Creating Stunning Slideshows

I Took That!

Blog by Jim Everett

http://www.itookthat.com

Blog Support Notes

More and more homes now have a flat-screen, high-definition TV. These can range from 15" to 108" (at the time of writing this). A high-definition screen starts at 720 pixels, or "lines" vertically. And these screens are capable of displaying digital images with amazing clarity (definition) as well as depth of color in the millions.

Most digital still cameras, even inexpensive consumer cameras, take digital images with a resolution (number of pixels) well in excess of even the highest resolution TV screen. What this means is that it is now possible to use the high-definition flat screen TV to display your digital images bigger than ever - just like the old vacation slideshows that put people to sleep.

This episode is about creating interesting and compelling high-definition slideshows with accompanying music, from your digital images for display on large screen TVs, that will engage people.

Maybe you're just playing with software, or wanting to see what you can do with some of your favorite images. If this is the case, then you probably don't need to specify an objective or goal for your slideshow. However, as with any media product you create, it is always important to have a clear goal and vision of what you want to end up with, and what you want to achieve.

There are many ways to display digital images on a large screen TV. These include directly from some current model digital cameras, with card readers built into the TV, from high definition DVD players, from portable devices and digital image viewers that also provide high definition input to large screen TVs, and from hard drives connected into the TV display.

For an image to meet the requirements for high definition, with no zoom effects, it must be a minimum of 720x1280 pixels, or 1080x1920 pixels. This is close to a 16x9 ratio, the ratio of large screen TVs. This ratio is different from the 4x3 ratio of consumer digital cameras, and the 3x2 ratio of digital SLRs. Standard definition television is a 4x3 ratio.

You will find there are differences between TV brands in how they interpret the media size and reformat it to fit the screen. This may require some experimentation to know what works best for your set.

Most image-playing devices do not inherently provide a way to deliver a slide show with precisely synchronized music. Some applications will play slides from a library, and play a music audio track at the same time, without being synchronized. This is covered later in this outline.

The two main ways of creating a high definition slide show for sharing, without requiring any additional special software, are as a movie, or as a self-contained player with the slides and audio track built into the bundle. These can delivered via DVD and DVD player, or from a custom hard drive or PC/Mac connected to the TV.

If you are creating a slide show on DVD, whether high definition or standard definition, you will need to use DVD burning software. This allows you to create a disk that a DVD player will recognize and play as a slide show or a movie.

And to deliver your slide show with music on a DVD in high definition, you need to use a burner that is either a Blu-ray or HD DVD. In this episode, we will not go into the complexities of high definition DVDs – that is another topic on its own.

If you burn your slideshow to a regular DVD, you will do it either as a 4x3 ratio at 640x480, or as a 16x9 ratio, which cuts off some at the top and bottom, leaving you with an image size of 640x360, to then expand to 19x9 and fill the screen (just not as high definition).

An alternative for getting a little more definition from a standard DVD, is to use an image enhancement Software such as Photoshop, and create a 16x9 image that you squeeze sideways to a 4x3 ratio. All this does is to fill the otherwise wasted area at the top and bottom of the 640x480 space (kind of a a poor man’s anamorphic). Then, when you show it on a large screen TV, you select a 16x9 ratio. It's not high-definition, but at least fills the screen better than the 640x360.

There are a number of software applications that you can use for creating a slide show from a folder of images, with music, using a standard definition DVD burner. In most cases, the end result will not be synchronized, and the music may not be the same duration as the slide show.

You can choose to have all the slides of a fixed duration, with transitions, and set so that the slide show and the music track of the same length. The slide show is not synchronized, except that it takes exactly the same time as the music track. For this, you can choose a piece of music and then fit the slides to the length of the music, or you can use music software that creates a track the same length as the slide show.

If you want your slides to be placed with the beat and changes in the music track, you need software that will allow you to vary the timing of each slide. If you are happy for the slides to have a standard duration and simply match the length of the music then this is not a concern.

Depending on how you are sharing the slides and music, you need to be aware of digital rights and permissions you have around using the music. When you create something for the Web, this is considered to be a public performance, and therefore subject to digital rights. The safest way all round is to use music creation software that delivers a royalty-free piece of music.

The best connection to use, if you have an output on your computer for it, is HDMI. This gives you high-definition video, along with digital audio. Alternatively, you can use component (3 ports/wires) video if your computer has this output.

More common however is DVI or RGB (for your video only, not the audio). You should be able to take this directly into your television as a digital video signal at high-definition quality.

Composite video (single yellow RCA) and S-Video are analog and do not deliver high definition.

If your audio output is digital, then this makes it easier for you. However most computers have an analog audio output. The problem with analog audio, is that for most high-definition televisions, you need to select either a digital or analog input. So when you are using the analog output from your computer, you need to feed this into your tuner/amplifier.

The choice of cable for carrying the video will impact not only the quality of the image, and the ratio options for the TV. In my experience, playing from a MacBook Pro to an LG 42" screen is that a DVI input allowed me only to get a letterbox format in the 640x480 space, whereas RGB allowed me to play with combinations of the screen resolution on the Mac and the TV and fill the screen without stretching the image or cutting edges off.

But now let's talk about creating a packaged slide show or movie where the slides are synchronized with the music soundtrack. For this, you may use a software program that allows you to set slide duration, choose transitions, and create simple or complex zoom and movement.

Even if you don’t title your slideshow, it is mostly best to start and finish with a blank slide (and black is usually best, since it creates a fade-in and fade-out). Music is best if it starts and ends in these slides. Titling and caption design is a whole other subject. But make sure the typeface is large enough to be legible.

The order in which you present the slides is important. One slide should naturally lead on to the next. The sequence should tell some kind of story, and the story and music should flow together.

If the music, for example, becomes increasingly dramatic and finishes with a crescendo, then the slides need to become increasingly dramatic. If the music is ethereal and wistful, then the content and feel of the slides should match this (or vice versa).

Other choices in how you present the slides are important to consider. Do you want the slides to remain fixed on the screen and simply change with a cut to the next. Or do you want to dissolve picture put some of the transition between the slides. It's best if you stick to the same transition between all the slides. Having a different transition every time is a distraction and looks amateurish.

The other consideration is whether you want to have the size of the slides remain constant, or use some form of Ken Burns' Effect. This can be a simple zoom, the same on each slide, or you can create a custom zoom and movement for each different slide.

Remember, if you do zoom in, then you will need an original that is a higher resolution than the screen. You will need to ensure that at maximum zoom you have enough pixels to match the resolution of the screen. It is important that whatever movement you use, it takes second place to the content of the slide. It must enhance the message that the image conveys, and not simply be there to create movement.

Playing: When you share a slideshow with someone directly, you can set their expectations and watch their reaction. Unless it is riveting and compelling, then it is best at less than, say 3 minutes in this situation.

Sending: When a person watches a slideshow on their own turf and time, you can afford for it to be longer. Even so, unless it is a masterpiece, five minutes is about the limit.

Exhibiting: At a trade show or creative event, in a darkened auditorium, on a large screen, with good projection and sound, you can create a slideshow that lasts for up to 15 minutes. But it has to be pretty darn good for this duration. Mostly, 10 minutes is the limit.

So there you have it. Maybe you can even put a smaller version online and share the URL. If you create a slideshow that you like, and this episode has helped, I would love to hear about it.