What do you do when iPhoto isn’t enough? The next level upwards in capability is Apple’s Aperture, or Adobe’s Lightroom. Both are the next level up in price, too.
When iPhoto’s slide shows get boring and predictable, what’s the next level up? What you need is an inexpensive Mac app that does photo slide shows like a pro, but without a pro price tag.
When It’s Show Time
It’s one thing to put photos in a sequence and call it a slide show. It’s something else to add animation, themes, and drop in both audio and video into a presentation.
That’s what PhotoPresenter does. All point and click, drag and drop.
First, fire up PhotoPresenter and drag in your photos from iPhoto.
Second, choose from one of three dozen themes already built in and ready to go. Some are simple and elegant. Others are like Cover Flow or a photo album. Others are professionally styled or wacky.
The user interface falls between simple and professionally complicated, so you’re not overwhelmed with choices.
Third, use iTunes on your Mac for background music. Photos can be moved around to match the chosen music. That’s it. You’re ready to record a photo slide show.
Wait. Record?
PhotoPresenter has a standalone player option. Save your slide show presentation and share it with other Mac users. You can even pull down Facebook friends’ photos and drop them into your own slide show.
If you’re beyond amateur, and worry about having your photos ripped off while they’re online, PhotoPresenter has a built in watermark option so you can display a copyright notice or logo.
There’s plenty going on in PhotoPresenter include the all important option to export your slide show to share with others. Options range from the soon-to-be-defunct iWeb and iDVD, to QuickTime, and iPhone, iPod touch, iPad et al.
A direction option for Facebook, Vimeo, or Google + uploads would be worthwhile. Finally, PhotoPresenter is dirt cheap and an easy download from the Mac App Store, but there’s also a try-before-you-buy option (the way God intended for Mac apps).
What’s missing are options to drop text onto each photo, or create different transitions between photos (you get the same ones), which are options included in the slightly more expensive Boinx FotoMagico Home edition. Still, it’s hard to beat the quick and dirty slide show results in PhotoPresenter.
About Ron McElfresh
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