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Create a Slideshow

A DVD slideshow is a convenient and dramatic way to present your photos to friends, family, clients, or customers.

iDVD resizes the photos in a slideshow to 640 x 480 pixels, and converts them to a resolution of 72 ppiofficial DVD specifications for slideshows.

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The Slideshow editor window

To add additional photos to a slideshow, drag an entire iPhoto album, multiple photos, or a single photo from the Photos pane (or from the Finder) to the Slideshow editor window. As you drag items to the editor window, a black line indicates where the item will be placed when you drop it (shown on the right).214).

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More slideshow settings

From the Slide Duration pop-up menu, choose how many seconds each slide will display. Choose "Fit To Audio" if you've added audio and want the slideshow to match the duration of the selected audio track. If the audio track is shorter than the slideshow, the track repeats until the slideshow finishes.

Choose "Manual" if you want the user to advance each slide with a remote control or with the arrow keys on a computer keyboard. You cannot include audio when you choose "Manual."

From the Transition pop-up menu, choose a style of transition to use from one photo to the next. If the transition you select is directional, click one of the directional arrows on the small control (circled below) to choose in which direction the transition moves.

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iDVD slideshow photo formats

iDVD slideshows can use any file format supported by QuickTime, such as BMP, JPEG, GIF, PICT, PNG, and TIFF. When iDVD creates a slideshow it scales photos to 640 x 480 pixels, a standard DVD size and proportion. Photos that are not 640 x 480 will be scaled down, but will retain their original aspect ratio (proportion). A vertical photo will be resized to 480 pixels tall, with black bands on either side to fill out the 640-pixel width.

If you want your photos to fill the DVD window, use an image-editing program to crop them to 640 x 480 pixels. You can use iPhoto to crop photos to fit a DVD window: In iPhoto select a photo, then click the "Edit" button. From the "Constrain" pop-up menu, choose "4 x 3 (DVD)" as shown on the left.

Add music to a slideshow

It's amazing how much a musical soundtrack can add to the richness and enjoyment of a slideshow. iDVD's integration with iTunes makes it easy to add a soundtrack to your slideshow:

To delete the audio soundtrack from a slideshow, drag the audio file's icon out of the Audio well.

iDVD will accept audio file formats that are compatible with QuickTime and iTunes, including AIFF, WAV, MP3, M4P, and AAC.