iMovie tutorial: How to work with still images in your movie

Combining iLife apps is one of the coolest things ever, and of course, because Apple has designed iMovie, you don’t need to open iPhoto to see everything within it. It sounds a little confusing, but as you’ll see from this tutorial it’s actually surprisingly easy and what’s more, once you realise just how simple it is, you may struggle to build another iMovie project without throwing a couple of photos in there. And in many projects, adding a few snapshots will help break up your video, so learning these techniques now will result in even better movies down the line. The amount of control you are able to exert over your photos within iMovie is so great that you’ll find that the app is the next stop for a stunning slideshow. Master the techniques now and you can create as many as you want whenever you are feeling creative and want new ways to share your pictures.

Step 1: Hit the button

With your iMovie project loaded, head down to the right-hand side and then hit the little camera icon to bring up your iPhoto Library.

Step 2: What a window

You will now see a miniature iPhoto window appear. Here you can search for and preview any snaps you want to add to your project.

Step 3: Make some room

Drag the big grey bar across the middle of the interface upwards to give yourself some more room to see your photos. You can reverse this later.

Step 4: Find it

You can use the drop-down menu to navigate your way around. It’s always easier if you know where the photos you want are currently living, though.

Step 5: Pretty preview

Clicking on a photo will preview it in the window in the top-right. You can double-check it’s the right one or just see if it fits the movie theme you’re using.

Step 6: Drag race

To add a photo to your movie, simply drag and drop the still into the arrangement in the top-left. When you let go, it will be added to the Timeline.

Step 7: Tiny icon

To edit the look and behaviour of the photo, find the tiny crop icon that appears when you hover your mouse over the photo. Double-click it.

Step 8: Meet Ken

You will see Ken Burns is selected, which creates a camera move on the photo from green to red box. Move the boxes to change the movement.

Step 9: Done it

Have a play with the settings, click Done and watch the movie back. You can see how each change affects the view of the photo. Repeat as necessary.

Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations