What do you do with all of the digital photos you’ve taken? It is easy to let them sit on your computer’s hard drive for months without a single human eye ever seeing them. You could run down to your local convenience store or photo shop and get prints made. You could even print them out at home using a color inkjet printer. If you really want to show your friends that you are tech savvy (of course you are after regularly reading this blog), might I suggest putting your photos into a digital slideshow. You can easily make a slideshow of pictures that will dazzle your friends and make others want to view other pictures you’ve taken. In the next few blogs, I’ll walk you through using a free and easy to use program, Photo Story 3 for Windows XP. Once you’ve made your first digital photo slideshow, you’ll become hooked and wonder how you ever showed off your pictures in the past.
Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows XP
I mentioned Photo Story 3 in a blog I wrote during the winter holiday session of 2005-2006 about ideas for showing off your digital photos. This series will take you step-by-step through setting up and showing your digital slide shows. If you have already tried your hand at making a slide show, please leave a comment at the end of this blog and let others know of your experience.
Photo Story 3 is a simple little program that users of Windows XP can download for free (sorry Mac, Linux, and Windows 2000 or ME users). You will have to use Microsoft’s “Window’s Genuine Validation” process which ensures you aren’t using a pirated or copied version of Windows. After you are “validated,” download and install the program. It is a relatively small download, about 5 MB so it shouldn’t bog down your Internet Connection for hours. You can download the program directly from Microsoft.
Photo Story 3 allows you to create a photo slideshow that uses various transitions, pan and scan effects (similar to historical documentaries), your own music, titles, captions, and even your own voice narration. You then can burn the slideshow to a DVD and watch it on your TV or send it to grandma for home viewing.
So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and download a copy of Photo Story 3 and begin using it. I’ll be posting blogs that covers the ins and outs of using Photo Story 3, so keep checking back over the next few days. The good thing is, if you don’t like the program, you can always uninstall it and never think about it again (though I hope you’ll at least give it a try).