the quilter. I
never know how many pictures I’ll end up for the CD until we get home and
I go through the review and selection process.
So I take a lot to insure a good selection to choose from.
After the 2002 MQS, I was surprised to find a total of 1953 pictures
with about two-thirds of them being pictures of quilts and the rest
“people” pictures. The
review and selection process resulted in 482 being eliminated for one reason
or another. Why are so may discarded?
For quilt pictures, many are duplicates but with different camera and
light settings to capture the quilting in the quilts. For “people” pictures, many are eliminated because they
may be blurry because the people are moving too fast for the camera setting
being used when the picture was taken. Before
I go further I should make a few comments.
While considerable time is spent assembling the material, the CD’s
would not be possible without the cooperation of the show coordinators and a
lot of help from a volunteer picture crew.
The show coordinators arrange for a room for the pictures to be taken
so I don’t have to run around the show floor taking them.
Having a room also provides some control over the lighting conditions
(although I still have not completely mastered this aspect).
However, the biggest round of applause goes to my picture crew. The total number of volunteers assisting this last year was
14 but a team of 8 is involved in the process at any one time in the room.
In the two days prior to the show opening, and while the judging is
going on, my crew and I were madly taking pictures in the room next door.
According to my picture log we photographed an average of 16.2 quilts
per hour – or, a different quilt was being hung for pictures every 3.7
minutes. Next year we’re
discussing the possibility of reducing the pressure of completing the
picture process by starting on Sunday after all the quilts have been
unpacked and sorted for judging. The majority of the picture crew is divided into alternating two teams doing the mounting, hanging, dismounting and folding the quilts. Two poles are used with the portable quilt rack and while one group is working with me taking pictures, the second group is unfolding and mounting the next quilt on the second pole. When the pictures of a quilt are complete, the first team dismounts and folds their quilt and then does the job of the second team. The most important part of the picture taking process is the identification of the quilts. This identification process involves two systems that must match. The primary is my scribe that that enters the quilt numbers, a brief description for me to match with the picture and a date/time in my picture log as they are taken. The second is a 5-second voice recording of the quilt number that's recorded along with the image when I take the pictures. At first some of the crew thought I went around talking to myself but there’s a method to my madness. Both systems are important and used in the picture identification process. Each night when I go back to our room I copy the images to my laptop and use both systems to renumber the image file names to correspond with the quilt entry number. The picture log is also used in conjunction with the show program book to verify we have pictures of every quilt. Even with the above and the PowerPoint program shell made prior to the show, it still takes about 4-6 hours to enter the winner information, locate, select, edit and insert the winning quilt pictures into the Awards Celebration material. This is the primary reason why I’m not seen much at the show during the first day. Or if I am, I’m scurrying around to maybe take other pictures because I didn’t like the ones taken of a winning quilt of a quilt or one was missed. The
serious picture review, selection, organizing and editing process does not
start until early in June because we usually combine the May trip to MQS
with visits to friends and relatives on the return drive to California.
By the time we’ve arrived back home I’ve had time to complete a
preliminary review of all the pictures and eliminated those considered
unusable. Back home, and before
anything else is done, the image files are transferred to separate file
folders on my home computer and then backed up onto CD’s.
The first set is the original image data from the mini CD’s used by
the camera. The second set is
transferred from my laptop computer and contains most of the same images as
the mini CD’s but with any quilt related image files renamed to correspond
with the quilt entry number or special group category – like the
Comparison Quilting Exhibit. The
CD backup procedure is also used to determine the amount of additional
compression required for each of the images as they are edited to make them
all fit onto one CD for the MQS. My
calculations indicated I needed to apply 30% compression to each picture.
To allow for the addition of text slides with quilt entry information
and the redundancy of some quilts in multiple folders on the CD, I also
later apply 50% compression to all the "people" pictures as a
safety pad. The
final review and picture editing takes the most time.
Just the editing alone took 275 hours this year and I’m always
looking at different image editing programs that could help shorten this
part of the process. The
editing entails cropping, resizing, increasing brightness and contrast, and
sharpening the images to bring out the quilting.
The hotel room florescent lighting is always a problem because of the
“warm yellow” cast they produce. Even
using supplemental photography lighting and different florescent filter
lenses, I probably spend more time correcting for the florescent lights than
any other editing. Following
the editing process is the job of generating the text page images preceding
each quilt entry picture on the CD and the other (PDF) files with the entry
information sorted various ways. This
step is almost as time consuming as the picture editing because it requires
importing the data from one program and converting to another, adding the
award information, generating the text slide images and then renumbering
them to correspond with the quilt numbers.
The renumbering is required so they correctly sort and display in the
proper place when the slideshow program is running. The
job of setting up the slideshow file folders and sub-folders follows.
Once the various folders are created then it’s a matter of either
moving or copying the pictures to the appropriate folder or folders.
The slideshow program requires a special file for the menu system so
one image from each folder is selected and the menu icon is generated.
The slideshow program currently used is by Duckware (www.duckware.com).
I’ve reviewed many others on the market but this is the only
program I’ve found so far that’s got the capability to set up slideshows
within slideshows for the various folders and subfolders. The
final step is the burning, labeling and packaging the CD’s.
There’s little to be said for part of the process except for a few
comments on lessons learned about time and equipment.
Initially, when there were only a few requests for CD’s, each was
individually burned using a master file on the computer.
The elapsed time for these combined steps was approximately seven
minutes per CD. As the CD
demand increased it became apparent that this part of the process needed
improvement. For one thing, I
was wearing out a CD burner in just over a year.
Professional CD duplication was investigated but found to be cost
prohibitive for the number of CD’s. So
a 3-CD duplicator was purchased that now enables three copies to be made in
about the same time as one previously.
I also learned it’s more efficient print 50-100 CD labels at a time
as opposed to immediate requirements and purchasing CD Jewel cases, CD
labels and padded mail envelops in bulk is definitely cost efficient.
I enjoy doing this project as part of my contribution to the industry
and not necessarily at a profit – including the cost of equipment and my
time, the break-even point is usually 145 CD’s. That’s
the story behind the MQS CD’s. I
hope this answers a few questions and clarifies things for those thinking of
generating CD’s of their own pictures.
The CD’s enable making a lot more pictures of the beautiful quilts
available than can be uploaded to the Internet and are designed to be both a
memento and an educational tool for both those that attend and don’t
attend MQS. George
Goumas |
