Question on Zenfolio Slideshow Photo Dimensions

Just as with everyone else, I'm sure, I have a wide array of photos in various sizes and crops, some of which I'd like to put into the featured slideshow on the Zenfolio home page. However, from what I've read and seen, the slideshow bases the initial preview box size off of the dimensions of the first picture and creates an ugly filled space around other photos of different sizes.

Is it necessary to crop all of the photos to the exact same dimensions for the slideshow or is there another way to prevent this from happening and either have the dimensions adapt or get rid of the default fill?

You are correct, it bases the dimensions of the slide show off the first image you have in queue. I don't think there is anyway around this unless you post all landscape shots with the same dimensions.

I just picked which size worked best for my landscape orientated photos on my page, then opened new documents with those exact dimensions and built collages of the portrait orientated photos. I uploaded groups of large horizontal images mixed with collages that fit those same dimensions and set the sideshow to randomly pick the next slide so sometimes it shows one large picture and sometimes it's a grouping but it always fits the same on the screen.

Gotcha. Thanks for the feedback, all.