Communicating Visually (Thing 4).

Below is the blog of my journey experimenting with photo based apps as part of the Rudai23 course (Thing4).

Step 1.

After looking at what was on offer I’ve chosen Quik to experiment with as I love the idea of making a video of a series of photos. Having an interest in photography this is more in my wheelhouse and I think will be the most useful of the options for me.  It will prove useful when stitching a series of photos together that have been taken at an event. (Adding text to an image is something I already know how to do anyway).  I’m also a fan of the go-pro and really like & trust what the company is producing.

On a side note, from the libraries point of view when an event is on, it’s important to make a visual record of everything; don’t only take pictures of the guest hosting the event.  If you are at the front of the room taking photos, turn around and take photos of the whole room. Try and include the staff. In future years when the photos are being looked at the size of the crowd and even the fashion is a source of interest.  If you have lots of events on it’s useful to also take a photo of the brochure and event poster.  Try and capture the mood, the everyday man (or woman) in the street, even the weather.  Also try to be flattering, delete the pictures of people grimacing and messing about.  Remember that converting to black and white is a good option if someone is having a “bad skin” day. (if you want a visual record of a children’s event but are worried about getting parental permission etc, take a picture behind the group only showing the backs of the children’s heads so you are still showing how well attended the event was)   

An interesting exhibition in Wexford every year (that Wexford Library sponsor) is a project called “A week in the life of Wexford”.  Members of Wexford Camera Club take photos of people, things and the landscape/streetscape of Wexford during the same week every year.  In years to come this will be a cool snapshot of Wexford, its place and people.  Sometimes there will be something interesting on during that week, a festival or such but other times there is nothing special on, which is itself a challenge for the Camera Club but what they come up with is sometimes a more accurate depiction of everyday life.  Always remember a photo may look boring today but in 50 years might have significance.  50 years ago the first car in the street was of huge interest.  Today it’s crazy to look at what is now a busy thoroughfare and try to imagine no cars zooming by.  In 50 years times cars will fly just like in Back to the Future. 

Step 2.

Before I started, it struck me that having a series of photos on my phone together in the one folder would lend itself to easier experimenting rather than browsing through my phone of over 1000 photos.  So, for suitable photos to edit together, and bearing in mind our previous lesson on copyright material I sourced a selection of my own photos of Wexford.  I also installed the Flickr app on my phone and added the photos to my Flickr account and created a new folder all using my phone.  The album is here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/151489524@N03/albums/72157686585209331

Step 3.

Installing the Quik app.  This was very fast as it’s a small program and installed on my Samsung S6 without any problems in about 20 seconds. 

Step 4.

Now the fun begins. I opened the app and got the following screen.  

I clicked on create a new video and was asked to allow Quik to access photos, media and files on my device. 

(I clicked Allow but this is something I not do automatically.  I am always wary of allowing apps access to my data as you do not know what personal data it will steal.  This is where trusting the creator of the app comes in.)

I was then brought to my photo stream so could choose albums and benefit from my earlier preparation of creating a folder with all the photos I wanted to use (ie Wexford Photos album).

I clicked on the folder, the 11 photos in that folder and then the large blue tick to continue.  I added a title for the intro and continued...

This showed me my video and I could choose from a few styles...Grammy, Action, Boxed, Lapse & Slice.  My favourite was Lapse as it gave a more relaxed editing of my photos.

I could then choose the track to go with the video and browse a selection of more music which I did and opted for “Turn Over”

I increased the duration of the video from 35 seconds to 48 seconds to give a longer duration for each photo

I changed to cinema view rather than square to show the original crop of the photo.

I chose not to change the filter or look of the photos as I was happy with them but this is a very handy option if you wanted the photos to have the same “feel”.

I then clicked the blue icon on the bottom of the screen hoping this would download the finished product either to my phone or give me an option to save it or post it to my social media.

My intuition was correct and I chose to save the file without sharing. Having the option to save the file without sending is handy, especially if you need approval before posting anything to the work account.

I closed the app and re-opened to see if I could find my file which I could.

I then clicked on the share icon and was given a load of options of where to send it.  I chose my Gmail so I could easily add it to my blog.  Rather than sending the video to my gmail account what this action did was upload the file to the Quik website and provide a link to it.  

My finished product is here

I’m reasonable happy with it but as the school report says "could do better".  I would give my first attempt of creating a video 6 out of 10.  I needed to play around with the options a little bit more.  It is still a bit jumpy and the music doesn’t suit the subject matter.  With more time, I would play around with the number of photos used and the chosen track to create a smoother, gentler video.  of course the feel and presentation depends on the type of photos you have and you could also consider having no music at all.  Apparently there is also some coding built-into Quik that will give more time and zoom in on elements of the photos it deems interesting or important.  This could be fun (if true).

I would give the app 10 out of 10 for ease of use.  It was really intuitive and with no instructions one could use it straight “out of the box”.

(Rating - 10 out of 10 planets)

#rudai23 #thing4 #wexford #review