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PREPARATION
Taking the time to plan is the key step in creating a successful slideshow. This is not difficult, but it will require time and effort on your part to ensure your unique professionally created slideshow is just what you want. Here are some tips that will help you plan and accomplish a Digitally Yours slideshow you will cherish for a lifetime.
1. Determine how long you want your slideshow to be. The length of your slideshow will determine how many photos you can use. Images are on the screen for about 9 seconds including the transition, so about 35 photos will result in a 5 minute s slideshow. However, the creative slideshows customized by Digitally Yours combine multiple photos into one slide with pan and zoom and other motions, so the length of your video may vary depending on the complexity of the show. For this reason, it is best to figure in at least 10 additional photos per 5 minute video. Also, if you are choosing a package that includes a video clip, this will lengthen the time of the slideshow by the length of the video clip, so you will need fewer photos to fill your time slot of your package.
Click here to view samples of a Digitally Yours creative style slideshows.
2. Include Photos of Your Audience - If possible include some photos of the people who will be viewing the presentation. This allows your family and friends to feel more like a part of your special event and occasion they are sharing with you. Having your audience on the big screen also keeps their attention to the video you worked so hard to plan.
3. Decide Your Theme - Choosing your theme will help you decide what photos are best for your slideshow. Will you feature more than one person in the slideshow? If so, do you want photos of each of person and photos of them together? Will your slideshow span the life of an individual or a specific time frame, like a baby's first year or your parent's 50th wedding anniversary? Is the slideshow going to focus on one aspect of the person's life such as a sports video or a particular hobby? It could even be a particular quality aspect of a person's life such as in a Mother's Day slideshow or and Eagle Scout's scouting career. Another theme is a slideshow that about a very specific time frame, as in a vacation slideshow or Christmas slideshow highlighting the events of the past year. Whichever theme you choose, the professional at Digitally Yours will work closely with you to accomplish your vision in your video.
Click here for more examples and ideas for your Digitally Yours slideshows.
PHOTO GUIDELINES
1. Select Quality Photos - One of the best tips we can give is to choose your photos wisely. Select good quality photos with these items in mind; select photos that are in focus, not blurry. If you have more than one size of the same photo, it is better to work with the largest one. Very small photos will become grainy if they are stretched too large. Select photos that are not grainy to begin with. Grainy photos do not work well in a slideshow, especially after being scanned. Photos should be bright and not dark especially around the person?s face, look for photos that are clean and free from damage, such as water spots or faded areas.
2. Choose photos that are intact, not cut to odd shapes. Stick with square and rectangular photos. Because your TV screen is horizontal, it is best NOT to crop horizontal photos into vertical photos.
3. A key element of your slideshow is the first and last photo, so choose these impact photos wisely. These photos should be meaningful photos that strongly convey the main purpose of your slideshow as they will be the ones your audience will remember.
4. It is a good idea to select "action" shots, where someone in the photo is doing something. These types of photos tend to show the more true side of someone's personality. Good action shots will bring humor and laughter to your slideshow as well.
5. Try to limit the number of casual or formal photos as they may cause your slideshow to be dry and don't show a person's real personality very well. While posed photos are hard to exclude, it lends a better show if they are interspersed with other action shots.
6. Eliminating similar photos will keep your slideshow exciting. If two photos are very similar, consider choosing only one of them so your audience has a variety of shots to view. Our Digitally Yours staff will do their best to fix, enhance and correct any and all photos, but starting with high quality photos is always the best advice to ending up with a masterpiece you will cherish forever. Click here to view some samples of photo corrections made by Digitally Yours.
HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR PHOTOS
Your photos must be clearly marked as to which order they need to be in. Digitally Yours staff will not know what order you want the photos to appear in the slideshow.
Here are a few ways we suggest to organize your photos: Write the number in pencil on the back of each photo or place a numbered sticky note on the back of each photo. DO NOT use a regular marker to mark your photos because this can bleed through the photos and DO NOT put the sticky notes on the front of the photo, as it may leave residue on the photo. DO NOT tape your photos to sheet of paper. If you would like a set of photos to be displayed during a song, but are not particular about the order of the photos, just place the photos in a baggie and label them with the song you wish them viewed with.
As mentioned earlier, photos are displayed for about 9 seconds in the slideshow per photo (which includes transaction time). So, if you know your song is 3 minutes long, you will multiply 3 x 60 (60 seconds in a minute) and then divide that by 9. You will see that you can have approximately 20 photos for that song, if one photo is used per slide. We ask that you have additional photos because of the pan and zoom and other motions of our custom created slideshows are dynamic enough to have several photos per slide, so an additional 10 photos per 5 minute video.
Another tip is that if the song is a really fast up-beat song, use 7 seconds per photo instead of 9, so you can see that you will need even more photos for your 3 minute song.
An example of choosing and organizing your photos - Sheila wants a slideshow for your son's graduation. She wants photos from birth through graduation and all the activities in between. She looks through her photo albums and picks her favorites and organizes them according to the year. The she goes back and selects her very favorites and weeds out a few from her first selection. Sometimes it takes a third time to determine which ones you MUST have in the slideshow.
CAPTIONS AND TITLES
Choose Your Captions And Titles: A caption is a label or quote for one specific photo, and a title is text that introduces and entire group of photos.
Captions can add to the appeal of the picture for the audience to help them understand what is happening in that particular photo. They can also add to the humor or sentimental value of the video. Not every picture should have a caption; for the most part the photos should be able to speak for themselves. A good place to use titles is at the beginning of video or song. Be careful not to use too many captions and or titles as it can make your show less enjoyable. I
nclude a sticky note attached to the back of the photo you would like a caption for and include special instructions for where you would like titles in your slideshow. Contact Digitally Yours if you have any questions.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC
How to Select Your Music ? It has been proven by Hollywood producers that the right or wrong music can make or break a movie production, therefore, choose the music according to the feeling you want to give your audience. Sentimental, happy, romantic, or nostalgic?. it?s all in the music. Choose music that means something to you or the person you are creating the slideshow for. Check the length of the music to the number of photos you want to use and the theme of the slideshow you are choosing. Digitally Yours has a great song selection page for your convenience:
To obey the copyright laws, all of your music must be provided by you. Digitally Yours cannot provide music for your show. Refer to our copyright resource for more details.
VIDEO CLIP INFORMATION
A video clip can be added to enhance your slideshow and help break up the showing of photos. Video clips could be 10-30 seconds in length to 1-2 minutes each. Avoid clips longer than 3-4 minutes as it add extra length to your slideshow and cuts down on the number of photos you can choose from and stay within the number of minutes per package.
View a sample of a Digitally Yours slideshow with an added video clip.