[iPhoto '09 only]

Slideshow Settings Click to see a larger image

While iPhoto makes it easy to create automatic slideshows, taking the extra time to do some tweaking of the settings can result in a better looking, more professional slideshow.

There are two Slideshow settings in iPhoto that effect how the slideshow is presented on different sized screens. If you know the aspect ratio of the screen you will be presenting on, you can customize your slideshow to best fit that screen.

Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width of the screen to the height of the screen. A wide screen TV has a different aspect ratio from a standard TV. iPhoto lets you set the aspect ratio in one of four sizes:

• The aspect ratio of the Mac you are creating the slideshow on. This is the default setting.
• HTDV 16:9 This is the aspect ratio of widescreen TVs.
• TV 4:3 This is the aspect ratio of a standard TV. This is also the aspect ratio of the iPad.
• iPhone 3:2. This is also the aspect ratio of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPod nano.

Don't worry if you don't know the aspect ratio of the screen you will be displaying on– just stick with the default. If the slideshow plays on a screen with a different aspect ratio than the one you created it for, iPhoto will automatically compensate by putting black bars on the sides or top and bottom of the screen to keep the photos in scale. It will not stretch or squish the photos to fit. (I was at a birthday party a while back where someone had created (on a PC) a slideshow of photos of the birthday girl. They were playing the slideshow on a wide screen monitor. The slideshow fit the screen but every photo was stretched out to fit. Stretched photos don't exactly flatter people.)

To set the aspect ratio of your slideshow, click on the gear icon on the bottom toolbar to get the Slideshow Settings to appear. Choose the All Slides tab and the aspect ratio setting is at the bottom.

iPhoto makes the slideshow to the aspect ratio you select by cropping the sides or the top and bottom of the photo to fit. (This cropping does not effect the photo in your Library-- it only effects how it looks in the slide show.)

The other setting that effects how your slideshow looks on screens of different aspect ratios is the Scale photos to fit screen checkbox also located at the bottom of the All Slides tab of Slideshow Settings. If this setting is unchecked, portrait photos (ones taller than they are wide) will show in full by putting black bars to the sides of the photo. If you check the box, portrait photos are cropped so they will fit the full width of the screen size you have selected. This means that you will lose the top and the bottom parts of the photo. If you are creating the slideshow for a 16:9 widescreen, quite a bit of the top and bottom will be cropped off to fit. You will probably have to play around with the Scale photos to fit screen option to see how it looks with the particular photos in your slide show. If you have it turned on and the slideshow is cutting the heads off of people in portrait photos, if would be best to leave it turned off.

You can experiment with the Ken Burns effect for either the entire slide show or individual slides to minimize the effects of the aspect ratio cropping.

Related Items: iPhoto | Slideshow | Ken Burns effect