How to create an action packed iPhoto slideshow – Tutorial

Sharing your favourite photos with friends and family is easy using iPhoto. You can print your pictures, create a photobook or calendar or make use of multi-touch gestures and simply swipe through them on your Mac. Alternatively, you could harness iPhoto’s slideshow creation tools and its impressive shatter theme for an effective way to show off your favourite high-octane shots. The shatter theme can be a tricky one to work with as it relies on having action shots with blocks of bright colours to look great, but if you can get it right the results are incredible. We’ll show you how to select the best photos and how to order them for the perfect action slideshow…

1: Organise with albums

Create a new album to drag your slideshow photos into. Go for action shots with large blocks of bright colour, as these work best with the shatter theme.

2: Start with a slideshow

Once you’ve got your favourite action shots in your album, click on Create in the bottom-right corner of the iPhoto window and hit slideshow.

3: Select-a-theme

Click Themes on the bottom-right of the window and select Shatter from the menu. Like most iLife programs you can scrub over the themes to view the transitions.

4: Give it a title

Type a title for your slideshow in the textbox. iPhoto selects a cool font and animation to match the theme. You can remove this in settings if you don’t want it.

5: Get moving

Drag photos along the top bar into the order you want them to display. Varying the background colour and shot type makes for more interesting transitions.

6: Setting it up

Click the cog, bottom-right, to access Settings. From here you can set the slide duration, toggle the Show Title Slide and set the aspect ratio for the final product.

7: Get with the beat

Add or change music by clicking on Music on the bottom bar. In the Music menu you can choose a song from your iTunes library or even create a playlist.

8: Review with a preview

Clicking Preview will play the slideshow in iPhoto’s window; clicking Play will display it full screen. Use them to see how the transitions work together.

9: Export to end

Finally, click Export. iPhoto makes it easy for you to choose which settings are best for your final slideshow depending on which device you’ll be playing it on.

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