Found a really cool piece of software today.

Microsoft’s Photo Story for Windows is a free software tool from Microsoft that allows you to create video slideshows of your photos, displayed in smooth transitions while music plays in the background. I downloaded it earlier today and within 5 minutes had made a slideshow ("photo story") of the photos I took of my Niece and Nephew a short while ago in LA. The software allows you to easily select / add photos, crop for a standard video sized format and also add music to the background (I chose "Yellow" by Coldplay). You can customise transitions to move between photos but I just selected the default values. Other options include being able to add text / notes and record voiceovers. The best part is that the output of the slideshow is a Windows Media Video (WMV) format which almost all PC’s will be able to recognise.

Other software is capable of doing things like but this is free, extremely user friendly / fast and the output presentation looks great. Perhaps most importantly the output format is very portable as it can be emailed and played at the other person’s PC. Total file size for the photo story I created was 2.2MB. That’s from 16+ images and also a background song. You’ve seen things like this before no doubt on Wedding photographer’s homepages – now you can create your own without having to use Flash.

You can download my video slideshow here if you would like to view: Download RachelandLuke.wmv

However, the best thing to do though is go download the software and create your own slideshow. It’s by no means the only tool you need for artistic expression and producing an online porfolio but for family / clients / friends – it’s better than great.