In Lightroom there's a quick way to show off your images. Alfonso Calero explains how to turn your collections into slideshows in three easy steps.
One the great advantages of the digital revolution in photography is that you can quickly and easily present your images in a variety of formats. Adobe Lightroom is especially effective in this respect. One of its really useful options in the 'Slideshow' module, one of several located at the top right of Lightroom's opening panel. When you have arranged a collection of images you'd like to see as a slideshow, click on this tab.
01 SMART COLLECTION
When editing in Lightroom's Develop module make sure to click and drag on your best edited photos to place them into your own smart collection. On the bottom left of your page you will find a drop down option for collections. Simply add (+) a new collection and name it accordingly. This is where you can gradually add a bunch of photos that you would like to show as a collection (ie; an overseas trip). Try to limit the number of images to around 100 images as a maximum number.
When you're shooting overseas travel images, keep in mind how you might use your images in a slide presentation. This image was used in the Philippines slideshow seen below.
A mix of interiors and exterior images can help break up the flow of a slideshow. Another image from the Philippines slideshow.
02 SLIDESHOW EDIT
The next step is to click on the smart collection folder to reveal all your images as thumbnails on the bottom of your monitor. Once you have highlighted all the images to show, you can then click for a slideshow preview using the ‘Preview’ button located at the lower right side of the Lightroom screen. Next to the ‘Preview’ button is a ‘Play’ button which will show the slideshow in full screen mode. The preview may a take a few seconds or minutes to preview or process properly. The thumbnails can be rearranged in which ever order you would like to show the images.
Landscapes and seascapes are great for adding variety to your presentation.
03 SAVING YOUR SLIDESHOW
The last part of the process is to add some music to bring your images to life. Choose some music that suits your images and story from the panel on the right-hand side, which has a check box for sound tracks under the ‘Playback’ tab. Above are some samples to give you some ideas. As you match the images to fit the music you'll soon know if you have to add or remove images (more images for a given piece of music will show for a shorter period of time, while less images for the same music will obviously show for longer) or choose a different piece of music. It's a personal choice, but I usually prefer to use classical music. I usually opt to show images for 2-4 seconds per interval. Videos can then be saved as MP4s or PDFs by hitting the ‘Create Saved Slideshow’ button at the top right of the central image panel, then the ‘Export PDF’ button or the adjacent ‘Export Video’ button at the bottom left of the Lightroom panel. Depending on the length of the show, this can take some time.
Slideshow created in Abobe Lightroom. (Click the HD logo at the bottom right of the screen to see the slideshow at its highest resolution).
Slideshow created in Adobe Lightroom. (Click the HD logo at the bottom right of the screen to see the slideshow at its highest resolution).
Alfonso Calero graduated from the Sydney Institute of Technology with an Associate Diploma in Photography in 2001 and has been professionally photographing fine art, food, portraits, landscapes and travel subjects ever since. He is the owner of a travel education and tours company that delivers workshops every Saturday morning in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle. One-on-one and small group sessions are also available. He also takes groups to Japan, Philippines, Spain and Tasmania once a year for 5, 10 and 14-day photography workshops.