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Creating a captivating video montage or slide
show that you can enjoy for years is not difficult,
but by taking a few steps prior to creating a
slide show or having one created for you can go
along way. Here are some lessons that we've learned
at DVDPhotographs.com while creating our slide
shows.
- Know who your audience is - Knowing who your
intended audience is an obvious, but sometimes
overlooked step in the process of developing
your slide show. For instance, if you're showing
your slide show at your wedding reception, perhaps
you'll want to include some pictures of the
guests, and not just pictures of you and your
fiancé.
- Shorter is sometimes better - After you've
determined who your intended audience is you
can start to get an idea as to how many pictures
you'll want to include in your slide show. We've
found that video montages that are between 8
- 12 minutes in length are ideal for wedding
receptions. This usually works out to about
3 songs and 75-100 pictures. While you can certainly
display more photos during your slide show,
you want to be careful not to overdo it. You
may want to create two slide shows, one you
show at your wedding, and another you keep for
yourself.
- Choose Quality Photographs - While recent
advances in digital photo restoration have allowed
torn and poorly developed photographs to be
brought back to life, there is only so much
that the software can do. Pictures that look
great printed (correct lighting, framing, developed
properly) will also look great while scanned.
Pictures that are extremely dark or grainy,
while perhaps improved somewhat, will still
not appear the best. Make sure to choose a photo
montage company that can make digital enhancements
to your pictures.
- Choose a Variety of Photographs - Even though
you may love all the pictures of your dog Rusty,
the audience may not want to sit through all
the pictures of him. Instead of showing 10 pictures
of Rusty, perhaps choose the best 2 or 3. Using
a variety of photographs can keep your audience
interest.
- Landscape pictures show better than Portrait
pictures - Given the standard 4:3 dimensions
of television monitors, photographs that are
in landscape mode (vertical) as opposed to portrait
mode (horizontal) show better on a TV. While
portrait photographs certainly can and SHOULD
be used, you should be aware that there will
typically be a black border that appears around
the photograph. It's best to use these sparingly
throughout the slide show and not clump them
all together.
- Give some thought to music - Choose music
that has meaning to you, music whose lyrics
go well with the pictures. Also pay attention
to how long the music you're choosing is. If
you're only showing 30 pictures, you might not
want to choose a 8 minute song. The photo montage
company should be able to give you some suggestions
as to the number of pictures with your selected
songs.
- Add short video clips - Do you have any home
videos sitting around gathering dust? Think
about adding perhaps a 10-15 second video clip
in the middle of the slide show. The video clip
can help break up the video montage and is a
great way to keep your audiences interest. Make
sure to choose a slide show company that can
convert your video clips.
- Add motion to your slide shows - Slide shows
developed on PowerPoint and other consumer level
software will typically be just static photos
that go from one picture to the next. Consider
having your slide shows created with the "Ken
Burns" effects that Pan and Zoom on each
photograph. This can help bring your pictures
to life. Make sure you inquire to see if your
photo montage company can create motion with
your pictures.
- Add transitions to your slide shows - Transitions
such as fade in/fade out, dissolve, and image
peel are also an effective way to move from
one photograph to the next. Be careful not to
get too carried away with transitions as they
too many of them can distract from the overall
slide show.
- Test! Test! Test! - An event as big as your
wedding requires that you make sure you test
ALL the equipment prior to the big day. Make
sure the projector or television, DVD Player
or Laptop, and sound is all working.
Creating a captivating slide show or video montage
can be done successfully with keeping a few of
these tips in mind. Pictures that are preserved
to DVD can be enjoyed for years to come. Partnering
with an experienced slide show company like DVDPhotographs.com
can help create a slide show you'll be proud of.
By Michael Yared
www.dvdphotographs.com
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