Guest post comes from photographer Rebecca Danzenbaker.
Hi all! I’m a professional newborn, maternity and family photographer located in Ashburn, VA, and I’ve been using ProShow Web to produce every single one of my clients’ slideshows for the past few years. I just love how easy it is and the beautiful quality of the finished products. If you're looking for a great tool to make your own photo and video slideshows, check out ProShow Web. Here are 5 quick steps to get you started!
1. Getting started and picking a theme.
Visit http://web.photodex.com/create to create your slideshow and click the green button for “new show”. Tip: Bookmark this page, and you’ll be automatically logged in when you visit.
Pick your favorite theme or create your own! I like simple, so the Simplicity Zoom Lt is perfect for my style! I’ve also created my own custom theme that I use often. It’s so awesome how Photodex has categorized the themes for us!
2. Name your slideshow and import content.
After you’ve named your slideshow, choose your favorite way to import images. You can upload them from your computer or many other popular image-hosting and social-networking sites.
I just adore the integrated Zenfolio plug-in. Since the photos are uploading from site to site, I can walk away from my computer or even close my laptop and come back to the slideshow later. Bonus: it doesn’t take up any of my bandwidth, so while the photos are loading, I can also answer emails and do other work without any computer or web slowness.
Tip: To select all images in your gallery, click the first thumbnail, hold down Shift and then click the last one (or use the Command/Ctrl button on your keyboard to choose select photos in a gallery).
Once your photos have been loaded, you can click and drag to rearrange them. Alternatively, select multiple photos and then the shuffle icon that appears at the top to mix them up randomly.
3. Add music.
A slideshow isn’t a slideshow without music! The music adds the emotion to your photos and will create the connection between your art and the viewer. I’m a sentimentalist, so I love the slower, acoustic melodies. My absolute favorite song to use is “Give You My Love” by Adrina Thorpe. The Dave Warren melodies are also used quite a bit!
Tip: Click the stars to the right of the songs you like to add them to your Favorites menu. This saves so much time later!
4. Add titles and/or captions.
To add a title slide, click the “Add content” button at the top left. Then, the “Add Title Slide” option on the bottom left of the pop-up box. You can add multiple “title” slides throughout your show.
To add photo captions, click on one of the photos, and then first little pencil icon that appears at the top.
5. Output and Sharing.
You’re almost done! Click the green “Build Video” button on the top-right and then click “ready to build, click to build your video” (the large black box in the middle of the screen. You can’t miss it).
Next, choose how you want to share it. I usually render the photo as a 1080p HD slideshow and then using the Share settings,embed it in Zenfolio and also upload it to YouTube. I LOVE that Photodex gives me so many output options!!!
Here’s the finished product!