Lately I've been asked by many of my clients if I offer DVD slideshows. I had hesitated on offering these because I didn't want clients to be confused between a DVD Slideshow, and a CD of high res images that they can use for printing. But with so many requests I decided to bite the bullet and to start offering the slideshows with an emphasis on "not for printing" in the description.
I already own ProShow Gold since I've used it for the family slideshows I've created in the past so I figure for now, I'll just go with that. I created a folder under my client folder and saved flattened JPEGS of the images I wanted to use in the slideshow. That way, when I open ProShow Gold, I can just browse to that folder, and select all the images and add them in. It is easy to change the order once they are in by dragging and dropping along a timeline.
I created my sample using images from my fun creative field trip shoot with 6 year old Ana. She had three clothing changes, and a lot of personality, so there were so many pictures from that shoot that I liked. This was the first time I explored beyond the basic slideshow. I made sure the slides were set to fit in the "safe" zone which means they are sized so when it is saved to DVD it'll play on the TV without the images getting cut off. This is important to know because I did one before without that setting and people's heads kept getting cut off!
I also played around the the length of time images displayed in the show. My favorites get a little more screen time, and I cycle through the others more quickly. I also, for the first time, tried out the zoom feature where you can zoom into a selection from the picture. It was pretty exciting.
And what would a slideshow be without music. Keep in mind, if you are selling slideshow to your customer you should use royalty free music to keep with legal compliance! Don't play the "but no one will know if I use this cool popular song" game. You don't want people copying your pictures so don't copy their music! I like StockMusic.net for my music. They have an easy way to preview songs, you can see "more like this" when you find one you like, and you can bookmark the songs to come back and buy later. Once you buy your music you can just drag and drop the file into your slideshow!
After you create your slideshow, you can click button to create a DVD and it'll walk you through the process. Make sure you have a DVD burner attached or in your computer. I've never had a problem playing the DVDs on my tv or in my car on the DVD player.
Now, for online viewing you have lots of options. I'm running an older version so I don't have the option to save to Flash but I tell you, that is worth the upgrade so I'll likely be heading in that direction! However, even with the older version you can save it for the web and it'll give you the file to put up and the code to add to your webpage to view it. Unfortunately the older version required a plug-in be downloaded from their site. But, I was able to save the slideshow as an MPEG-2 and upload it to YouTube!
Next I need to figure out what packaging I'll use. I've seen lots of nice packaging from various photo supply houses.
If you are creating slideshows for your clients, what are you using to make them? About how much time do you spend creating a slideshow? And what type of packaging do you use?
Related Links:
I know you posted this a while ago, but have you thought about using Lightscribe DVDs?
You turn the disk over in the drive and you can drive a monochrome image to the top of it - definately better than an inkjet label or a sharpie :)
Posted by: Aidan | May 05, 2008 at 02:58 PM