Friday 15 May 2009

One thing etc

It started with me wanting to link several photos to produce a panoramic view, so I bought new software - Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. I had already jazzed up the Lions web site with a redesign, but then I embedded one of the videos produced by international headquarters. It struck me that a video of our own club activities would be a better idea and I started making noises about club members with video cameras. Then I wondered if I could use still pictures to produce a slide show, and I discovered some free software that I downloaded. It wasn't until after I had done so that I realised Photoshop Elements could be used to make a slide show. Great! But what about a soundtrack? So I downloaded some more free software (Wavepad Sound Editor) which seems to be just the job for editing background music which can then be added to the slide show as a sound track. But some of the slides will need a spoken commentary, so today I bought a new toy - a microphone. It works; I know because I have found time to test it, but I still have to work out how to get the volume just what I want and how far it should be from my mouth to avoid the sort of splutter one gets when it is too close. And what else? Oh yes, I remembered that Paint Shop Pro can be used to make animated gifs, which can then be saved as video, so I tried my hand at one for the first time for, ooh, at least ten years. I think it's quite fun. Click here to see it.

But I really don't have the time for any more tomfoolery. I have a case to pack and a car to load as we are off tomorrow, through the tunnel and away from all the fuss about MPs' expenses. I know our lot are pretty bad, but the cynic in me (or is that the realist?) says that the same thing happens in other countries - and a lot worse in some. Not that that makes it OK here, but let's get these things in perspective.

3 comments:

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

Tomfoolery is it? Well I know Tom and he doesn't fool around like that.

BTW - is it your MPs who taught our lot how to do the expense thing or vice versa?

Brighton Pensioner said...

I think we must work on the basis that ours is the Mother of all Parliaments and that at least part of what is now the USA was at one time a British colony...

Make of that what you will (but don't mention Silvio Berlusconni and I've probably spelt his name wrongly).

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

Just stay away from Italy and you should be okay :)