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Photo Slideshows - How? Help please!

kristinamh6kristinamh6
in Success after IF

I want to make a slideshow that I can have playing in the background at Kennedy's 1st Birthday party. I've been going through my hundreds of pictures, saving the ones I want to use to a folder & looking for songs. Anything else I need to do before I get started? I'm not sure if I want to add video clips or not, but I definitely want music (are there ones without?).  Here are my questions:

  1. What software/program did you use and would you recommend it?
  2. How many pictures did you use? How long was your slideshow?
  3. What songs did you use? Any ideas for mine? I'm pretty set on using "Daughter" by Loudon Wainwright, and I also want something fun/upbeat and something slow and sentimental (IF related possibly?). Songs like "My Girl" or "Isn't She Lovely" came to mind, but I feel like I could find something better.
Any other suggestions welcome! Thank you ladies!
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Re: Photo Slideshows - How? Help please!

  • desabeandesabean member

    I use One True Media.  For her birthday we did two songs (Diamond Girl by Seals and Crofts and 1,2,3,4 by the Plain White Tee's)  But I also love How Sweet it Is by James Taylor and All I want is You by U2.  The total slideshow was like 7-8 minutes, and about 100 pictures I think which was a bit long since we had people come in and watch it because the World Cup USA game was on so we couldn't just let it run, but I think with your idea, having a longer clip is better.  It's so hard to pick the photos so I think your doing great to get started early on that.

    Enjoy-- it's so fun!

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  • AvaLikeLavaAvaLikeLava member

    If you have a PC, chances are you already have Windows Movie Maker and you can use it to make your slideshows. It's not hard, but you do have to muck around with the transitions of the photos & duration of each slide on your own.

    Lately, I've been using Animoto.com. It can suck in your photos from Flickr (or elsewhere online) or you can upload. Then you upload a song and it mixes it all for you. The transitions are unique and it does it all to the rhythm of the song you upload. You do have to pay $4 though to get the high-res movie back though.

    In terms of duration, I like slideshows that are under 4 minutes. Other than immediate family I just don't see anyone wanting to sit through 15 minutes of photos of my kid. Especially at a party.

    Photo transitions should happen every 3-4 seconds, so for every 1 minute of video, I would have 15-20 pics.

    If your intent is to show this at a party, then I'm also not sure that you'll need music. It might just be hard to hear. I would still mix it with a song though, even if you have it on mute, since you'll want to watch the slideshow for yourself later.

    For DS' first bday, I used "It's a big world, baby!" from Renee and Jeremy. You can see/hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1U7ZMQXWLs

    My only other suggestion is to give yourself some time to do this. While it won't take more than a few hours, don't wait until the last minute to. You'll get frustrated (if it's your first time) and those last days before the party are already a bit frazzled between family coming in, organizing food/cleaning house, etc. Just give yourself some time.

    Have fun!

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  • jenber77jenber77

    I used Windows Movie Maker and found it to be quite easy! I used a mix of photos and video clips, and it came out to five minutes exactly. We played it twice during Andrew's birthday party.

    I love the Renee and Jeremy song Ava mentioned and considered using the same one, but then I found some others I loved:

    "Small as Me"
    by Damien Jurado & Rosie Thomas

    "Little Sack of Sugar"
    by Elizabeth Mitchell

    "Who's My Pretty Baby"
    by Elizabeth Mitchell

    You can see my video here if you want. :)

    Have fun!!

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  • DavezWifeDavezWife member

    yup. what they said ;-)

    there's a soundtrack bio link in my bio - lots of song ideas we've all put together over the years.

     GL !

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  • jennie13jennie13
    I've done them for DD's 2 birthdays.    I use Photostory 3 for Windows - it's really easy to learn.    Each one was about 50 photos or so, with 1, 4 minute song.   The last one, I used You are the One by Elliott Yamin - it's a really pretty song. 
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  • kristinamh6kristinamh6
    Thanks for all the ideas ladies! Ava, good point about not being able to hear the music, but like you said I will want it for myself. I know 10 minutes is kind of long, and it may not end up being that long, but it will be continuous, so people don't have to sit there and watch it. I signed up for one True Media last night, but I may try the Windows one so I don't have to upload all the photos elsewhere. There are going to be a lot! I also agree that I won't want to be doing this at the last minute, which is why I'm trying to work on it now. I'm known to be a procrastinator, and I'm trying to hard avoid all the unnecessary stress of waiting.
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