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What program do you use for making slideshows? PC and MAC!!
Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:03 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> What program do you use for your making slideshows for workshops and demos? Both PC and MAC info needed here!!
Now I now that the Hidden Gallery right here on Sports Shooter is heck of a good and easy way to make a portfolio as some members already know. Some members have gotten work by sending off a couple of 20 picture galleries on a disk.
But the info I am seeking here is what program or programs do you use to do a full blown slideshow that has the ability to do transitions, music and while timing slides to songs. And heck if it does voice-overs as well that would be really cool.
AND OH YA...... EASY TO LEARN AND TO USE!!!
Now over the past couple of years I have used many different programs on both PC and MAC platforms trying to find one that actually works properly (on both platforms if I can) I am building up a pretty good list of expenses and tryouts!!
Finding one program that makes a finished slideshow that actually runs on both Macs and PC is lets say.......... possible???
Not completely, there is Adobe Album for PC that makes a really nice finished PDF slideshow with music if you want but no timing can be changed the song just runs start to finish and only one track can be laid down on a slideshow, so you have to re-edit songs together in a secondary program to make a multi song single track that can be laid down in the slideshow. A pain to do and much time is needed to do this. And the finished PDF slideshow will not run most Macs as they are not loaded with the latest version of PDF reader which for Mac is 5.5. So you sent off the slideshow and it will not run unless the person on the other end goes online and finds the update. Sadly the slideshow does not pack that info or warning either it just will not run.
But when it runs it is a pretty slick slideshow, but if you are traveling and using someone else's computer and you are in front of 50 people at a workshop and it does not run. YIKES!!! :-( |
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Philip Moyer, Photographer
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Hockessin | DE | USA | Posted: 1:12 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> I'm a Mac user, not a PC user. I use iMovie for low-end crank-it-out-fast slideshows, and Final Cut Pro for the higher -end control. FCP fails on the easy to learn and use point, though. I create Quicktime movies out of either one, then burn to a DVD.
Cheers,
Phil |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:27 PM on 12.02.03 |
| ->> Thanks good start. |
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Conor O'Healy, Photographer
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Beaverton | OR | USA | Posted: 1:27 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> The quicktime video in my sportsshooter portfolio, which is the same as my normal portfolio, just sized smaller, was made in iPhoto by exporting a series of photos to a quicktime movie. It can only be made in a Mac, but works on a PC as well as long as they have quicktime.
Very quick, very easy, and I have gotten very good responses to it.
Conor |
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Sarah Phipps, Photographer
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Edmond | OK | USA | Posted: 1:52 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> Live Slideshow.
Made by totally hip software-i think that it is 50 bucks. It is a drag and drop. You can add music, html buttons, forward and back buttons, backgrounds. It is then exported to quicktime, which you can tell it to go full screen. You can buy the program for either mac or pc. |
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Michael J. Treola, Photographer
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Neptune | NJ | USA | Posted: 2:34 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> Check out Iview Media Pro. The new version has largly improved slide show section including new fades and the ability to control the timing of individual photos. Plus it will play just about any file you can throw at it and then some.
Media Pro also has a free catalog viewer so those looking to send a thumbnail volume to clients who might not have the program will find this a very usefull program.
It's also the same program Vincent Laforet used at the luau to display his work.
http://www.iview-multimedia.com/ comes in a window and mac version. Media Pro only available for the mac. |
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Kevin Novak, Photographer, Assistant
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Bel Air | MD | USA | Posted: 2:47 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> Windows has a fairly good FREE program called Movie Maker 2. You can use it for video or stills, add music, transitions and narration, and your finished product can be played back on a PC, or on more recent DVD players.
I've just started playing with it and like the way my first effort turned out.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/downloads/moviemaker2.asp |
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Joshua Brown, Photographer, Assistant
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 4:02 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> Good stuff!!! Keep them coming. I wanted to wait a bit before adding some more of the ones I use.
Of course everyone knows about the PC and MAC versions of "PowerPoint", expensive and tough to learn, not the easiest for slideshows for sure.
And the new challenger Apple's "Keynote" same thing.
Both great for presentations but can you just find a simple template that does slideshows!!?? I know they are out there somewhere.
I have been using a new (new for me anyway) program that I found out about it because of Sports Shooter member David Chidley http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=1038 it is called Proshow and it truly ROCKS but it is for and only runs on the PC platform, it makes VCD's, MPEG video files for PC, e-mail shows and self extracting ".exe" files that run on a PC. You can add music, many different songs in fact and you can edit where to start and stop he songs with fad in and fade outs as well you can ad background sounds (extra voice overs) and have the songs turn down in volume at the same time. You can add over 150 transitions and time each one separately or together as well as time all slides together or by them selves. Or the cool auto button where you dump in the slides say 100 to 200 then add a couple of songs then push the button that will time the slideshow to the time of the music. Bang you are done, in minutes if you are in a hurry.
Have to say right now at $29US for the regular version and $59US for the Pro (the one I have) it is my current favourite program to use. http://www.photodex.com/products/proshow/index.html I do hate the company ad with music that starts up with the beginning of each made slide show!! Have not figured out how to get rid of that yet.
I am still trying other programs as well still. I need to make slideshows but it is also a highly asked question from the students I work with.
Anyone ever hear or use "Slide show to Go"? http://www.nightwatchsoftware.com/sstg/sstg.htm |
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Stanley Hu, Photographer
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Cambridge | MA | USA | Posted: 5:09 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> Tom,
I also use ProShow Gold and found that is the best program on the PC for making slideshows. The other programs that I've tried, including Slideshow to Go, don't have as many features and aren't as easy to use.
By the way, you can remove that company ad. When you create the video, there is an option under the "Shows" tab that lets you disable the intro or include a different one. |
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Robert Dall, Photographer, Assistant
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Portage la Prairie | MB | Canada | Posted: 5:25 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> I had nothing but problems with Live Slideshow.
It claimed you could sync to music but I never got it to work properly.
Live slideshow cost me $70 bucks CDN after exchange, duty, shipping. and I tried for 10 hours to sync the music and I finally gave up a showed a substandard slide presentation.
Imovie was free and it took me 3 hours to do the same show with perfectly sync music.
Make your own choice but these were my experiences. |
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Michael Ciu, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Lorain | OH | USA | Posted: 5:56 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> I do reflection shows for weddings and I use Scala InfoChannel Designer. I scan in a ton of pictures, lay them out with different in and out transitions and set it to music. This program is used by a lot of community bulletin board channels and such, but it has a lot of capabilities. My main output is to VHS, but it will also send to a CD with or without Autorun enabled; or you can publish it to html and the recipient will open it in whatever web browser they use. This program is very easy to use and learn. This program usually cost about $999, but you can make some good easy money from it.
Here is a free Demo download if you want to try it.
http://freedownloadcenter.com/Web_Authoring/Multimedia_Web_Authoring_Tools/...
or to learn more about Scala go to www.scala.com |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 6:01 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> Stanley, thanks man!!! Now that tip is worth the price of addition here at SS. That ad was driving me nuts. I am glad that you find it easy and good as well.
Robert, you are correct people do have to make he right choice when spending the greenbacks. And I have spent many of the on different programs at this point.
I have been to many workshops the past 2 years and almost all of the best slideshows I have seen were done with sound and timed to music were done with iMovie. So it gets a huge vote if you are a Mac person.
BTW: With Mac now putting out iTunes for PC (for free) I wonder if they will come out and release iMovie for PC?? Heck I would pay $30 for that program for my PC.
Link to free Windows XP and 2000 version of iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ |
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Richard Orr, Photographer
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Longmeadow | MA | USA | Posted: 9:55 PM on 12.02.03 |
->> Pictures to Exe just added avi output to their latest beta. Easy to use, and cheap. I've been doing "digital yearbooks" with it for a couple of years.
http://www.picturestoexe.com |
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chris curry, Photographer
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Peoria | IL | usa | Posted: 11:29 AM on 12.03.03 |
->> I find that editors really get confused with all the new portfolio software available on the market. many times I know that my work doesn't even get seen.
The best way for them to see your work is to get a really good printer and publish a book complete with captions. I've found that they respond a lot better to this method.
chris curry |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:44 PM on 12.03.03 |
->> Chris you have a very good point. A lot of Editors are not as computer savvy as the younger generation. If you are going to send out a pre-made portfolio as a slideshow it had better be a browser based slideshow and NOT all of those work either on both platforms. So be careful there. Several people have now gotten work because they packaged up their portfolio using the Sports Shooter's hidden Gallery (free for all members that are reading this if you are not one!!). So that is a good way to go if you want a web based portfolio.
But I want this thread to be a canvas to find out what people use to make a slideshow when they are under control of the situation and at presentations, workshops and demos or for just family stuff like a Christmas slideshow show right on the spot at 8pm at Grandma's house on Christmas Day. It can be a blast to roll out a slideshow for friends and family.
I have done it with my point a shoot (G-5) at a wedding. At 11:15pm there was a 200 picture slideshow of the whole wedding start to finish running next to the dance floor. The dance floor was empty for a bit. People were amazed and the bride and groom were very blown away (did it as an extra wedding gift) I had 2 offers right there to do weddings........ but I do not do weddings!! :-)
The trick is to find a program that you can drop your pictures into, time it fast and push the save button. So many of the programs out there that work take time and some take tons and tons of time to make a working slideshow. Like 4 to 7 hours. I want a program that takes 4 to 7 minutes.
Other programs that have built-in auto slideshow are:
*Nikon View 6, this is Nikon's full blown browser software that is available to all of those that have Nikon digital camera or anyone that has any Nikon digital camera serial number (hint hint).You will find both platforms available at Nikon's Digital Knowledge Database. http://support.nikontech.com It does way, way more than instant slideshows it is a 35 meg download as well so if you are on dial-up........... find a friend with high-speed and burn a CD. :-)
* Windows XP has an instant slideshow function, I am not talking about the "Preview" function that the folders have. When you open a folder on the top left side of control boxes that are there you will see a box called "Picture Tasks" one of the choices is "View as slideshow". That button turns whatever folder you have with images in it into an instant slideshow that times at 4 seconds a picture with back, forward and pause button controls right in the slideshow. Very very handy thing to have. You can also use the right click button to delete images from the hard drive , e-mails as well as the other right click functions.
* Window XP also has this fun little website called "Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP" and this site is loaded with all kinds of little add-ons programs for your XP operating system, 10 of them are up on this site in fact and they are all FREE!! Here are four of the free programs that can help you.
#1-HTML Slide Show Wizard: This wizard creates a Web-ready HTML slide show to a folder of your choice. It is automated and very fast. I have found that some of the webpages I have built with this plug-in do not run on the older Mac G-3's so if you are sending it to an editor for work it may not run. But this is a great automated webpage building program for HTML idiots like me!! It will resize your original files so you can do this straight from the flashcard it you want. You can then burn a CD and mail off the pictures to family or upload the page to your site or just show it on your computer.
#2- CD Slide Show Generator: This program enables you to view the images burned to a CD as a slide show when put into another PC that is running XP and those that are not. When you burn a CD full of pictures using the built-in XP CD burning program this program will ask you before burning images to a CD if you want a "wizard for generating the autorun slideshows" added to it. You can say yes or no. If yes it will autorun the pictures on another Windows platform (not Mac!!). This is very handy if you are burning a bunch of images on your PC running XP machine and you are going to want to watch them on let's say a Windows98 platform machine, it does work too!! Very handy for that, mom's, grammas and some customers have old computers!! You can still open the CD and get your pictures as well, the generator does not stop you from that, but it will autorun when first put in........ which can be a pain if that is not what you want!!
#3-Image Resizer: Now we are off subject here a bit as this does not make a slideshow but it does add on very very handy tool to your imaging arsenal. This little program called "Image Resizer" is added right into your "right click" button function. After added with the right click button you can instantly resize one or a whole folder (including one with 100's of photos) into one of four different size choices. This is one incredibly handy tool. You do a shoot and you have to supply all picture to the client, with one right click you can supply them with all lower rez photos at 800by600pixels. I have seen no distortion on any of the pictures I have used this feature on. And that last size I just mentioned matches the 600 pixel wide image needed for uploading to your Sports Shooter site!!!! Very fast resizing. This will save you hours of work.
#4- Webcam Timershot: Okay know I am way off topic, but if you are one of those Steve Martin guys that thinks their cats are using your credit card when you are away from the house. This program lets you set a time interval auto shooting for your web cam if you have one. And it stores the pictures in a folder for later viewing. So you could catch your cats using your computer and on the internet when you are at work!! You can also have your webcam out the window and make a time delay movie in QuickTime or one of the other slideshow programs listed above
Link for the FREE XP Power Tools: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp
Really the fun never ends once you go digital.
Tom Braid
Chief Photographer
Edmonton Sun
www.fyiedmonton.com
&
Secretary-Western Canadian News Photographers Association
www.wcnpa.ca |
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Trent Nelson, Photographer
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Salt Lake City | UT | USA | Posted: 11:53 PM on 12.03.03 |
->> Okay, I'm late to the party. This is one of those areas where there is a huge need for an easy solution and it's just not there. Let me throw out what I'm doing and I'll explain it.
I've been using Apple's iPhoto to put together presentations and slideshows. It's very easy to import your shots, organize them into whatever order you want (everything is just a quick drag and drop). You've can have different albums so you can have separate shows right at hand. The photos fade in and out beautifully. In short, it's very easy to use. And it's free!
also, this is the easiest, coolest program for making contact sheets, work prints, etc. but that's off-topic.
iPhoto will also export your slideshow in Quicktime at whatever size you want, and they look good, too!
The drawback, and it can be a killer- there's no way to adjust the transition times for individual images. Every image is on screen for the same amount of time, which can be a challenge, or rule out iPhoto altogether, depending on your project. I'm hoping that this is something Apple will add in the next version of iPhoto. Sooner or later, I'm sure it will be there.
For now, if you need to have custom transition times for your slideshow, I think iView is looking pretty good.
Thanks for kick-starting this discussion and getting so much information out there, Tom. Very informative.
-trent |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:19 AM on 12.04.03 |
->> Thanks Trent;
You put on a successful workshop at the Luau and I wanted to know what you used.
It is one of those things that is very important to every shooter that has gone digital and for those that put there slides and negs on CD. How do you show your work? Then once you do that how do you ad music and the fun stuff!! With out losing your mind with frustrating software. :-)
I have spent a fair bit of money trying to find that one program that is the "one" but in the end I would even be happy with finding two that would work together.
I spent the big money to get Office as I needed Word XP so I was hoping that PowerPoint would be the answer, but I do not have time to go to night school for months!!!!
On the PC side of things thanks to the help of SS member David Chidley I found ProShow and for the money and it ease of use it is the bomb so far for me. I do have access to the Mac platform as well and I have played with what you have talked about.
I have heard that the quality of QuickTime can really drop when sending it to the big screen during presentations. You would think Panther or Photoshop CS would have better stuff to make easy music filled slideshows. Maybe they do??? I have not gotten that far yet. |
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Rod Mar, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 2:02 AM on 12.04.03 |
->> tom,
i use imovie for slide shows set to music, and powerpoint for shows where i force people to listen to me yap while they have to suffer through my photos. |
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Jay Westcott, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Woodbridge | VA | USA | Posted: 2:18 AM on 12.04.03 |
| ->> I have been using iPhoto's Quicktime export as well. I've had several people comment on how clean and great it looks, plus it's cross-platform. If you are submitting work to an client or editor, I have found that 6 seconds a photo is sufficent, plus with the pause button on the player you can always hold an image. |
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Joey Terrill, Photographer
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Tarzana | CA | USA | Posted: 10:22 AM on 12.04.03 |
->> I have good success with Apple's Keynote as well. The interface is wonderful as are the possibilities for transitions.
My only complaint is that the program doesn't seem to deal very well with images that contain significant amounts of black. I get an "artifacted" appearance that is more than obvious on screen. I've tried different JPEG amounts with little noticable difference. For that reason, I'm currently looking for an alternative... |
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Zac Pagett, Student/Intern
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Bowling Green | KY | USA | Posted: 11:45 AM on 12.04.03 |
->> Tom...
Thanks for the tip on the XP tools... just did a web slideshow with it, and for ease of use it rocks... Nice to get everything done so quickly and easily... thanks again.. Z |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 12:44 PM on 12.04.03 |
->> Rod, Jay, Joey, and Zac;
Thanks to all, the money and time I have spent trying to find that "perfect" slideshow program I can pack with my to work, schools and workshops on a CD has been a frustrating and long one to say the least!!!
I make them at home on a PC then take them to work where we are Mac OS-9 but forget out it!!
Now that we have OSX on the dual boot laptop I would not be surprised if I can get the Adobe Album and the XP HTML wizard slideshows to work, I have to try that.
Now there is the secret to know how to do, a slideshow that runs on both platforms.
Right now the answer is QuickTime for sure.
Hey Zac, I should of said that you get a money back guarantee on the HTML Slide Show Wizard tip from above!! :-) It really does a great and fast job with some controls and options to boot.
I think those 10 tools are part of the stuff that Microsoft took out of XP a couple of years ago to make the government happy during that inquiry. Not sure, but the Resize Wizard and the HTML Wizard are fantastic tools to have around. I use that "right click" Resize Wizard all the time!! |
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Jamie Hickey, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Calgary | AB | Canada | Posted: 11:53 AM on 12.05.03 |
->> Tom: This one is probably way out of your budget, because it's SUPER expensive. Adobe Premiere. It is by far the most power slideshow program around - because it's designed to make movies :). You can mix audio tracks, voice overs, still images, video, credits, roll credits over images, make shapes move around to point things out in your photos, use hundreds of different transitions, there is a slider bar so you can adjust how long you want your photos to run, export to everything from .mov to VHS (as long as you have the hookup) and import full folders of photos. It is an INCREDIBLE program, and it better be for what they charge for it. Keep in mind, you need LOADS of RAM to run this. They are BIG files. Especially if you keep your photos high resolution. But it partners well with photoshop.
As for free programs, IMovie can be frustrating to use at times, but is fairly easy to learn, it's free (comes with most Macs) and exports to .mov so you can view it on any computer (and DVD players too). You basically import your photos as clips, double click each to say how long you want to run and then pop your transitions in between. You can add music and voiceovers if you want to, just watch out for the cross dissolve feature. If you use a 15 frame cross dissolve, after you put it on, double click on one of your photos (usually the shorter running of the two) and add 15 frames onto it. Cross Dissolve is the only transition that subtracts from BOTH photo times instead of just one. Save compulsively, and you should be fine. I saved after I brought in a big batch of photos, after I stuck them in order on the timeline, after I entered the timings in the time line then after I added the transitions. It seemed to work well. It's something to try since you probably have it on one of your Macs at the office and it's free, you're not losing anything except an hour or two of your time while you play with it. Premiere is still faster though.
If you do find someone who has Premiere that will let you try it out (I checked with Adobe, and as long as you both aren't using it at the same time, you can load it onto more then one computer legally). You can feel free to email me if you run into any problems, as I've used both of these things before and will do my best to solve them :) |
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Jamie Hickey, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Calgary | AB | Canada | Posted: 11:59 AM on 12.05.03 |
->> "checked with Adobe, and as long as you both aren't using it at the same time, you can load it onto more then one computer legally"
at least - that's what their agreement said, if someone else knows differently, please let me know :) |
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Jamie Hickey, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Calgary | AB | Canada | Posted: 12:08 PM on 12.05.03 |
->> http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jsp#product=98
Oooo, 30 day trial! :) I forgot they did that, how silly of me. There you go... now you can try it free, decide if you like it, then decide if it's worth the money. Premiere Pro... pretty spiff |
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Thad Parsons, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 1:16 PM on 12.05.03 |
->> Another program that you can just import and play a slide show is PM3.
That is what I am going to do ... as far as I have planned ... for any people that want to see my portfolio while I am in England. Now that I have read this thread again, I may try iMovie tonight to see what I can get put together. |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:32 PM on 12.05.03 |
->> Thanks for the info Jamie;
School is fun as you get to play with the toys!!! Then you graduate and then you have to buy them...... :-(
I love some of Adobe's free downloads they just do not fool around. Premiere Pro is a 107.8 meg download!! :-) And at 669US it is a little steep for the slideshows I want to do. You know all the student portfolios that you have seen.
In this Mac dominated newspaper and graphics world PC never really gets a good rap but I can tell you that with the PC computers that have hit the streets the past couple of years there are starting to be advantages to being PC.
Like ProShow, that program is turning out to be the best little slideshow around right know. At $29US and $59US for the Pro version the things it does for still pictures only it really is a huge bang for the buck and it is very fast if you push the auto time button. You can do things to make the picture look like it is moving around as you can duplicate very easily and crop inside the program so you can have many quick version of the same photo at different sizes and positions, add type anyway, any size and any colour on each slide. It has many other controls as well. But the catch is they are PC only right now. http://www.photodex.com/products/proshow/index.html
I already told Frank S. about the program so you may see it somewhere down there at SAIT soon!! |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:34 PM on 12.05.03 |
| ->> Thad do you have a link for PM3? Or is that a typo?? :-) Is there more info on what it does?? |
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Robert G. Stevens, Photographer
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Halifax | NS | Canada | Posted: 7:15 PM on 12.05.03 |
->> Tom:
Couldn't you do a show in Flash by Macromedia?
I have seen quite a few shows done in flash on web sites. Since it is a web standard, it would be OS independant. Probably even work on Unix and linux browsers.
http://www.macromedia.com
Robert |
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Pablo Galvez, Photographer
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Calgary | AB | CANADA | Posted: 7:49 PM on 12.05.03 |
->> Okay... this is pretty mickey mouse, but ACDSee www.acdsystems.com has a great quick/dirty slide show utility, html photo viewer utility (similar to the sportsshooter one) and all kinds of simple sharing tools. I just discovered it in my version 4. Now they have 6? and it would probably do a great job for simple use. I use it now as a way to present photos to a client on CD. It takes about 30 seconds to produce.
Here's a sample - took 30 seconds: http://www.members.shaw.ca/capturedmemories/sample/page_01.htm
I'm not saying it's perfect - just that it's easy and quick.
-Pablo |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 12:42 AM on 12.08.03 |
->> Robert: I could use a web building program to make the slideshow but it will take tons of time to learn how to use the program. There are auto programs mentioned above that will do that very fast. Photoshop as well has web page building auto functions in it as well.
I really am looking for a program (or programs) that will make a fast high-end slideshow with music and transitions.
Pablo: Photoshop makes web pages similar to the one you have posted there. The page you posted is not really a slide show it is a web page where you have to click the pictures one at a time to see them big. I see on their web page that you can make "self-running slideshows with professional-quality transitions between photos." Not sure if that part of the program what has been mentioned above. I have so much testing to do!!!
Now that people are getting back from the Atlanta conference I am hoping for a few more posts on this thread.
Maybe even one from the Big Kahuna??? He makes great presentaions:-) |
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Robert Hanashiro, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 1:51 AM on 12.08.03 |
->> The "Eye Opener" slide show of faculty work to kick off The Luau was authored in iMovie. I just love using video programs when making a slide and music/audio show because there is so much control and precision. The down side is that to show it on the big screen, you have to output the presentation to tape and play it through a video deck or camera into the projector. If I can figure out how to output to QT and get high quality, I'd be a happy Kahuna.
For the presentations I make at conferences ... I use a number of things. Slides & Sounds is *very* cool and I love it. But the company went out of business years ago, so it's only for OS9. (My "Bert's Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Sports Photography" presentations at the Atlanta PJ Seminar were in Slides&Sounds...)
Truthfully, I haven't settled on one presentation software at the moment ... I've used a bunch. iMove and Final Cut Express on the video side. Flash and Director on the web side. I've also used Keynote (don't like it) and PowerPoint (I think it's sort of too high maintenance for my tastes).
I've used the shareware/freeware programs like GraphicConverter (which the Atlanta PJ Seminar used for judging its contest) iPhoto and SlideShow (only OS9 compatible).
iView Media Pro has a really good slide show feature ... you can use sound / music and here's the great thing: you can output it out to QT and it looks very good. (But again, the control and precision and also the transitions aren't as good as the video programs.)
I've also bought Live Slide Show ... and didn't like it.
Also, PhotoMechanic now has a slide show feature ... but during The Luau we noticed that at huge projection, the images weren't as tight quality-wise as with iView.
Right now I am playing around with the cool Flash slide show software SWF 'n Slide. I haven't had much time with it, so the jury is out for me right now. But it really shows promise for me ... (Grover: I know, I know ... it's Flash and it sucks!)
Michael Schwarz and I also talked a bit about Motion Pictures, which is bundled with Roxio's Toast 6. You can make really nice slide shows ready to burn on CD / DVDs ... it has a full pallet of effects, transitions like panning and zooming (the "Ken Burns effect"). I've only used this twice, but like SWF ' Slide, shows lots of promise. (Another program that is like Motion Pictures is DVD PictureShow for Mac. I just downloaded the demo so I can't say much about it yet.)
After a talk with John Kaplan at the Atlanta PJ Seminar, I am going to explore PDF slide shows using Adobe's inDesign and Acrobat ... we'll see how this works.
AND speaking of John ... he has a new book out on this very topic. "Photo Portfolio Success - A guide to submitting and selling your photographs" is now available. It's a pretty cool overview of what's out there and what considerations to make when putting together a digital portfolio. You can check it out here:
http://www.johnkaplan.com/pages/book.html
So I guess what I've spent 5 minutes saying is ... there are TONS of slide show and presentation software out there (I didn't even mention other programs I've tried like Kai's PowerShow and Photojam) ... and a lot depends on what you are authoring a show for: a "Dig Me Tray" or a presentation (requiring "click through" capability) or a portfolio to get a job ... running the show off of a CD / DVD, your hard drive hard drive or on the web.
I think for straight presentations PowerPoint is the standard.
For the "Dig Me Trays" with cool music, transitions and snappy cuts, a video program is it. With iView coming in second --- mainly because the precision of the timings is harder to control, especially with music playing all the way through.
For a simple html slide show (with a limit to 20 images), nothing beats putting together and saving your ss.com "Hidden Gallery".
http://www.iview-multimedia.com/
http://www.verticalmoon.com/
http://www.lemkesoft.de/en/index.htm
http://www.totallyhip.com/
http://www.roxio.com/en/products/toast/index.jhtml
http://www.ulead.com/dps_mac/features.htm |
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Tom Braid, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 12:48 PM on 12.08.03 |
->> Thanks to all of those that have answered and added valuable information to this thread.
Bert it looks like you have some of and many more problems than I have had trying to get the one program that rocks when it comes to making a slideshow. Thanks for the tip on the book, something I am going to pick-up.
Your presentations are always awesome to watch with pictures, video, and sound all mixed together.
It is looking more and more like it really comes down to a number of programs that are needed to make the slideshow that you want to show at the time. And then there is what platform are you working on?
For students and others looking for work keeping it very simple, like using the SS hidden galleries of 20 pictures each is defiantly one way to go. I know I do not want a slideshow full of music and tricks on a portfolio that comes in the mail. But for a workshop or general presentation I want really like to watch all the extra tricks and audio that comes with the best of them.
The new Photoshop Creative Suite has all of the Adobe programs integrated together so making very high-end slideshow will be something that I am sure can be done. Trick is to learn how to do it!! :-)
Thanks again to everyone that helped out. Now it looks like I have another year or so of testing and having fun with all these programs mentioned above!!! |
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Niko Kallianiotis, Photographer
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Scranton | PA | USA | Posted: 1:13 PM on 12.08.03 |
| ->> Live SlideShow from totally hip software, period. Great program and very easy to use. |
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Roger Hornback, Photographer
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Bakersfield | CA | USA | Posted: 5:42 PM on 12.09.03 |
->> Here's a few.
Corel Presentations Corel WIN
FotoAngelo ACD Systems WIN
Harvard Graphics SPC WIN
Kai's Power SHOW ScanSoft WIN MAC
Medi@Show CyberLink WIN
PicturesToExe WnSoft WIN
PowerPoint Microsoft WIN MAC
Presentation Publisher CMB Software WIN
Presentation Wizard Alchemy Mindworks WIN
ProShow Photodex WIN
Slide Show Apimac MAC
SmoothShow SmoothShow WIN |
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