Hanson

Can anyone suggest any free (maybe not free but free trial) and SIMPLE TO USE for photo essay creation software by a beginner. I would expect the software to handle still photos, video clips and music.

ChaplainPlato Loc: Florida

If your photos are ready to go and your video is ready to go, all you need is assembly. Get video software. Corel is straight forward and intuitive and you get it free for a month. But there are a lot of try before you buy gimmicks out there. Adobe Premiere Elements has a deal too. I have them both. They are comparably priced. If you lay low and wait you might get one of those OMG deals -- your call. You'll get good in short order. It's like building furniture, that first bookshelf is rough, but by the time the third one is up, you're a pro. Maybe Ikea construction is a more apt analogy. If you look there are some good open-source (FREE) programs that can work well for making a slide show.

Have a Blast

Wash your Hands, Wear a Mask.

John Prine RIP

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Go to photodex.com. They have a new subscription software that replaces Pro Show. You can find a free trial and more describing what you can do with it.

IHH61 Loc: Homestead Fl

You can do this in Lightroom. Scott Kelby did a class on this a couple of weeks ago over at KelbyOne

JD750 Loc: SoCal

What computer OS do you use? Microsoft or Apple?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you use a Mac of any sort, it comes with iMovie.

I've used iMovie since 2000 to do all sorts of multi-media work. It imports and crops still photos (with the pan and zoom "Ken Burns" effect available). It lets you control timing to 1/30 second. It handles audio (process it in Garage Band or Audacity first, if you like). It imports video (even 4K). It creates titling and some special effects.

My kids (now 21) started using iMovie when they were 10. So yes, it's easy. But it is also powerful.

If you use a Windows 10 machine, Adobe Premiere Elements is a good choice, and offers similar capabilities. Audacity is a good audio editor for both Windows and Mac. Premiere Elements works on a Mac, but iMovie is faster, due to hardware integration with the software.

On either Mac or Windows, VLC Media Player is a fantastic presentation tool to use if you're running your show through a hotel or school video projector and house sound system. It's available as a free download from https://www.videolan.org as "donation ware". I've used it to play multiple separate clips from a menu, compress and equalize sound for optimum quality in a particular environment, etc.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

If you have the Adobe subscription use the Spark application from your cloud. The project is created using their software and on their server and you can use it in multiple ways, including by just sending people an email link.