ronichas Loc: Long Island

I used to use ProShow Producer until they shutdown.
Someone suggested AShampoo. I love it. I just did 2 multi-media slide shows for a local Travel Club.
I just uploaded my Iceland presentation to my youtube channel. It is about 12 minutes long and is in order
of the 3 times I was there.

It was interesting to see the changes in the country over 8 years. The one that bothered me the most is seeing how the glaciers have melted.

Comments welcome.

https://youtu.be/Adjc3D8HRhs

BigOldArt Loc: Seminole, FL

Good point.

What is the difference in observer experience between (a) a slide show with varied durations of stills and (b) a video with varied durations of stills? By stills I mean photos or text slides.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Easy one. Video is fluid, better for displaying functions, interviews, and events. Stills are better to emphasize moments or products or symbols or emotions. Hybrids of stills and video work best for commercials and documentaries.

I created multi-image slide shows in the 1980s. We typically used a 27' screen divided into three screen areas, with 3 projectors aimed at the left side, 6 aimed at the center, and 3 aimed at the right side. That gave us the ability to do mild animation. The show content was typically corporate sales meeting theme openers, training workshop theme openers, and closing shows that wrapped up those 2-4 day meetings. We also used our system for training content delivery within workshops. A typical show used 720 to 960 slides, lasted about 12 to 18 minutes, and took around six weeks to produce from conception to screen. We were making points about our company, our products, our people, and our services. Streams of still images worked well for that. Because video was very expensive and not very good back then, we used multi-image for its high resolution images, high fidelity sound track, and immersive experience.

Watch any good Ken Burns series on PBS and you get the best of both stills and filmic video media. Ken and his teams mix panning and zooming of old still photos with video interviews, overdubbed narratives, musical "glue," sound effects, and subtitles to create immersive and entertaining learning experiences. Any of his stories can be told in text, as an audio book, or as a "slide" show. But the way he's doing them, they are almost irresistible if you're interested in the subject matter *at all.*

For instance, I HATE country music after spending two years as a country radio announcer (In real life, I'm a rock-and-roll, jazz, classical, blues, folk, percussion, and experimental noise fan). But I was riveted to Burns' series on country music because of the way he approached the story. I watched the entire series twice! Like all his series, it was masterful.

srt101fan

Bill, you may have misunderstood the poster you were responding to. I think he was referring to a video made up entirely of still photos. But maybe I'm off-base here....🤔

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I understood that. My point is that with video editing software you have mixed media options you might not have with simple slide show software.

For those of us who create many different kinds of content, a video editor is an essential tool. Others include Microsoft 365 (formerly Office), still image editors such as Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, an audio editor such as Logic Pro or Pro Tools (or Audacity or GarageBand), and a wide array of other tools for Mac or Windows, whichever your poison.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Simple answer
'you can"

srt101fan

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

I use an original iPad. Since the apps being written today will not work on this device I can only use it for what it can do. And it can show photographs 24/7/365. It has been working as such for several years. My iPad II is a permanent analogue clock, the background turns black at 6:00pm and white at 6:00am, all for 24/7/365! Music can be added to both applications.

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

Beautiful photography!
I note a limited use of transition styles. Are more available?

bobbydvideo

I still use ProShow Producer and Movavi Slideshow Maker 7

ronichas Loc: Long Island

Yes, there are many to choose. I have found, after doing many slide shows, that it is too distracting from the images.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Slide to slide transitions are best kept subtle. If every transition is different, the viewer becomes distracted from the content. Simple cuts and dissolves are most effective.

I once watched a ten minute show at a sales meeting. It was done in one of the ProShow packages. I can't remember anything about the images in it, except that the music was frenetic and every transition seemed to be different from every other one. It was jarring.

I love loud, hard rock as much as I love classical and jazz, and I love fast-paced image streams as well as slow ones. But I want to see the images, and see/hear a relationship between the musical measure and the image transitions!

When music, narration, images, and production technique are not "tuned" to one another, the result is ineffective.

Rodwil

I just was tasked making a slideshow for a memorial service. She wanted over 300 pictures (fortunately she didn’t want music). I was having trouble with Elements, so I bought Ashampoo HD4 and it worked beautifully. Slideshow was around 30 minutes.