Slide Shows

How Will you use the Pictures?

Choosing a proper image hosting service requires knowing for what the pictures will be used. Business customers have different bandwidth, licensing and download requirements than a teenager, so there are many sites to suit a variety of needs. Would you like to use pics for avatars or slide shows? There are sites that offer Flash enhancements as well.

Image hosting sites range from very simple to complex, offering membership packages or free services. Those requiring hosting for adult pics will find their choices extremely limited; almost all adult pic hosts charge for server space.

Parking Personal Pics

Do you have a camera full of funny vacation photos? Try a site like Photobucket, Slide or Flickr for your hosting needs. These hosts not only offer a wide array of editing tools, but also a wonderful assortment of Flash enhancements and slideshows.

There's the added perk of social networking, which enables users to share easily and make new contacts with those who have similar interests. Parents will be happy to know that these sites also have privacy controls and URL scrambling to deter Peeping Toms from their child's shots.

Business Photos and Services

When looking to host business photos, there are other worries. For instance, an auction seller may need a huge amount of storage for item shots, with reliable service that has almost no down time. A model, on the other hand, may require a site that can scale pictures easily between required sizes. A blogger may want to earn money from his pictures, while a pro-am photographer may need copyright protections for important works.

There are options to suit all of these situations. The blogger looking to profit can use a service such as Shareapic, which uses personal Google AdSense account information to pay the user for each click-through. The model can use either ImageShack or Photobucket, providing the pictures aren't too risque. If they involve nudity, she can use Photeto, which offers adult hosting for a low monthly fee. The auction seller can try Photobucket's pay hosting, which also allows larger pic sizes and additional services.

Flickr is great for the photographer because they offer sharing under Creative Commons licenses. Creative Commons photography has a variable set of rights chosen by the artist when they post the pic. Users can download and use the work as long as they adhere to these requirements. Creative Commons pictures end up on news articles, blogs and in advertising, so it's a great way to get clients and contribute to others' projects.

Slide Shows utilize a variety of technologies to display images against a backdrop. The means to project the images has been in existence since the 1500s, but became widely popular during the 19th and 20th centuries. Modern slide shows are used mainly for public presentations and in artistic ventures.

Function

Slide Shows are used for instructional or artistic purposes. They are a series of images, displayed through a variety of means, both digital and physical, to present the chosen topic or substance. Often slide shows are used in accompaniment to oral presentation, allowing a speaker to add a visual accent for to their speech. They also are commonplace in art galleries, acting as a more modern medium for artists, expanding the options and variety for gallery directors and visitors. Screensavers for computers also usually use a slide show method.

Types

A carousel slide projector is one of the more traditional means to present a slide show. The machine utilizes a circular cartridge that contains 35 mm slides. Images are projected using a light that passes through the back of the picture and enlarges what the viewer sees on a screen or wall.

An overhead projector contains a glass plate with light passing through. The presenter places a transparent image on top of the glass and the light passes through the image and into a reflective piece that sends the image to a screen. These transparent images have the advantage of real-time adjustments to the image when a presenter uses a marker to draw on the image.

The more recent advances in slide shows involve computerized applications called presentation software. The software allows a presenter to program a series of images digitally. With a digital projector, the slide show is controlled via the computer and is broadcast on a wall. The advantage of these programs are added features such as music and digital effects.

History

The first descriptions of a slide projector were issued by Italian inventor Giovanni Battista Della Porta during the 1500s. Various inventors toyed with projectors for the next centuries, some becoming fascinating sights for residents of Europe. During the 19th century, the profession of a projectionist was established using their "magic lanterns." They would travel from town to town, putting on slide shows for villagers for a cost. These shows could be fictionalized or reality-based to tell a story or inform people of the news abroad.

The invention of photography created a situation in which the slide show was brought to the masses and became a much more individualized thing. Families began to make slides of their vacations and holidays to present to neighbors. Companies use slides to present company forecasts and performances to large rooms.

Significance

Oral presentations of the modern era are often accompanied by a slide show. These slide shows allow the presenter to avoid speaking about certain subjects or help define the concepts on which they are talking. These slide shows, most often administered digitally with presentation software, have become a necessary factor in most presentations. The dynamics of the slide shows often add a degree of professionalism and appeal to a speech.

Considerations

Visual artists have used slide shows as part of their repertoire since the 1960s. Many artists and galleries utilized the technology to project various pictures, words and images. These could accompany other presentations, stand on their own or even be the focus of the piece with accenting artwork surrounding the projection. In addition to gallery exhibits, many musicians have used slide shows to great affect both preceding and during performances.

Photos are precious objects that capture moments in our lives when memories alone aren't sufficient. Setting up a slide show of these photos will keep your favorite memories organized and ready to be presented to any audience. It's not difficult to put together a photo slide show, if you first decide what you'd like to accomplish with it.

Choosing Photos

A brief selection process at the beginning of your project will help you determine which photos in your collection are the best to use.

Will you be watching the slide show on your television screen? Vertical photos don't necessarily look as good on TV as they do on your camera; horizontal photos have a more natural appearance. Posed subjects can look stiff in a slide show; a photo that captures movement tends to evoke a better response from the audience.

If any of the photos look similar to each other, eliminate one of them or space them out so the similarity isn't as obvious. The viewer's attention will quickly wander if you show several consecutive photos of the same subject in the same location.

Cropping Photos

Cropping your photo is as important as choosing which ones will be shown in the slide show. Before beginning, be certain you're working with a copy of the digital photo rather than the original, to avoid any unintentional heartbreak later. Crop the photo to emphasize the subject, removing anything around it that serves as a distraction. Avoid cropping out any body parts, which gives an unprofessional feel and makes the photo look like it was taken hastily. If the subject is looking at something, try to include that as well so the audience isn't left in the dark.

The Audience

When creating the slide show, be aware of the viewers and their collective personality. Your immediate family and a few close friends might be impressed by your knowledge of photo transitions and will laugh at the funny sound effects, but a boardroom of strangers examining a photojournal of your recent trek through the Amazon might be less forgiving. Save the special effects for the family vacation slide show.

Slideshow Software

Microsoft's Photo Story 3 is free for Windows users to download from the Microsoft website, and is pretty simple to use. For a personal, interactive experience, it offers options such as adding text to each slide and inserting background music to match the atmosphere of your photos. If you have an internal or external microphone, you have the ability to add narration to the photos.

If you prefer to share a slide show online rather than storing it on your computer, try Google's photo editing and slide-show software, Picasa. While it doesn't have the option for narration, you can still add background music and view the show in "Full Screen" mode. You also can time the photos so they finish playing by the end of the background music's track.

Slide show making software is a type of computer program that allows users to create a series of slides, containing text, images or both, for presentations or other purposes. Slide show creation software is common in education and business settings as a visual aid to relay information to large groups quickly and effectively.

Function

Slide show computer programs function as a platform for presenters to display pertinent information to an audience. For instance, a professor might create a slide show for a lecture containing the most important points for students to copy down into lecture notes. A businessman might create a slide show with pie charts depicting the monthly expenses of a business so that others can easily compare and analyze expenses.

Types

There are many different slide show creation programs available from different software companies. Microsoft's PowerPoint, which is released as a part of Microsoft's Office software bundle is a popular slide show program. Open Office Impress is another slide show program that is free to download and use. Adobe's Photoshop Elements 3.0 can create photo slide shows. Video editing programs such as iMovie and Windows Movie Maker can be used to create photo slide shows by aligning still images in a video file.

Features

Dedicated slide show presentation programs like PowerPoint and Impress have a variety of features to spice up presentations. For example, audio and video files can be imported into slides and charts and graphs can be copied into slides from spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel and Open Office Calc. The user can also alter fonts, colors and slide themes to change the overall style of the presentation.

Benefits

Using slide show creation software has many potential benefits. It can be an engaging way to give a presentation, especially one that includes images and it may cut down on the amount of notes the presenter must prepare. Having a visual aid that attracts the attention of the audience may help the presenter feel more comfortable. Another benefit is that slide shows files can be distributed via disks or email, so if someone happens to miss a live presentation they can go back and look through the slide show to learn key points.

Considerations

Including too much information on each slide within a presentation can make it difficult for an audience to follow, especially if font sizes used are too small. Keeping slides to a few short bullet points or a single image and expounding on them using notes and personal knowledge can help keep an audience engaged.

Slide-making software is a type of computer program that allows users to compose and arrange digital slides to create a slide show presentation. Slide show presentation software is commonly used to present information such as facts, data, graphs and images in settings such as high school, higher education and business meetings.

Function

Slide show software allows users to display pertinent information to audiences in an organized way, without the need for physical slides or transparencies. Once a presentation is created in a program, the information can be displayed by connecting the computer to a projector or large screen to display the information on the computer screen. Essentially, slide show software serves the same function as an overhead projector, except all the information displayed is composed using the program rather than hand writing it.

Benefits

Slide-making software is a quick and easy way to display important information to a large group. Presentation files can also be distributed to others so that they can look through the slides of the presentation on their own computers. This can cut down on the need for paper copies of information and note taking.

Types

Many different slide show-making programs are available to consumers, each of which offer different features and benefits. One of the most popular slide show programs is Microsoft PowerPoint, a program included in Microsoft's Office software bundle. Open Office Impress is another slide show program that is free to download and use and has many of the same features as PowerPoint. Some slide show programs are set up primarily to create slides from images and photos, such as the Custom Slide Show feature of Adobe® Photoshop Elements 3.0.

Features

Slide show programs offer a variety of special features that make it possible to spice up presentations. For instance, some programs allow you to add music and video to presentations as well as transition effects when you switch from one slide to another. In PowerPoint and Impress you can import images, data tables and graphs to support the text in your presentations.

Considerations

While slide show programs can be an effective tool to supplement a presentation, relying too heavily on slides to relay information may hamper a presentation. For instance, if you include too much information on the slides in your presentation, the font size may be too small for the audience to read easily and they may be distracted in attempting to read all of the text, thus missing important spoken points that you make.

The flash slide show feature for MySpace allows a user to compile a variety of images and photos and place them on display for others to view. The images are rotated as a slide show during a period of time specified by the user. MySpace account users must utilize an outside source to build the flash slide show for their MySpace pages.

Flash Slide Show Building Tool

Flash slide shows became popular for use on social networking websites, such as MySpace. The slide shows allow social networkers to share images, pictures and documents with others visiting their site. Users are able to specify which images are displayed, how long the images are displayed and how the images are displayed in the layout. In order for users to build a flash slide show to place on their MySpace page, they must use a flash slide show building tool.

Images and Music

The user chooses the pictures, images or documents that he wants to be displayed on the slide show. These are uploaded on the slide show building website. The images are then arranged in the desired order. If music or other sounds are desired to accompany the slide show, these are uploaded as well.

Personalization

Flash slide shows are unique in that the user has the ability to personalize the slide show however she deems appropriate. This can be done by specifying the rotation time for the images and inputting the transition effect, such as images fading into one another or blocked out and then rotated to the next image; text can be added or other color effects.

Code Generation

The social network user must input a code into the profile page for his Myspace account. This is done by clicking on the "finish" or "code generator" button after finalization of the slide show. The HTML code is then highlighted and copied.

Publishing the Slide Show

The user logs into her MySpace account, clicks on the "profile" link and pastes in the copied HTML code. The user then saves the changes to her profile and visits her MySpace front page to check the slide show display.

There are several different types of software programs that allow you to create slide shows on a Windows operating system. These include Windows Movie Maker, Microsoft Photo Story, Microsoft PowerPoint, PhotoStage and LPJ-Slideshow.

Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker comes pre-installed on computers running the Windows operating system. This software lets you create, edit and share pictures and video in the form of a slide show. You can post the slide show to the Internet, email it or burn it onto a CD or DVD for future viewing.

Microsoft Photo Story

Microsoft Photo Story is a free download for Windows users. This software allows you to upload digital pictures to a template. The program also allows you to upload music files and create transitions like wipes for the slide show.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is part of the Microsoft Office Suite. You need to purchase this software to use it. You can create slide shows using images, text and audio files for business presentations or for personal use. This software allows you to apply special effects to your slide show, like animating the pictures, creating transitions between slides and modifying the background of your slide show.

PhotoStage

Create your own slide show movie using PhotoStage Software. It's a free download from NCH Software. You can use digital pictures and video clips already saved on your computer to create a slide show that features music and narration. Some of the special features of this software allow you to add pans, zooms and fade transitions between each slide for a professional look.

LPJ-Slideshow

LPJ-Slideshow lets you create a slide show and burn it onto a CD for future viewing. This free software has easy-to-follow instructions that help you create a memorable slide show for family and friends to enjoy. Give your slide show an added effect by adding mp3 files already saved on your computer for a more professional look.

Computers can store a lot of pictures but scanning through, cropping and displaying all of it can be a tedious task. Luckily, slideshow software programs offer creative and enjoyable ways to show off your pictures to friends and family. There are many programs for Mac computers that can show off your pictures in stunning and spectacular fashion.

'Visual SlideShow'

"Visual SlideShow" is a slideshow program that is available for Mac and Windows and will appeal to many people since it is free and easy to use. It is designed to create many types of slideshows but is especially useful for slideshows created for websites. Users simply add images to their website album, such as Flickr or Photobucket, select the order of the pictures, create captions, transitions and edit the photos. Editing capabilities include rotating the image, fixing red eye, lightening up the flash and cropping out sections of the image that aren't necessary. Users can then publish their slideshow to any website, including Facebook, MySpace and even personal websites. The software can also be used to create slideshows on your computer to display vacation photos, baby pictures or any other images you want to display.

'Apimac'

"Apimac" is a program designed to display multimedia files, such as movies and photos, to create slideshows. The best feature of "Apimac" is that it creates stand-alone files that can be imported to other computers and displayed simply by opening the file. It can also make videos to present on YouTube, other video websites and even the iPod. It is compatible with QuickTime, mp3, MPEG, FLC, AIFF, AU, WAVE, DV and even Photoshop files. This is perfect for showing off travel photos, displaying images at a graduation party or other family get-togethers. "Apimac" can also be used to make professional presentations for office meetings and other workplace events. Professional photographers and graphic designers can create digital portfolios that can be e-mailed to prospective employers. A free trial version is available for download and it is available for purchase for around $29.00.

'SWF 'n Slide'

"SWF 'n Slide" is a slideshow software compatible with Mac computers. A free trial version is available for download and the basic edition is offered for as low as $19.95 and a more advanced edition costs $108. The software program specializes in making slideshows for websites and users can carefully arrange pictures and play music to create multi-media slideshows. Users can also time how long the images appear on the screen and utilize over 150 different transition effects to keep the viewer captivated. Special effects such as fireworks and snow can also be integrated. Users can also edit the individual pictures to add narration, captions and other effects. The professional version allows users create 3D flip books. Website slideshows run on Adobe Flash and can be integrated to websites using HTML. However, you can also create self sustained slideshows to run right off your Mac computer.

Slide show generator freeware enables Internet users to transform ordinary photos into dynamic, interactive slide shows. The programs generate HTML or Flash custom slide shows that can be uploaded to blogs, social media sites, and personal websites. The slide shows can be customized with audio, narration, and animation effects. Some of free slide show services include Slideroll, Photo Story 3, and Flickr.

Slideroll

Slideroll is an online photo slide show creator that enables users to make slide shows with their photos in Flash format. Users drag-and-drop their photos into the interactive slide show creator. They can customize their shows with fading effects, zooms, and smooth pans. Members can publish their slide shows on the Internet, or put them on social media outlets like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. The privacy option limits viewership to family and friends. Free membership allows members to e-mail slide shows to their friends. A video creator lets members make videos that can be transformed into DVDs. An MP3 soundtrack option can enhance static photos with music.

Photo Story 3

Photo Story 3 is a free slide show program that allows users to edit digital pictures and create slide shows. Slide shows are customized with narration, motion, and original music from Photo Story 3's soundtrack. Effect options include zoom and pan effects, cropping tools, and picture rotation. The smart touch-up features can correct lighting or remove red eyes. Existing videos can be added to photo stories. Users can save their photo story to a computer, or upload their work to Microsoft Media Center. Stories may be sent through e-mail and uploaded onto Windows mobile-based devices. Users can create video CDs of their photo stories or archive their slide shows in Microsoft's Digital Image Library.

Flickr

Flickr, Yahoo's photo-sharing service, has a slide show component that allows members to easily create custom slide shows from their Flickr website or blog. Members can enter the address of their Flickr user page or group URL address. Members can upload photos to their user page from their e-mails, mobile devices, browser, and desktop. The photos are categorized in collections, which are organized through tags, descriptions, and locations. A Flickr member can select a photo set's URL address and obtain an HTML embed code to create an instant slide show. Slide shows can be imported to forums, blogs, WordPress, Facebook, Live Journal, and Myspace social media sites.

A slide rule is an elegant tool for mathematical calculations. It makes use of stacked and movable logarithmic scales that reduce multiplication, division and higher calculations (such as trigonometric) to simple tasks of alignment and referencing.

Scales

A slide rule can feature several different types of scales. Basic examples of these include logarithms, squares, cubics, exponentials, Pythagorean relationships and trigonometric functions. Any of these scales will line up with the fundamental slide rule scale (labeled the "C" scale) to show the result of the scale function evaluated at the value on the C scale. The most basic slide rule is composed of two logarithmic scales for performing multiplication and division.

Multiplication Example: 2 x 4

On your personal slide rule you will see a movable "D" scale, a movable "C" scale and a movable cursor. Slide the leftmost 1 on the C scale to line up with the major 2 on the D scale. Move the cursor to align with 4 on the C scale. The answer 8 is now marked on the D scale by the cursor.

Division Example: 5/2

Slide the major 2 on the C scale such that it aligns with the major 5 on the D scale. Line the cursor up with the leftmost 1 on the C scale to reveal the answer 2.5 on the D scale.

Having difficulty with Microsoft PowerPoint when entering a slide show? Regardless of which version of PowerPoint you have, it may crash instantly when creating a new empty slide.

Speculation

The problem is caused by the file: "/System/Library/CFMSupport/OpenGLLib." There is a missing file called "cfrg" which needs to be placed.

Solution

Uninstall Office, delete every Office file and then reinstall the program. Once that has been completed, clear the caches. If the problem persists, install and run the program on a different computer to determine if the problem is in the software or the computer.

Considerations

Run a diagnostic scan on the file: /System/Library, which can become corrupt or deleted by accident when installing and removing programs. Another consideration is to replace your PowerPoint software if it is still under warranty. If not, download the latest updates from the PowerPoint section of Microsoft's website, as new plug-ins are created daily to resolve such issues.

A picture is worth a thousand words. For this reason, webinar technology is extremely valuable to companies and business professionals because they can use webinars to give live presentations over the Internet to clients and suppliers.

Identification

A webinar is a seminar presented over the the Internet. Because of the underlying technology, the presenter can do live slide show presentations to webinar attendees. Attendees see and hear the presentation live on their computers. Attendees can also ask questions to the presenter using a built-in chat utility.

Function

The software required to facilitate a webinar is provided by a third-party company. With the software, the presenter transmits or distributes live content to the attendees. The presenter also uses the software to send registration invitations to prospective attendees.

Benefits

The ability to make live presentations to anyone with an Internet connection is an extremely value business benefit. The technology is available to the presenter via a monthly subscription, and access is free to registered attendees.

Running a slideshow before Microsoft PowerPoint came on the scene used to involve rigging up a very heavy and slow machine, gently placing fragile film slides into a circular coil, adding the coil into the projector and pulling down a large screen. With PowerPoint, the focus of the slideshow is now entirely on the slide, an electronic replica that may hold anything from text to movies, and may be projected on computer screens, video screens and downloaded from the Internet.

Identification

A PowerPoint slide is the building block of a PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint slides are created to be a digital representation of the old-style film and cardboard slides put in a projector. After opening the PowerPoint software, the default slide appears on the main portion of the screen. The software configures the default slide to fit on an 11-inch by 8.5-inch page, though this may be changed, and appears white with two click-to-add text boxes, which will default to black text.

Changing Slides

The very first thing a PowerPoint user will do is change or interact with a slide. PowerPoint defaults the first slide in the presentation to a title slide, where the user may type the name of the presentation or other information. At any point in the process of working with the slides, users have options such as adding text boxes, graphics and multi-media; changing the theme or background colors of the slides and resizing the slides. Adding text to a slide may be the task users perform most. This may be as simple as typing into an already included text box, adding bullets, resizing text, shifting boxes around on the slide and adding hyperlinks.

Moving Slides

Unlike long word processing documents where the pages flow from one to the next, PowerPoint slides are considered individual. This is helpful when users wish to reshuffle or change the slide order. Running down the left third of the PowerPoint screen is a slide deck. To move slides, a user has to just click once on the slide and drag it up or down in the deck. The slide is then dropped into place and all of the slides shuffle down one to adjust.

Advanced Slides

A PowerPoint slide may go from blank white initial screen to something far more advanced with only a few clicks. The program's "Insert" tab and toolbar provide options for adding video/movies and audio clips to the slides, which means slides go from plain on the page to moving pieces in moment's time. PowerPoint also offers ways to make the slides themselves a little bit more active, through "Animations" and "Transitions," including options where slides -- or the items placed on them -- fade in and out, wipe away, zig zag from corner to corner and spin.