Show off your best images as a super-slick slideshow with this simple-to-use Lightroom feature
There’s an art to making a good slideshow – and it’s not just about the quality of the photos. There’s also the running order to think about, as well as the tempo, type of music and the colour scheme.
What’s more, it’s an opportunity to present your best photos in a medium that has its own unique qualities, as it lets you tell a story with photos in a way that simply can’t be done with a print or a photo book.
Whether you’d like to show off wedding photos, display your portfolio, or present any selection of shots in a smart, polished way, Lightroom’s Slideshow module will make it a quick and simple task.
With an abundance of easy-to-use tools to customize the look and feel of your presentation, you’ll be making professional-looking slideshows in minutes.
For those who prefer the zero-effort approach, there are several pre-made slideshow templates to choose from. But it’s so easy to customize them that there’s really no reason not to make your own.
You can control the tempo of the frames, set a pan and zoom movement, and add text or graphics.
Then there’s the music panel, where not only can you load in your favourite tunes, but also time your slideshow to fit the length of the song, or even have it match the beat of the music.
Once you’re happy, you can either play it directly within Lightroom or export it as a video file – useful, perhaps, for sharing with friends, sending to clients, or uploading to YouTube.
In this tutorial we’ll look at a few of the most useful features of the Slideshow module. Give it a go and, within a few minutes, you can have a slideshow that displays your best images (and videos, too) in a clean, stylish format, ready to show off to the world.
SEE MORE: 5 signs that mark you out as a Lightroom rookie
Discover how to create the perfect image slideshow in Lightroom
01 Make a collection
Go to the Library module, click the plus icon next to the Collection panel and make a new collection, then drag the images you want to it. Alternatively, drag a folder of images into Lightroom then click the Add to Collection box in the Import dialog to make a new one.
SEE MORE: Lightroom Develop Module – 6 powerful ways to develop a raw file
02 Order your frames
Select the collection in the list on the left. In the Library module, hit G for grid view, then drag the images into the order you want. Use the Caption box in the Metadata panel to add text to individual frames. When you’re happy, click the Slideshow module.
SEE MORE: How to use Lightroom’s Tone Curve panel to fine tune tonal values
03 Bring in your logo
Fine-tune the border and adjust the frame size in the Options and Layout panels. To add a logo, check ‘Identity plate’, click the Preview box and choose Edit. Select ‘Use a graphical identity plate’, load it, drag it to position and adjust with the Opacity and Scale sliders.
SEE MORE: Lightroom tips – how to reveal more midtone detail using the Clarity slider
04 Add text
To add text click ABC below the image. Type in the box or click the drop-down arrow to choose metadata like exposure info, filenames or captions (choose Edit for multiple texts). Drag it to move the position and use the font options in the Overlays panel to style the text.
SEE MORE: The 10 Commandments of Lightroom Black & White Conversions
05 Choose your colours
Use the Backdrop panel to adjust the background; either choose a single colour, check ‘Colour wash’ to blend two colours, or ‘Background image’ to fill it with a picture. You can add title and end screens – such as opening with a logo and ending with contact details.
06 Fine-tune the tempo
Add a soundtrack with the Music panel then go to the Playback options. Choose Automatic for an array of pans, zooms and crossfades or Manual to set Slide Length and Crossfade values. Click Create Saved Slideshow save it, or Export Video to create a video.
SEE MORE: How to customise your Lightroom Library and stay organised
Slideshow soundtracks
No slideshow would be complete without its own soundtrack, and with improvements to Lightroom 6, you can now select up to ten songs using common formats like MP3 or WAV (we chose a lovely acoustic track from rights-free site www.bensound.com).
Another nice touch is the option to fit your slideshow to match the length of your chosen music so that everything ends neatly. To do this, load in your music, set a cross-fade length then hit Fit to Music to automatically work out a slide length that fits with the song duration. If you want the slides to change with the beat instead, check the ‘Sync slides to music’ box.
READ MORE
Killer Lightroom tips – 10 things you never knew you could do in Adobe’s software
10 simple ways Lightroom can save you time editing photos
8 mistakes every photographer makes using Lightroom (and how to avoid them)
Lightroom Lens Correction – how to fix common lens and perspective problems
The post Lightroom Tips: how to set your photos to music and make slideshows appeared first on Digital Camera World.