Reference number: CH000865

How can I create a photo slideshow?

Question:

How can I create a photo slideshow?

Answer:

There are several available software programs capable of creating a photo slideshow. However, we've been really impressed with Picasa, a free software program from Google capable of simply running a slideshow of photos on your computer, saving the slideshow as a movie file, creating a screensaver, and/or saving those photos to a CD to be viewed elsewhere. Below are steps on how to create a slide show using Picasa.

Before following any of the below steps you'll need to downloaded and installed Picasa on your computer visit http://picasa.google.com/ and download Picasa now.

Running a Slideshow on your computer

1. Open Picasa.
2. Browse to the folder containing your pictures or highlight all the pictures you wish to run a slideshow for.
3. Click the Slideshow button.

Once completed successfully the slideshow will begin to run. Clicking the mouse button on the screen while being run will open an option menu that will allow you to adjust the settings.

Saving the Slideshow as a movie file

1. Open Picasa.
2. Browse to the folder containing your pictures or highlight all the pictures you wish to run a slideshow for.
3. Click Create at the top of the Window and then click Movie.
4. In the Create Movie window select the delay between each of the pictures and the size of the movie. As you increase the size of the movie file it will increase the quality, however, at the same time will also increase the size of the movie file. Once options have been selected click Ok.
5. Finally, you'll have the option of selecting the type of video compression to be used. By default the video will not be compressed and will allow it to work on many different types of players. However, will be very large if you have several hundred pictures. If you're not sure which compression to use we suggest using DivX if you plan on creating a movie with a lot of images.
6. Click Ok and the movie will be created.

Creating a screensaver from your images

1. Open Picasa.
2. Browse to the folder containing your pictures you wish to add to the screensaver.
3. Click Create at the top of the Window and then click Add to Screensaver.