slideshow?

[tigs11]

Can anyone suggest a site to upload pictures and create a slideshow with music? I have never done this before and am not computer savvy. I would like a program where I can add my own music. I have searched and read different posts but everyone uses something different. How do you add your own music, ex.-disney music? If anyone can walk me through it I would greatly appreciate it. We just got back from disney and I took 345 pictures and would love to make a DVD for family. Thanks!

 

[Amy]

Hi Tigs! If you have Photoshop Elements, there's a slide show built into it. (I think you go under File - Create - Slideshow). It's pretty easy to add your photos, edit them, re-arrange them, add blank slides (like if you want to add a title slide when you go to pix of Animal Kingdom or something), add text, add music, transitions between slides, etc.

If you don't have Elements, you can go to the Microsoft website and download Photo Story 3 for Windows (I downloaded mine back in Feb., so there might be a version 4 out there now, I'm not sure). It's a free download, and it's also easy to use. However, because it's free, there are some limitations: you can't edit your photos (I think you can crop but that's about it), and I haven't yet figured out how to add a blank slide. It's a pain to re-arrange slides if you've got a lot of them. You CAN add text and music. You can add transitions, but you have to do the transition between each slide individually - in Elements, you click the slides you want and choose the same transition for all of them at once.

Adding music is easy - choose the "add audio" (or whatever the option is called), find the music on your computer and add it. Elements has a really neat option called "fit slides to music" where it'll automatically change the display time of each slide so that your slide show ends when the music does. Photo Story doesn't have that - you'll have to manually adjust the time of each slide yourself.

FYI - we went to WDW in June and I did a slideshow of my favorite shots (I used Photoshop Elements since I knew I'd have a lot of pictures). I used the music from the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade (my favorite parade!), 14 min long - each slide ended up as 1.9 sec, with a 1 sec transition between slides. I was able to fit 160 or 164 slides into that slide show.

Have fun! I had a blast doing mine. But even when I was done, I kept thinking I should move this slide and change that one.....

 

[tigs11]

Thanks Amy
I read alot of people have Photoshop Elements 5- is this what you have? Is this something I need to purchase in store. Do you know if I can add music from Itunes? Thanks again for all your help-truly appreciate it!

 

[Amy]

I have Elements 4; Elements 5 is the upgrade, so it should have a slide show, too. Photoshop Elements costs around $90 or so.

I don't know about using iTunes - I don't see why not. I'm not an iTunes user, so I can't tell you for sure.

 

[tigs11]

That is the opening song but I believe after they sing another one - I am looking for the name of that song. Here are some of the lyrics
step inside our storybook
imagine whats instore
its all full of magic?
wrapped up in pixie dust
welcome to a place where dreams come true
a timeless journey
through lands of fantasy
were only a wish...
Anyone know the name of this song - I believe its sung after good morning!
Thanks

 

[tigs11]

sorry wrong board

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I've been using Pictures2Exe for several years now. There are probably better solutions these days, but I'm still really happy with it. You can see some of the slideshows that I've done with it at http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow. There are several Disney themed ones on there.

It is a good program when you want the slideshow to be viewable on a computer at a high resolution. If you're happy with DVD resolution (about 1/3 of a megapixel), there are better solutions. Writing to a DVD has several advantages - easier for most people to use, the ability to add complex transitions, the ability to seemlessly mix in video. I personally prefer the higher picture quality of a PC based slideshow, but everyone's different.

 

[AndrewWG]

I've been using Pictures2Exe for several years now. There are probably better solutions these days, but I'm still really happy with it. You can see some of the slideshows that I've done with it at http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow. There are several Disney themed ones on there.

It is a good program when you want the slideshow to be viewable on a computer at a high resolution. If you're happy with DVD resolution (about 1/3 of a megapixel), there are better solutions. Writing to a DVD has several advantages - easier for most people to use, the ability to add complex transitions, the ability to seemlessly mix in video. I personally prefer the higher picture quality of a PC based slideshow, but everyone's different.

Mark,

Those are GREAT slideshows! I don't know if it is just the way they are layed out with the music, etc. or if it is your AWESOME photographs! You get such great detail in your photos. The quality looks like something that would be used on a Disney marketing dvd. Great job!

Andy

 

[undertheseas]

Windows Movie Maker is really easy!

 

[boBQuincy]

I want it all, and I want it now!!!

Pictures2Exe is good, and I also like the high resolution. The fades, zooms, and transitions are limited and I don't like that. Other slide show programs (ProShow) have more features but their high resolution exe shows won't run on many computers if you use the fancy zoom/pan features. What to do?

One option is to use one of the fancy programs and save the output to HD/DVD, especially 1080p. It looks pretty good! I don't have a HD/DVD writer (or player) but can run a cable from my PC to the TV, for full glorious HD!

HD/DVD burners and players will be inexpensive in due time, and that will resolve all this. Maybe...

I've been using Pictures2Exe for several years now. There are probably better solutions these days, but I'm still really happy with it. You can see some of the slideshows that I've done with it at http://barbierifamily.org/slideshow. There are several Disney themed ones on there.

It is a good program when you want the slideshow to be viewable on a computer at a high resolution. If you're happy with DVD resolution (about 1/3 of a megapixel), there are better solutions. Writing to a DVD has several advantages - easier for most people to use, the ability to add complex transitions, the ability to seemlessly mix in video. I personally prefer the higher picture quality of a PC based slideshow, but everyone's different.