Displaying a slide show at an event can be a focal point for the guests. When projected on a big screen at the center of the party, it can draw people together. But pictures can also be displayed on a smaller screen, perhaps near the entrance or the buffet table, as just an extra element of the party. You can even make a slide show of a party in progress: give a guest a digital camera and then quickly download the photos to a PC to create an instant show.
If you're celebrating one of life's big events, chances are that you may need to scan some older photos. If you don't have access to a scanner, you can take your photos to a copy shop like Kinko's to have them scanned. If you have a lot of photos, it might actually be cheaper to invest in a scanner. Flatbed photo scanners like the Canon CanoScan 3200F and the Epson Perfection 1670 Photo can be found online for under $100.
Pictures that will only be displayed on a screen don't need to be as sharp as those you plan to print, but you have to be sure that they're not grainy and are large enough to fill the screen. Rick Altman, host of the PowerPoint Live conference for users (powerpointlive.com) recommends that you set the scanner for 1,024 pixels wide by 768 high, or 150 dots per inch, depending on how your scanner software measures resolution.
Just as if you were printing the pictures, you might want to use a photo editing program such as Adobe Photoshop Album, Microsoft Picture It, Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album, ACDSee or Apple iPhoto to crop, correct colors, resize and otherwise fine-tune your pictures.
Many programs can be used to display a slide show on a PC or laptop screen. Lots of them let you control the pace of the show and add transitions between slides and a musical soundtrack. But before you spend money on new software, take note of what you already have. Windows XP comes with a basic slide-show viewer built into the operating system, and newer Macintosh computers come with iPhoto, which has an excellent slide-show feature.
With Windows XP, you start by opening any folder of photos. If you don't see miniature versions of your pictures, use the View menu to select either Filmstrip or Thumbnails. Folders that are full of pictures have a Picture Tasks panel on the left with the option "View as a slide show." Click on it and the show begins with your photos displayed in the same order as they are in the directory. You can interrupt the show by pressing the Escape key.
You'll probably want to include photos from different folders on your hard drive, so it's best to start by putting copies of the pictures you plan to use in a single folder. You can change the order of the show simply by dragging files around the folder. Also, you may need to rotate some of the pictures, which you can do by right clicking on them and selecting Rotate Clockwise or Rotate Counterclockwise.
The free Windows slide show won't let you control timing (it's about 5 seconds per picture) but you can jump forward or back by using the arrow keys. Also, you can't automatically assign a soundtrack to the Windows slide-show viewer but you can play music in the background with a media player like iTunes, Windows Media Player or Musicmatch - or for that matter, with an old-fashioned CD, tape or even record player.
All Macs sold since 2002 come with iPhoto, which does an excellent job of displaying slide shows. Once your photos are in iPhoto, the easiest way to build a slide show is to create a new album from the File menu, drag the photos you want to display into the album, and click on the Slide Show icon at the bottom of the screen. The software lets you select music you'd like to play from songs on your hard drive or - easier yet - from an iTunes music library. You can have one song play over and over or select a series of tunes to play in sequence. If you click on the Settings option, you can control how long each slide plays as well as the transition between slides. The Cube and Mosaic Flip transitions are particularly eye-catching.
If your Mac has a DVD burner, you can use iPhoto to burn the slide show to a DVD so that it can be displayed on any TV that is connected to a DVD player.
There are other programs you can purchase that can be used to create slide shows. Paint Shop Photo Album, for example, from Jasc Software ($49 at www.jasc.com), allows you to organize, sort, identify, edit and display your pictures. The slide-show function is particularly powerful because it not only lets you control the speed and transitions between slides, but also enables you to add music to your show or to individual pictures.
You can also use Paint Shop Photo Album to create a video CD that can be played on any PC or on many newer DVD players, or to create a slide show that can be exported to a Web site. Paint Shop can create "executable" slide-show files, too. These will operate on another Windows PC even if the software is not installed on the computer.
Other programs that can be used to create slide shows include ACDSee ($49.99), Photo Explosion Deluxe ($49.95), and Ulead Photo Explorer ($29.95).
Once you have created a show, the next question is how to display it. If it's for a large group of viewers or you just want maximum impact, you can use a video projector to display it on a wall or a screen. If you don't have a projector you can rent one, although that can be expensive. If you have burned your presentation to a video CD or DVD, you can use a large screen television, should one be available. Some laptops have RCA or S-video jacks that can connect directly to a TV.
But don't overlook the possibility of simply showing the photos on a PC screen or a laptop. A strategically placed screen, even if relatively small, can get a lot of attention from your guests. If the show loops continuously, there's a good chance that most guests will see it sometime during the party.
And, if you really plan to show baby pictures, the guest of honor would probably prefer that you use the smallest screen possible.
You can import photos one at a time into a PowerPoint presentation, but the most efficient way to get them in is to create a photo album by selecting New Photo Album from the Picture option on the Insert menu. You can then select a directory where you store pictures and choose which to include.
PowerPoint gives you control over transitions and makes it easy to add text or graphics, create slides with multiple photos and add sound. You can associate a song with a particular slide or create a soundtrack, even with parts of songs. And it can create "executable" files so a show can be played on any PC, with or without the software.