How to Create Photo Slide Show!

I love to take pictures, especially when nobody is noticing. I do not like people looking in the camera and smiling. I like to catch them when they not expecting it.

May be it all started in the dark bathroom where I was helping my Dad to develop black and white pictures. I don't know. I just love to capture a split second in life that will never be repeated. It is magical to me.

My first slide show was a very sad one. My best friend died unexpectedly and I collected all the pictures I had, added music to them and send it to her family. Her husband told me that this was the best gift anybody could of given him. That day I realize how priceless and important the Slide Show can be.

In order to enhance my skills I completed a class "Slide Show for Photojournalists" in Stanford. I am not planning to become Photojournalist but for amateur photographer who wants to bring shows to the next level it was a great experience. It taught me how to tell the story, work with sound and be critical in selecting pictures for show.

Choose the right tool to tell the story. Sometimes a single still image can rivet attention like nothing else. There are times when nothing but a sequence will explain what is happening. Sometimes, sound will carry the day. What tells the story most effectively? Think about the story - what content you will have and will be able to gather - and choose an approach that best leverages the key action that will be happening. A still image lets you emphasize photo and suspend time, inviting a closer inspection, giving the viewer time for reaction and thought. Experiment with your pacing and listen to the rhythm of your story.

http://milesfrommaybe.com/buffalocreekmemorial/buffalocreek.html

Show, don't tell. Use stills and audio to show, explain and describe. Use narration and title slides sparingly, where you need to add context or the "big picture" context that you can't show or tell with natural sound or interviews.
In general, it is enough to introduce your narrator with a visual, and then move on. The exception is when the narrator retells a powerful story that evokes emotions.

http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/blog/2007/11/22/susans-story/

Find a compelling opening and closing. If these two segments
are riveting, you can dance in between and still have a successful
story. Learn the art of sequencing images - the montage - where what you put before and after an image affects the meaning Most online viewers leave in the first five to ten seconds if they don't see something interesting. Don't wait. Don't waste their time. Put your best out front. Finish memorably.

http://mercurynewsphoto.com/train/

Visual variety is the key to a slide show or video that keeps your
eye engaged. Details. Scene-setters. Close-ups. Openers. Enders. Whether you are
producing slideshows or video segments, the key is capturing and blending
moments and a mix of complex and clean images keep the viewer
interested. Viewing devices are getting smaller and smaller. Do your images hold up? Do you have intimate images of your characters that draw the viewer in?

http://www.eriklunsford.com/hondaclassic/

Power to the people. Techniques such as "vox populi," a broadcast term for the voice of the people, lets you layer your audio and create a subject-driven narrative. What's a subject-driven narrative? A subject-driven narrative is a story that as much as possible lets the subject tell what the experience is like through their own words. This is a direct descendant of documentary photojournalism, and goes hand-in-hand with an approach where the photographer becomes "a fly on the wall." It's like dumping Dan Rather's "voice-of-god" narration and turning the debate questions over to the voters on the street.

http://mercurynewsphoto.com/2007/05/28/a hillside-display-of-crosses-a-war-of-emotions/