Top 5 Tips for a Celebratory Graduation Slideshow
It’s graduation season! Have you thought about creating a slideshow to celebrate your graduate?
Tip #1: choose the correct length
Slideshows can be used in different ways during graduation season. Most often they are either playing in the background during a party, shown as the main event with everyone sitting around and watching together, or both. These two uses require different lengths of slideshow.
If the slideshow is playing in the background on loop, it needs to be longer, so that everytime you glance at the screen you do not see the same photo. For these I recommend pulling all your photos together and keeping it very simple, using the same transitions between photos and not a lot of “flair” - this will help you create the slideshow quickly. I also recommend using a chronological structure for a longer slideshow like this.
If the slideshow is a dedicated event, it should be much shorter, 10 minutes is about the max that people will watch before losing interest or starting to talk amongst themselves. This slideshow can be more creative as that will help to keep your guests’ attention.
Tip #2: arrange your photos in chronological order
Arranging your photos chronologically is usually the fastest and easiest way to pull your photos together and avoid duplicates. If the slideshow will play in the background a chronological presentation makes it easier to follow. Generally I recommend this simply because chronological slideshows are much faster to create, and sometimes done is better than perfect.
Tip #3: or arrange your photos topically
Sometimes your photos and videos lend themselves better to topical arrangement for graduation slideshows. For example, consider arranging your photos into groups such as:
early years
high school
sports
family
fun with siblings
travel
funny expressions
If you use this method, watch out for duplicate photos. They are much more likely to sneak in with this arrangement than they are if you structure your slideshow chronologically. This method works best if everyone will be watching the slideshow together.
I would only use this method if you have the time to finish it. It takes much longer to put together than a chronological slideshow so know your limits and focus on what you can actually get done.
Tip #4: use horizontal photos
I have written about this before here. Unless you will only be using your slideshow on your phone, screens are generally horizontal. If you use vertical photos and videos, you end up with a lot of wasted and distracting space on both sides of the photo. If that’s all you have use them, but if you have a choice choose horizontal.
Moving forward, try to take horizontal photos and videos. Phones these days force the default to be vertical, but until we have vertical tvs and computer screens, having horizontal photos and videos will translate better to those mediums. If it’s something really important you think you’ll use later, take the photo both vertically and horizontally so that you’ll have options.
Tip #5: keep it simple
What’s better, a beautiful simple completed slideshow, or a half finished slideshow with lots of different styles, transitions, and text? Obviously a completed slideshow! When we start projects we always believe that we’ll finish them, but that is rarely the case. We get bogged down in the details, or in trying to make it perfect, or get overwhelmed by the task. If I had to guess based on my work with clients, I’d guess that 75% or more people that start to create a slideshow (or photo book) never finish it. Why? They get overwhelmed by the process or they just run out of time and think, “I’ll finish it for next year.”
Need help creating the perfect slideshow?
We are getting late into graduation season, but if you need help and can get your photos together quickly please reach out - I can help you! Make an appointment to talk about your project here.