Syncing Your Slideshow to the Beat of a Song in ProShow

The Record Slide Timing feature found in both ProShow Gold and ProShow Producer lets you adjust the timing of your slides to match the beat of a song. It’s easy to do and works great for fast-paced cut sequences. Learn how it’s done in this quick video.

Try ProShow free at www.photodex.com. ProShow is award-winning, easy-to-use slideshow software that turns your photos, videos & music into awesome videos.

Show of the Week: Baby Adriana

Each Friday we showcase a slideshow created by one of our awesome ProShow customers. Today’s show comes from photographer Rebecca Danzenbaker and features an adorable newborn session she recently shot of baby Adriana. Rebecca is an award-winning maternity, newborn and family photographer in North Virginia. She put this video together using ProShow Web.

“Coming from both teaching and business-world roots, I decided to pursue my passion and started my family photography business five years ago. I just added newborn photography to my repertoire about two years ago and fell in love! Now everywhere I go, I see props! My collection grew so quickly that I soon realized I needed to find studio space. Our move from Arlington, Virginia to Ashburn, Virginia this fall presented that opportunity, and I opened my boutique home studio to clients on January 19th.

There’s something so special about being able to document the beginning of someone’s life. I especially enjoy getting family members into the photos so that the babies will have photos of their parents and siblings holding them when they get older. Priceless! My favorite part of being a photographer is knowing that families will be able to use their heirloom-quality images to document their history and tell their story for generations to come. I am always honored to be chosen to be a part of their lives in that way.

After I finish editing every client session, I create a slideshow for them using ProShow Web and the integrated Zenfolio plugin. I switched to using ProShow from Animoto about a year ago and couldn’t be happier! I love that I can very easily create 1080p quality videos and post them to YouTube, share them on Facebook, and embed them into my website. The music choices are great, too, and I love that I can string together several songs for longer slideshows and import my own music to which I own the rights. Many of my clients have told me that they were moved to tears watching their slideshows. Thanks, Photodex and ProShow Web for helping me look good!”

- Rebecca Danzenbaker

Want your slideshow to be featured? Email us a blog submission and send in a link to your video.

Valentine’s Day by the Numbers

It’s February which means love is in the air and that means big spending on things like candy, flowers, jewelry, engagements and weddings! Below are some stats that break down Valentine’s Day by the numbers.

• 54% – Percentage of people who plan on buying Valentine’s Day gifts.
• $196 – The amount of money spent on average for Valentine’s Day in 2012.
• 29% – Percentage of people who bought flowers as a Valentine’s Day gift.
• 19% – Percentage of people who bought a card as a Valentine’s Day gift.
• 15% – Percentage of people who bought jewelry as a Valentine’s Day gift.
• 13% – Percentage of people who bought electronics as a Valentine’s Day gift.
• 39% – Percentage of people who plan on visiting their favorite restaurant to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
• 4 Million – People who expected to propose or be proposed to on Valentine’s Day in 2012.
• 48% – Percentage of consumers who feel $1,000 to $,5000 is appropriate to spend on an engagement ring.
• 22% – Percentage of consumers who feel $1,000 to $1,999 is appropriate to spend on an engagement ring.
• 21% – Percentage of consumers who feel less than $500 is appropriate to spend on an engagement ring.
• 5% – Percentage of consumers who feel $10,000 or more is appropriate to spend on an engagement ring.

Read the entire report here and even more cool Valentine’s Day stats on the US Census website.
 

Free Valentine’s Day Effects for ProShow

This Valentine’s Day, create a photo + video slideshow to celebrate the ones you love. With ProShow slideshow tools, it’s easy to create a finished video in a matter of minutes. We’ve put together a set of free themed effects to make your Valentine’s videos really pop! Watch the demo video below to see them in-action. For more inspiration, see our Valentine’s Day Style Guide for tips on putting it all together.

Watch the Sweet Valentine Effects In-Action:

Download Free Effects: Sweet Valentine

The ‘Sweet Valentine’ freebie effects offer a stylish variety of photo and caption styles for creating a heartfelt Valentine’s Day slideshow, or any show celebrating the ones you love. Works well for personal shows, kids, families, weddings, couples portraits & pet photography. Compatible with ProShow Producer 5, ProShow Gold 5, and ProShow Web.

Download the free ‘Sweet Valentine’ effects (.zip) >
ProShow Web users will see these effects as part of the new theme ‘Sweet Valentine.’

To Use Your New ‘Sweet Valentine’ Effects:
You’ll need to manually install your new effects into ProShow Producer or ProShow Gold. Once installed they’ll show up like all your other slide styles and transitions. Need help with manually installing? Read this how-to article on installing & managing FX in ProShow 5.

Want More Effects for Your Valentine’s Day Show?

Add style and variety to your slideshow with gorgeous effects from Transition Pack 2, our newest collection of transitions. Features popular romantic & ambient options like Bokeh Lights, Bubble Drift, Flourish and Light Leaks. Get it for only $19.95 >

Valentine’s Day Slideshow Style Guide

This Valentine’s Day, create a photo + video slideshow to celebrate the ones you love. With ProShow slideshow tools it’s easy and you can have a finished video in just minutes. Check out our tips below on how to make the perfect slideshow for family, friends and loved ones.

Get the Look

Download our free effects and layouts for your Valentine’s Day slideshows. These work with ProShow Gold 5, ProShow Producer 5 and ProShow Web (Web users, you’ll see ‘Sweet Valentine’ as a new slideshow theme). Just add your photos, video clips and music and you’ll have a perfect video ready for sharing in minutes.

Tips on Making Your Slideshow Perfect:

• Keep the intro short and sweet. ‘A Story About Us‘, ‘Through the Years‘ or simply the name of you and your loved one ‘Jane + Bill‘.
• Look for photos that span the years and include those in your slideshow. Tell the story of how you met or how your family has grown throughout the years.
• To change things up, turn a few of your color photos into black and white and sprinkle them throughout your slideshow.
• Use a typewriter style font, this will help make your video have that handmade feel and will add a bit of charm to your slideshow. (Tip: Courier is a common font that has the type-writer look)
• For slides that contain two photos, think about which photos to use in those slots and make sure they have meaning being next to each other. Sometimes using a wide family shot in one and then cropping the same photo to just show holding hands or a close up of feet lined up can turn into a great layout.

Get Inspired

Looking for some fun photo-centric valentine’s day projects? Visit our Valentine’s Day Pinterest board for DIY photo projects, tips, cool Valentine’s Day fonts and more.

Show of the Week: Macro Photography

If you are a fan of macro photography, then you’ll love this slideshow by photographer Francis Van Kerckhoven. The photos were taken in Belgium, Nederland, Turkey, South Africa, Laos and California. Francis lives in the Netherlands and used ProShow Producer to showcase his macro photography in the video below.

Video created in ProShow Producer.

Want your slideshow to be featured? Email us a blog submission and send in a link to your video.

Understanding Motion Types in ProShow

Both ProShow Gold and ProShow Producer allow you to apply custom motion effects to any photo or video clip in your slideshow. You can further define how your motion effect will appear in your show by selecting one of the 4 motion types: Smooth, Linear, Accelerate and Decelerate. Today I’ll show you how these different motion types work and you’ll be able to see examples of how they appear when used in a slideshow.

Download a free trial of our award-winning photo + video slideshow software and follow along.