Digital Slide Shows...

The advent of digital imaging has made it possible to easily create stunning “slide show” effects. I used to lug around 2 slide projectors, a dissolve unit, a 4-track tape deck, a projector stacker, 2 large glass lenses, extra lamps and more! I spent over $3000 on that equipment. And the irony was it was such a hassle to lug around, I hated using it! Now, with a 4 pound digital projector and a laptop computer, you can present your photos easily and quickly. An LCD projector can cost as little as $600 while a laptop runs $400 and up. Plus you can use the laptop for lots of other stuff and you can use the projector at home to show “big screen” DVD movies! You can also put your “masterpiece” on a 30 cent DVD and send it out to everyone! Talk about sharing your photos!

Music… Obviously, music is a key component of any A-V show. Keep in mind that nearly all music is copyrighted; imagine how you would feel if someone used your photo without permission! You can buy “royalty-free” music CDs for as little as $25. Two of my favorite companies are Gene Michael Production Music (www.gmpmusic.com) and Music2Hues (www.music2hues.com)  

You can also check out www.freeplaymusic.com which lets you use their library at no cost for non-commercial uses. Music should complement the images, not compete with them. Light Jazz, New Age and Classical work really well. Generally, I avoid music with vocals as it can be distracting.

 Your music tracks need to be in a digital format to work with the slide-show software, usually either MP3 or WAV files. MP3 is like a “JPEG” for music; it compresses the size of the file with differing choices of quality. If you are recording off a music CD, you need to “rip” the song. I usually use Musicmatch Jukebox which came with my Dell computer. You can download Jukebox free at: www.musicmatch.com. You can also use Windows Media Player, another free download.

Click for a PDF article on Buyout Music.

Image Prep… You could just use the image as it comes from the digital camera but almost all images need some sort of adjustment, cropping, etc. Also, the file size would be much too large for a digital slide show. As always, your monitor should be calibrated; otherwise your adjustments are a guess! Although we normally use Adobe RGB 1998 for our print output, the sRGB color space can be somewhat better for projection. Be sure to work on a Copy of your digital image!!

Digital projectors often are contrasty and may tend to oversaturate your image. If you have your own digital projector, you soon learn how to optimize your images to look their best. Generally, you will want to lower the contrast a bit (move the “Output Levels” sliders both inward about 10-20 points each) and perhaps reduce the Saturation as well. You do this in Photoshop via Adjustment Layers. And a really cool trick is you can then “fix” all the other images in your show by “dragging” the Adjustment layer(s) onto each image.

Next you need to consider what image size and resolution to create. Remember that “dpi” has no meaning for monitor or projection uses. All that matters are the “pixel dimensions” of the image. I always size my images to the largest size that I might encounter. My Epson digital projector displays 1024 by 768 pixels (also called “XGA”). But at some point, as prices come down, I may acquire a projector at the next level of 1280 x 1024 (SXGA). That way, I don’t have to resize my images if I get a better projector some day. If you plan on using cropping and panning effects in the slide show software, you may want to shoot for a resolution of about 1500 pixels wide for the extra leeway that gives you. Just let Photoshop resize your images in the Pixel Dimension area of the Image Size dialog. Be sure that “Constrain Proportions” and “Resample Image” are checked. You can also use Photoshop Actions to automate the resizing process.

After all adjustments are made, you need to run an “Unsharp Mask” in Photoshop. Be somewhat gentle here; don’t oversharpen. A suggested starting point in Unsharp Mask would be: Amount of 50 to 125%. Radius less than 1 and Threshold of 5 to 10.

Putting It All Together… It is finally time to begin assembling your show. The length of your show is a critical decision. I usually aim for 5 to 15 minutes. It is much better to present a dynamite 10 minutes, than a lackluster 30 minutes! A good rule of thumb: stop while the audience still wants more! I usually program each image to be on-screen for 5 to 8 seconds. Don’t give every slide the same time; vary it to sustain interest and variety. Slide show software can contain hundreds of “transition” effects. You really must fight the urge to use all these effects. Otherwise your slide show is more about technology than the photographs themselves. I normally use a “dissolve” type of effect. Wipes and fades are nice too. You can use a few wild effects in the intro or maybe at the end but be careful.

You can also vary the transition time between slides. One to two seconds are most common, but I will use from a “cut” up to 3 or 4 seconds. It just depends on your subject matter and mood.

Software… There are many choices, ranging from free to lots of money! I formerly used SmoothShow Pro to good effect (www.smoothshow.com). It costs $70 and has a free trial download. I also used PicturesToExe from www.wnsoft.com which was another nice program at only $24. Windows makes a nice little free program, called Photo Story 3. Check it out at: www.windowsphotostory.com Yet another possibility is Picasa,  free download from Google.

However, I now exclusively use ProShow Gold from Photodex (www.photodex.com). It also costs $69 and has free trial downloads. Be sure to get the “Gold” version. In the past 2 years, this has become my favorite software. It features some amazing capabilities and effects. The panning and zooming controls plus caption options are very versatile. It is easy to use, handles music well and has extensive output choices. I can highly recommend this software. You can also view many demo slide programs at the Photodex website to get a good idea of the possibilities. You can view my various slide shows by clicking here.

Photodex also has a new, professional level slide show software, “Producer”. It is more expensive at $249 but offers even more control and professional features. Download a demo at: http://www.photodex.com/products/producer/ I

ProShow Gold 3.2 has just been released which is even now an even better value as it now offers layer effects and much more, still at $69.

Unfortunately, all the previously mentioned programs are for Windows only. Mac users can try iPhoto or Keynote.

Update: ProShow will run on a Mac using Parallels.

Output… Obviously a digital projector is the most dramatic to present your show, but not everyone has one. Fortunately there are other ways to share your finished masterpiece. A self-playing Exe file can easily be created. Such a file can be emailed (if you have high speed internet!) or put on a web site. Either way, you need a computer to view it. Perhaps a better way to share is via a DVD player, which most folks now have. That way the family can sit down in front of a television to watch your slide show.  A DVD HQ features 720 x 480 res and very good quality. The DVD SP format doubles the capacity with a slightly lower quality.

In Closing… Hopefully this brief overview will get you going. One of the best aspects of digital is the ability to share the images in a variety of formats. With some inexpensive software, your images can take on a new excitement.

Copyright 2008 Steve Traudt

Contents Copyright 2008 by Steve Traudt and Fay Timmerman

Last modified: February 07, 2008