1. Home
  2. Computing & Technology
  3. Desktop Video

Create an iMovie Slideshow

with Don Schechter

Learn how to create an iMovie slideshow, so you can share your photos with family and friends.

Transcript: Create an iMovie Slideshow

Hi. I'm Don Schechter for About.com Computing.

Today I'll teach you how to create a photo slideshow in Apple iMovie. First open up your movie project or create a new project.

Choose Pictures for an iMovie Slideshow

To create a photo slideshow click on the photos icon. This brings up the photo library. There are no pictures in it. You cant do a photo slideshow in iMovie without first putting photos in your photo library in iPhoto.

If you dont have any pictures in the photo library, open up your harddrive, go to applications, and doubleclick on iPhoto. And now click and drag photos to the main window. This adds them to the photo library. Now quit iPhoto by going to iPhoto quit and go back to iMovie.

iMovie Slideshow and the Ken Burns Effect

My photos appear under photo library and I'll click on them and click on the Ken Burns effect. Ken Burns is a documentary filmmaker who is known for using moving still shots in his documentaries. When I click on a photo it shows the effect in the small preview window in the right corner.

We can reverse the effect by clicking the reverse button. We can adjust the size of the picture with the first slider and the speed of the effect with the second slider.

Add More Pictures to iMovie Slideshow

To add pictures into the timeline click on the clip viewer icon. And drag your pictures into the timeline.

When you drag your photos to the timeline, a redline appears below the pictures. The computer needs to process the pictures and the redline shows the progress.

Other Features in iMovie Slideshow

To apply the effect click on the first photo, and click update. Once again the redline appears to render the effect. I'll click update for all of my pictures. After its finished rendering I'll click on the gray part of the timeline to deselect the clips.

To shorten the picture length in the timeline click the timeline viewer icon, zoom out, and click and drag on the edge of each photo to shorten the length.

To make your slideshow even nicer, click on the transitions icon and drag a cross dissolve between each picture.

Finish Your iMovie Slideshow

Finally, drag the playhead to the beginning of the timeline and press play. And theres our photo slideshow. Thanks for watching. For more information, please visit us online at Computing.About.com

FREE Newsletters

Want to Make Videos? Tell Us!

  1. Home
  2. Computing & Technology
  3. Desktop Video

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.