Creating a slideshow to give to clients

In looking through photographers packages, I see a lot offering slide shows for their package, in which the photographer can save it to a disk and deliver it, as well as put it on the web. I was wondering if any of you did this, and with what software? Do you sync it to some of the music that was played at their wedding (processional, first dance, other important songs) or something that you find fits?

Thank you.

Bryan

One option (in my opinion). Showit Web. Why? I blogged my reasons

http://bobbyearle.com …ego-wedding-photographer/

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San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
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the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

I am really looking at Showit for my site as well. I know a few people here in SD use it and I only hear good things. It is not too expensive, and for what it offers, and the fact it continually offers more is amazing. Once i get into it the business side more and start shooting my own weddings, this looks like the route I am going to go.

Thank you Bobby.

I like the results that Showit produces (from what I've seen on their website). It's great for Mac, too. The thing I don't like is that you can't load that slide show onto a DVD, you would have to buy it from Showit.
I personally would go with ProShow, you can download a trial version and see how that works for you.

I've never used ProShow -- so please keep that in mind -- but the reason why I don't consider anything other than Showit is because of the web play quality. Showit kills it there -- and that, imo, matters most. I can upload their slide online, their friends can/will see it, I can upload it to facebook and tag them... it gets me tons of business

I don't mind outsourcing the DVD as I just throw the $50 charge into the price I charge for the slideshow on DVD. I never found a nice looking way to give my clients their slides, so it's nice that showit does it for me. But I understand people wanting to save the $50 and do it on their own. I just love outsourcing what I can

Bobby

_______________

San Diego Wedding Photographer (blog)
Twitter -- Facebook
the Raddest Photo Trip Ever!!!
Come on the next one Dec 6th-19th 2010!!!!!

Honestly, I've been considering this as well, Red Tie. I've gone back and forth, and really, most client don't really care to have the slide show in their package (now that is MY experience... I'm sure it differs)... in fact, I have it my larger packages, and it's the first thing they take or swap out when trying to customize the package.
Anyways, I've decided to start using them more now, mainly to embed it onto my FB page, and let the client really fall in love with it and want to purchase the DVD ala carte.
Everyone is going to have their own preference and reasons why the use what they use, so take everything into account when you choose and find what fits your needs the best.
I've found that Animoto offers a quality product with literally no work involved. ProShow is more work than I have time for. You can have web slideshows that give great quality and dvds that have awesome quality as well. they're animated and you can add video clips to your slide shows, as well. But my fav part about it? All you have to do is upload it to the site and they build the show for you. Every single one is different... and the animation (transition of the photos) is really cool and entertaining. I almost feel like I am watching an actual video. For this company, you pay per year, and you have unlimited slideshows that you can make.
I've never used showit, so I don't know much about it. But I have used ProShow and I wasn't too happy with the time it took to create an awesome slideshow.

We used to offer them, nobody ever asks for them so we stopped.
I think people like making their own.

FamilyJules wrote in post #9876966
Honestly, I've been considering this as well, Red Tie. I've gone back and forth, and really, most client don't really care to have the slide show in their package (now that is MY experience... I'm sure it differs)... in fact, I have it my larger packages, and it's the first thing they take our swap out when trying to customize the package.
Anyways, I've decided to start using them more now, mainly to embed it onto my FB page, and let the client really fall in love with it and want to purchase the DVD ala carte.
Everyone is going to have their own preference and reasons why the use what they use, so take everything into account when you choose and find what fits your needs the best.
I've found that Animoto offers a quality product with literally no work involved. ProShow is more work than I have time for. You can have web slideshows that give great quality and dvds that have awesome quality as well. they're animated and you can add video clips to your slide shows, as well. But my fav part about it? All you have to do is upload it to the site and they build the show for you. Every single one is different... and the animation (transition of the photos) is really cool and entertaining. I almost feel like I am watching an actual video. For this company, you pay per year, and you have unlimited slideshows that you can make.
I've never used showit, so I don't know much about it. But I have used ProShow and I wasn't too happy with the time it took to create an awesome slideshow.

Hey Julie, So have you personally used Animoto yet?

Svetlana wrote in post #9877437
Hey Julie, So have you personally used Animoto yet?

I've made a few samples, and made the payment today. I'll prolly make a few within the week. 5 other photog friends of mine signed up a few months ago and are very happy. And when I went to WPPI, a lot of the speakers at the booths (non of which had a connection to Animoto) use them and their slideshows looked Ah-mazing

My personal opinion. ProShow Producer. The learning curve and time to produce slideshows is worth it. Of course this is if you want to create high production quality, customized shows for HDTV, web, flash, email, etc.. And If that is the case there really isn't much out there to compare. You pick the music and sync it the way you want.

If you need to quickly put a show together try one of the other many options out there. Some mentioned already can do a good job. However, I want full control over every aspect. You can create and save styles and templates for reuse. Once you get into it the process becomes much quicker and easier. I create slideshows for my work as well as other photographers and have a fun time doing it. One thing to note; when shooting put on two hats. One for the event, standard photo's for the wedding etc and the other with a slideshow in mind. A number of images I take would not necessarily stand on their own but are specifically geared to use in a show. Incorporating the two into a show makes for a nice production.

Its all about the amount of personal customization and quality. Get what suits your needs.

I've heard of Animoto but have yet to try them. I upload all my clients' images onto my SmugMug account anyway (http://photomatte.smug​mug.com/), so they can look at a slideshow directly from there if they wish (and share that URL with family members, which gets me a lot more print orders!).

Proshow Gold is good, but DVDs are pretty low quality - decent enough though - pay the price and make as many disks as you want. Blu Ray is much better but few people can see it. ShowIt costs you $50 per DVD you want for the customer, or something like that.

I use Proshow Gold.

tim wrote in post #9879856
Proshow Gold is good, but DVDs are pretty low quality - decent enough though - pay the price and make as many disks as you want. Blu Ray is much better but few people can see it. ShowIt costs you $50 per DVD you want for the customer, or something like that.

I use Proshow Gold.

Tim, do you happen to know the resolution of the slideshow from ProShow Gold?

I also use ProShow Gold. It was a nice investment since it presents the captured images in a different view. The output can be in CD, DVD, Blu Ray, Flash....also you be as creative as you want on how the images fade in and out.

My past clients just love it. I usually will place it into a DVD black jacket with a titled 5x7 in the sleeve.

Just for DVD: ProShow is a great tool.
Just for website: ShowIt is the winner.
I don't like the business model of ShowIt. They charge extra for each DVD.
Two years ago, the quality of flash slideshow produced by ProShow was unacceptable. The pictures looked dull and the show seemed choppy. They might have addressed that in the latest version. They can also produce quality slideshows for their own viewer (ActiveX control) but most visitors won't bother installing another ad-on to their browsers.
BTW, I haven't seen a new version of ShowIt for a while. Do they still develop it?