Side by Side Photos in a MAC Slideshow*
April 12th, 2008 @ 10:31 am by Mrs. Lovebug
You know when you were in school, and you had a “stupid” question you were afraid to ask? Remember how teachers always told us, If you don’t understand something, chances are, someone else doesn’t, either.
Well, that’s the premise behind this quick post. I had a EUREKA! moment the other day, and while chances are there’s a much easier solution to my problem than I realize, I still thought that maybe one or two of you might find the subject of use (it’s pretty demographic specific)…
The subject is How to Do a Mac Slideshow With Two Photos at a Time.
iPhoto has that great slideshow option built into it - we all know this. It also has the very cool Ken Burns effect (which is that slow, random zoom or pan that makes a slideshow pack a visual punch) and music. Great. But I didn’t want just one photo at a time. I wanted two at a time - one each of Mr. LB and I. Starting from babyhood on, I wanted pictures of us at the same age sliding across the screen together (or even crossing!), showing who/what we were at the same point in our lives.
Well, iPhoto is awesome, but it isn’t that awesome. As far as I know, there’s no way to show two photos at the same time. If there is, and someone comments with it, well, this post is rendered moot and I will go fix my slideshow.
HOWEVER. I thought of a simple, three-step workaround:
1. Cut and paste the two photos side-by-side (or on top of one another) onto a black background in a Paint document (you may have to widen the document).
2. Take a screenshot (shift+apple=4) of that document.
3. Import it into iPhoto, and put it in your slideshow.
Voila. You and your honey, side by side. Slideshow time cut in half; visual interest doubled.
If anyone knows of another way to show two photos at a time for a Mac slideshow, please, please enlighten me. But if there isn’t one, and this way of “faking it” has prevented just one person from going crazy (like I was!) trying to do it, then I’m happy.
And if it really IS the only way, and anyone needs an expanded explanation of these steps, lemme know and I’ll post it.
*my most boring title ever, I know. just wanted to make it search-friendly.
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6 Responses to “Side by Side Photos in a MAC Slideshow*”
ditto the last comment… iMovie & iDVD far more useful for slideshows… just know that those programs create pretty hefty files, i usually save them on a external HD while i work on them… and if you do use them, be sure to empty the trash often! lots of scraps of the movie/slideshow = slower computer performance when making movies.
to double up my pics i use Pages (one of the iLife programs) it’s Macs user friendly version of Power Point, but you could use PP or Photoshop (maybe try the new online freebie version on Pshop if you don’t have it)
i have been using iMovie for the past 8 YEARS and it really has evolved and become far more using friendly in terms of incorporating music, timing and special effects… good luck!
OMG thanks for enlightening me on how to do a screenshot! *clicking away* kekeke!
I have used iMovie before and it is pretty easy to figure out. I haven’t done two pics at once but it’s worth a shot!
I don’t know anything about Macs…or really much about anything computer-related, but you can “group” pictures together in Powerpoint and then you can save the grouped picture as one picture. I found that to be easier than using paint because, if I am trying to get the whole picture, I always end up with either extra white around the edge or accidentally cropping my picture. If Macs have Powerpoint, this might help?
The software you need is Keynote, Apple’s answer to PowerPoint. It’s the the presentation software that’s used for the graphics on the huge projection screen behind Steve Jobs at his annual keynote address, hence the name Keynote. It’s one of three great programs included in Apple’s iWork’08 suite. You can have more than 2 photos or add a video clip or text along with your photos if you want. It’s integrated with iLife. So you can drag and drop photos, video and music from your iPhoto, Movies and iTunes Libraries. A video tutorial and a 30-day free trial is available at Apple’s website at http://www.apple.com/iwork/tutorials/#keynote-create-15 . iWork’08 is a bargain at $79.
Oh good call! I have yet to need to do that, but this will save me when I do!
Mrs. Lovebug, Tucson
Age and Occupation in 06: 31, Writer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Professional Game Show Contestant
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: April 19, 2008
Venue: Historic Inn
About Me: Likes: blogging, wikis, semi-colons, cuddling, fragrant flowers, syntax, and spooning. Dislikes: typos, dangling modifiers, flypaper, citronella candles, and run-ons. If I had my druthers, I'd exchange simple vows in a candlelit library. But I lost my druthers long ago...anyone seen them?
Instead of taking a screenshot, you can also save it as a jpeg, which might give you more control over the image size/quality. I’ve also used other programs (PowerPoint, Photoshop, etc.) to create “fake” workarounds to put into those slideshows (I use it for titles, mostly).
If you are into slideshows, you should check into the newest iLife. They have made iMovie MUCH more slideshow friendly and you have a lot more control over how your slideshow looks (where the pan and zoom goes, transitions, length of time each one is up, and music timing). It’s still pretty easy though!