Okay,
let's get jazzy and add some visual interest to our story by
adding some motion. Photo Story makes it incredibly easy to
pan and zoom and add transitions from one image to the next.
On the Narrate Your Pictures page, make sure
the first picture in the timeline is selected, then click on
the Customize Motion button:
The
dialogue box will open up to the Motion and Duration Tab. When
you check the "Specify start and end position of motion"
box, you can set the start and end points of your motion in
the two boxes that are presented. If you want to zoom in, start
with a full size image on the left and then reduce the size
of the box on the right. If you want to zoom out, do the opposite:
start with a small box on the left and move to a full size image
on the right. You can move the boxes around by clicking and
dragging them. You can resize the boxes by grabbing a handle
and dragging from the corners to the middle.
Although
you can manually set the length of the duration, I STRONGLY
recommend that you select the Set duration automatically
option. When you record your narration, Photo Story will automatically
adjust the duration of the motion to the length of the narration.
Otherwise, you'll have to do it manually and this can be a tedious
process. Let Photo Story do the work for you!! You can preview
the effect by clicking the Preview button.
The
next step is to add a transition. Click the tab at the top that
says Transition. A word of warning is in order
here: transitions, when overdone, can be as annoying as animated
gifs on a webpage. A little bit goes a long way. I recommend
that you stick with cross fade or fade to black for the final
image. No one likes to see venetian blinds opening and closing
or images flying across the screen from one side to the other.
Not good form. Keep it simple!! Here's the Transition dialogue
box:
Be
sure you check the box that says "Start current picture
using a transition." Then select the transition you want
(again, I urge you to use the default selection, which is cross
fade). Be sure to set the transition duration to be automatic.
Finally, preview your selections. When you are satisfied, click
Save.
The
program will then advance to the second slide. Repeat the process:
customize the motion, add a transition, save it and move to
the next until you have completed all nine images.When you have
done all nine, click Close.
