I decided to do something a bit different this year. Instead of just posting a 'best of' gallery, I put together a slideshow of every image posted to my site in 2011. I'm planning to post this there on January 1st but would love to hear your thoughts.

For some reason, Smugmug is not letting me replace the preview image right now. I'll be uploading a new version after making any further edits and will fix that then.

Here is the updated version with fixed preview and better transitions:
<iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="640" height="360" src="http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/1648857576_kdwvWBg?width=640&height=360"></iframe>

Well done. You handle mixed weather very well - fog, rain, sun!

That is really nice and a great idea to put together the best of the year photos. Great shots.

Like the video and music. At times the music is timed well with the frames.

I do a fair amount of what I call photo videos and I know how much time it can take to put together.

If you are continuing to work on this video, I have a few suggestions.

Consider using less pan and zoom, or add more time to each frame (slide).

Also, consider using fade in and out in between frames instead of just "cut".

Making these kinds of changes will probably you get near the ten minute mark, which I often aim for as the ideal amount of time for people to view a photo video (slideshow). This would mean adding at least one more piece of music.

I found that I also like to add a brief voice over at some point, maybe as an introduction or a closing remark. It really adds to the show.

Phil

Thanks guys.
Good point Phil. Afraid there isn't much I can do on the timing of slides and the song length is the limiting factor. I don't want to cut any photos as the goal was to include every one. This way, a casual or non-follower of my site can 'catch up' over a cup of coffee.
Fades are a good idea and I'll see about working that in. I did this with iMovie which does have some nice effects.
If you can believe it, I actually cut down on the pan/zoom significantly in this version. I tried to time the larger moves to the music to make it feel like it was moving faster then.

Great job on this Eyal. I enjoyed it a lot. You're really captured the spirit of this historic sea town in your photos. I like the pace of the presentation and the pans and zooming. My only issue is that the pans and zooms are not smooth. They are slightly jerky on my computer for some reason, even with the entire movie preloaded.

Regards,
-joel

Thanks everyone. I update the video with improved transitions and nice preview. It's 1080p and should flow smoothly... I hope.

Great idea, isn't it fun to see how many nice shots you had when you put them all together. That must have been a lot of work, thanks for sharing.

Very well done Eyal. That had to have been a lot of work to put this compilation of images together so professionally. I recognized many of your images from postings and I recall some of my comments on them as well. You have giving me something to think about as I have never even considered putting my work together in one video. Nice work!

What a wonderful compilation, Eyal. Some of those scenes brought back vacation memories from a couple years ago. And I knew I've heard that soundtrack somewhere before.

Thanks again for all the kind words.

I had seen something similar posted on Google+ and thought it was a neat idea. I have been struggling with new ideas to expand the reach of my site. This seemed a great way to have people get a taste of what has been posted over the past year without having to go through my portfolio section.

iMovie actually made this quite easy. I exported the images in full res from LR3 and dragged them to a new project. Made an intro/exit slide by just picking a theme and inserting text. I started with the default 'ken burns' pan/zoom transitions. Refined those (which had too large of movements) and added the fades with two successive edits. I can't imagine I spent more than one hour of work on this and I imagine next years will go faster still.

And David, you've got good ears (or you just Googled the music selection at the end) That was the toughest part - choosing music - and I decided as a last effort to look at popular videos on Vimeo for inspiration. Really liked this song though the wife thinks it's depressing. I'll let you know how it goes come New years.

Originally Posted by eoren1 ... And David, you've got good ears (or you just Googled the music selection at the end)

Nah. TSO Photography's videos is in my Video bookmarks. One of many. Ludovico's music is a favorite in time lapses and slide shows. There's a ton more of Ludovico's excellent music to listen to on YouTube.

Some other popular composers for photo and video projects are Zero-Project (royalty-free), Ben Botkin, Jurgen Beck, Marika Takeuchi, Rachel Portman, Tangerine Dream, and Simon Wilkinson. I might be hanging out at Vimeo a little too much lately.

Gorgeous collection! Liked the storm, long-exposure, night, and supermoon shots the most. Thanks for putting this together!

Nice list David. I really liked Marika's song as well but it was too short.
Vimeo is a fun place to watch those timelapses...

Appreciate the comment Dan

Originally Posted by David_S85 Nah. TSO Photography's videos is in my Video bookmarks. One of many. Ludovico's music is a favorite in time lapses and slide shows. There's a ton more of Ludovico's excellent music to listen to on YouTube. Some other popular composers for photo and video projects are Zero-Project (royalty-free), Ben Botkin, Jurgen Beck, Marika Takeuchi, Rachel Portman, Tangerine Dream, and Simon Wilkinson. I might be hanging out at Vimeo a little too much lately.

Thanks for links. Absolutely gorgeous time lapse videos. I wonder how the time lapse is done when the foreground is moving? I wonder if that is multiple video layers (keyframes).

One thing to consider when using copyrighted music is that according to the way I understand the Digital Millenium Copryright Act (DMCA) is that music cannot be used in a video and posted online even if a single license is purchased. The publisher has to give permission the way I understand it. Any thoughts on that?

I've tried to explore that at length with this particular piece of music. I visited the forums devoted to the artist where a sticky exists specifically for this question...without a single answer. Looks like the mods kept merging threads that were asking about this but no one bothered to answer.

Music and slideshows seems to be a complicated issue. I have seen countless ones where I cannot imagine the artist gave license for use and a small handful that do document permission. I have given full credit for the music and feel I have exercised due diligence in trying to pursue a license. Though I know that has little to no real standing, it makes me feel better.

Originally Posted by lifeinfocus Thanks for links. Absolutely gorgeous time lapse videos. I wonder how the time lapse is done when the foreground is moving? I wonder if that is multiple video layers (keyframes). One thing to consider when using copyrighted music is that according to the way I understand the Digital Millenium Copryright Act (DMCA) is that music cannot be used in a video and posted online even if a single license is purchased. The publisher has to give permission the way I understand it. Any thoughts on that?

This will explain better than I can here, how time lapse videos are produced, in simple terms. There is more to it than what they elude to, but the basics are all there.

Zero Project is totally royalty free, according to their website. Seems like he wants people to use everything he does. Wilkinson currently sells six special CD's (at a somewhat high price) that will allow one to place the music within a production for limited use commercially. Then there are services that sell royalty-free content for ~$25 per piece for inclusion in a commercial release. Samples are available there to listen to before you buy.

I've seen productions use scores from Hans Zimmer. That would be a no-no in any book.