A while back, I needed to present a series of photos as part of a video promo I was creating.
I knew that Picasa (the free photo curation and editing tool from Google) would make a video from a slideshow for me. To test it out, I made this little video. It was pleasing to share the fabulous song (Catie Curtis - It's a Wonder) and I was happy with the treatment of the photos given that I didn't have to do very much work to put it all together.
As a first cut, it was just fine and I've had fun returning to it occasionally to reminisce. On the other hand, it was a little bit simplistic and I'd wished for more options. Fortunately, Picasa does offer other options. (You can select the length of time for each photo, have a choice of transition types, and as you could see with this demo, a choice of audio track to add.)
Recently though, I found that the options it offers are not rich enough to put into a video about which I was serious. I believe that Picasa photo videos are fine for sharing with family, but the range of options falls short for putting into a serious promotion clip.
The option for doing that in a way that works was to use iPhoto on the Mac. I know, I know, it's not fair to suggest options that only work if you have this particular brand of computer, or subscribe to this particular service. I'm not suggesting that you should necessarily do this (but it did give me a thrill to imagine how the fan boys will shudder as I call the Mac a "brand of computer").
On the other hand, if you are serious about rolling out a video promo, you probably have strongly considered using a Mac to do that work, so you will have iPhoto right at hand.
But here's a video that uses the slide show video presentation available by using this approach.
The nuances of the presentation made a good visual bed for the content we wanted to present in this clip. (And no, this really isn't that serious -- it's exactly serious enough!)
The good news for you if you are trying to decide how to present a set of photos is that you can use free software (for any platform) from Google, or you can use (nearly) free software on a Mac to get good results as well. The choice is up to you.
I knew that Picasa (the free photo curation and editing tool from Google) would make a video from a slideshow for me. To test it out, I made this little video. It was pleasing to share the fabulous song (Catie Curtis - It's a Wonder) and I was happy with the treatment of the photos given that I didn't have to do very much work to put it all together.
As a first cut, it was just fine and I've had fun returning to it occasionally to reminisce. On the other hand, it was a little bit simplistic and I'd wished for more options. Fortunately, Picasa does offer other options. (You can select the length of time for each photo, have a choice of transition types, and as you could see with this demo, a choice of audio track to add.)
Recently though, I found that the options it offers are not rich enough to put into a video about which I was serious. I believe that Picasa photo videos are fine for sharing with family, but the range of options falls short for putting into a serious promotion clip.
The option for doing that in a way that works was to use iPhoto on the Mac. I know, I know, it's not fair to suggest options that only work if you have this particular brand of computer, or subscribe to this particular service. I'm not suggesting that you should necessarily do this (but it did give me a thrill to imagine how the fan boys will shudder as I call the Mac a "brand of computer").
On the other hand, if you are serious about rolling out a video promo, you probably have strongly considered using a Mac to do that work, so you will have iPhoto right at hand.
But here's a video that uses the slide show video presentation available by using this approach.
The nuances of the presentation made a good visual bed for the content we wanted to present in this clip. (And no, this really isn't that serious -- it's exactly serious enough!)
The good news for you if you are trying to decide how to present a set of photos is that you can use free software (for any platform) from Google, or you can use (nearly) free software on a Mac to get good results as well. The choice is up to you.
Have you looked at Animoto? I photographed all of Mike's record albums to create a record before he donated the albums to a local record store.
ReplyDeletehttp://animoto.com/play/8yfe8Pgf0TeoIuEy1cpeFA
Under 30 seconds: free
One year basic membership: $30
Pro membership is more expensive but has additional features.
...I'll take a look at how they work.
ReplyDeleteYour slide show here
What did you mean by "under 30 seconds?"