How to make the best slideshow | Step by step guide for creating the best Milestone Slideshows

Milestone Slideshows shares tips on how to create a slideshow for weddings, birthdays, graduations, and memorials using pictures, videos, and music. From the best methods of gathering photos to choosing music to uploading videos, we cover it all by demonstrating the best practices and common mistakes when building your photo slideshow. We hope to deliver valuable information as you create the perfect slideshow for your special occasion. The slideshow help blog is continuously growing.

Video Playing Software

Lights, Camera, Options!

Choosing a video player for presenting your Milestone Slideshow

In today's world, video is everywhere. It's on virtually every kind of media that can support it - social media, billboards, highway overpass signs. Clearly, video is the most engaging and persuasive content delivery mechanism. It's not just for TV and movies anymore.

WHAT SOFTWARE SHOULD I CHOOSE?

There are many software products that can be used to play a video slideshow. But which video product is best for your needs? Let's first look at how you are wanting to display your slideshow video - privately or for public enjoyment.

Playing your video in a private setting can easily be accomplished on a computer, smartTV, phone, or tablet. With the exception of the computer, you probably won't need to download an additional video player. Most devices come equipped with software that can get it done.

The exception is your computer. If you own a Mac, good news - you don't have to do anything. Just click on your video and watch it. It will even choose the best resolution for you. If you have a PC, you have some options.

Of course, there is the Windows Media Player. It comes standard in many machines but if yours didn't (looking at you, Windows 10) you can download software for free if you don't mind a little hassle. We'll discuss some of those below.

Playing your video at a public event is easily done but there are a few details to consider. Is your slideshow going to be played for a captive audience or as background intended as a conversation starter? If playing for a captive audience, you'll also want to consider how you will include the audio.

For a slideshow played before and audience, you will also want to ensure the control display (the overlay graphic containing the buttons for Play, Pause, Skip, etc.) will not be on during your video's performance. This can easily be done in the Settings Menu in Media Player, Kodi, and the VLC Media Player.

HOW TO PLAY YOUR MILESTONE SLIDESHOW ON A DVD PLAYER

Unfortunately, most DVD players do not support the most common video formats. For a DVD player to recognize your video, your slideshow must be a VOB file specially encoded for the DVD format. There are video conversion software products that can create playable DVDs but by far the easiest way to play your slideshow on a DVD player is by ordering a custom DVD from Milestone Slideshows. Our DVDs are guaranteed and they come with custom artwork on the DVD and case.

Playing a Milestone Slideshows video is easy because you can do it on any electronic device that supports mp4, AVI, mov, VOB, or mpg files. Generally, Milestone Slideshows delivers mp4 videos electronically as it is the most widely useable video format capable of playing almost anywhere. This includes SmartTVs and phones, computers, DVD players, tablets, digital photo frames, and more.

While many video software products can play your video, Milestone Slideshows recommends Windows Media Player, iTunes or Quicktime player, Kodi, or the VLC Media Player.

Have a favorite video software product for displaying your videos? Let us know in the comments below!

How To Scan Your Pictures And Get The Best Photo Quality For Your Slideshow

A picture is worth a thousand words. It’s a total cliché but what it means is this: A picture tells a story. One photo can convey expression, emotion, character. It can bring a flood of memories and affect other sensors such as smell and taste. A picture is powerful.

When photos are combined with music and movement, the emotional impact becomes even more powerful than the music or the image alone. That’s what a slideshow does.

If you are in the beginning stages of gathering your photos, this is the time to be thinking about the quality of your pictures. I’m not talking about if the photo is a little blurry or the subject is out of focus. I’m not even referring to red-eye or uneven framing. I am talking about pixels.

If your photos are already in a digital format (preferably jpg or png), you probably don’t need to worry about pixelation problems. Unless of course you took a screenshot of a thumbnail on Facebook. Then we might have some clarity issues. That’s a biggie. We’ll go over that in a new post.

PURCHASING A SCANNER

Scanning your photos can easily be done at home and there is no reason to go and buy an expensive scanner for your slideshow. You can get a quality scanner from Amazon for around $70 such as the Epson Perfection V19 Color Photo & Document Scanner or the Canon CanoScan Lide 300 Scanner. Both are inexpensive good quality flatbed scanners.

Epson Perfection V19 Color Photo & Document Scanner

4800 dpi optical resolution

Scan and share on cloud services

Epson Easy Photo Scan software

Fast speeds

Easy-to-use buttons

USB powered

Canon CanoScan Lide 300 Scanner

Fast scanning up to 10 seconds

2400 x 2400 dpi resolution

Fade correction and dust reduction

Auto scan mode

Built in PDF button

Here at Milestone Slideshows, we prefer the All-In-One printer/scanners because they take up less space and photos can be fed or placed scanned on the glass. Our current model is the Canon MX922. It’s more expensive at $399, but it has a lot of features such as Cloud and Mobile printing. You can even print your own DVDs if you’re still into that.

Canon MX922 All-In-One Printer/Scanner

Wireless LAN

AirPrint

Google Cloud Print

Wireless Printing

Mobile Device Printing

CD/DVD Direct Printing

USB 2.0 Hi Speed

You don't have to buy a scanner, but they do come in handy. And if your family is like mine, there is a cardboard box in the attic that is dying to be sorted and scanned.

If you don't want the added expense of purchasing a scanner, you can take your photos to a nearby Walgreens, Walmart, Sam's Club, or Costco. Many of these places have photo kiosks where you can scan your photos and save them on a flash drive or DVD. Some kiosks even offer uploading them to your Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud.

SCANNER SETTINGS

Now that you have your scanner, let’s talk about your settings.

RESOLUTION

When scanning your photos, size and quality of the photo go hand in hand. It’s mostly about the dpi or “dots per inch.” The “dots” are the pixels and the higher the number, the more information. The more information, the better the image quality.

DPI can range from 75dpi into the thousands. Now, you could scan your photos at 4800dpi and that would be a high quality photo. But for your slideshow, it is not necessary. We have done a lot of experimenting and we have found that the perfect dpi for images for our slideshows is 300dpi. Because of the motion of the effects and transitions and that most displays are 4K or less, we simply do not need all that information.

Clear images are best. Again, I’m not talking about blurry photos. Pixelation is the issue. Take a look at these 2 images.

Photo scanned at 75dpi

Resolution 65x37

Photos scanned at 300dpi

Resolution 1920x1080

The image on the right is obviously far superior to the pixelated photo on the left. The picture on the right was scanned at 300 dpi and is large enough for us to apply zooming and panning effects without the image becoming pixelated. And the crowd goes wild!

CROPPING YOUR PHOTOS

When scanning your pictures, make sure your edges are straight and they are cropped correctly. We can make some corrections if there is a small rim of white around part of an image but if the photo is scanned with a rotation, some of that photo may not appear in your slideshow.

Take a look at these 2 images. The 1st photo was placed crooked on the scanner. The 2nd picture represents the crooked photo after it was cropped.


Rotated	Rotated and Cropped

Now, let’s see the original, perfectly cropped and scanned photo compared to the picture that was scanned with a rotation and cropped.


Original Photo	Crooked and Cropped

You can see that some of the photo is missing and it is slightly turned. Thus, it is important to make sure your photos are placed neatly on your scanner so your entire photo is in your video.

CLEAN YOUR GLASS

Your settings are set. Your photos are great quality and they are ready to tell their story. Make sure your pictures stay looking great by cleaning your scanner. Smudges and dust particles can build in minutes. Make sure you clean your flatbed scanner’s glass before beginning your project.

START SCANNING

Now you are all set to begin scanning your images. If working on a large project, I recommend you set your scanner to place your saved digital photos in their own folder. You can set your scanner up to name your scans with a prefix that your scanner automatically labels each photo. Your pictures can be auto saved in a specific folder and labelled “My-project-scans-001.jpg,” “My-project-scans-002.jpg,” “My-project-scans-003.jpg,” etc. It’s a great way to keep organized.

Once you have all of your photos on your computer, it’s as easy as dragging and dropping them into your slideshow project on our website. From your dashboard, you can arrange your photos and video clips in order and we’ll take it from there!

Wedding Slideshow Giveaway

WIN A FREE VIDEO FROM MILESTONE SLIDESHOWS
(DETAILS BELOW)

Wedding season is upon us and with the trials of the past year in the rear view mirror, people are once again planning and attending life's longest standing tradition - the wedding party.

Right now, there are thousands of weddings being planned across the US as the wedding industry booms back. While 4/10 couples cancelled their wedding plans in 2020, many moved their date to the following year. Add that to the number of weddings that took place in a typical year pre-COVID. That's a lot of cake.

You're going to need a lot of food, drinks, and of course, entertainment. For the wedding day celebrations, you've probably been thinking about your ceremony musicians and your reception band or DJ. For the evening before your wedding, the beginning of your wedding celebration, your reception dinner should have the same consideration. The rehearsal dinner is more than the food and drinks. It's the storytelling.

What better way to share your story with your family, friends, and wedding guests than a movie about your lives both before and after you met and fell in love?

Milestone Slideshow wants to help share your story. That's why we are giving away a beautiful, handcrafted rehearsal dinner slideshow your guests will love. Your photos will be brought to life in a one of a kind video completely timed and choreographed to the music of your choice.

To enter, post your favorite engagement photo with a caption in the Facebook comments and share this post on your social media. While you're at it, please follow us on FB and IG! Contest ends June 28, 2021 @ 12:00am. Good luck and happy sharing!

Music Is The Engine That Drives Your Slideshow

There are many factors to consider when creating a slideshow. The photos of course play a significant role in your video's feel. But the engine that drives your slideshow is your music.

Music creates the speed and the intensity of effects in your slideshow. When a song is has more energy, you can take more risks with extreme slide movements and transitions.

When a slideshow is beautifully synchronized, the emotional impact can be heightened. Photos and music work together to create the mood and expression of the video.

This video slideshow demonstrates some of the techniques we can use to give your photo montage a feisty personality. It also shows that when risks are taken with music choices, the reward can be a wildly energetic one of a kind slideshow.