Animoto Slideshow Maker
Animoto: Give Your Photo/Video Slideshows Some Punch
Page Updated January 2018: The Animoto Slideshow Maker is one of the best assets ANY photographer, videographer or musician can have in their business.
Back in 2008, I was lucky enough to meet and have lunch with the Animoto team. They asked what I would do to improve the slideshow software. I said "add video". Animoto have now added the ability to include video clips to your slideshows. This opens up a whole new world of creativity!
My First Slideshow from 2009
Here is my first effort from back then in 2009 with a few clips thrown in. Excuse the quality, this was early days but a lot has changed since.
Imagine what this could do for your wedding slideshows when you couple video taken from your DSLR with the normal photographs! You can even control the sounds within your show. Choose to keep the soundtrack music playing and mute the audio totally (default). Or you can activate the video clip's audio and take the music volume down by half...genius!
Easily and effortlessly produce stunning slideshows to:
Animoto has been used for my own personal portfolios where I can direct potential clients. I have burned high resolution copies to DVD to send to potential clients. I've sent high resolution DVD's to wedding couples as part of their package and they are simply blown away. By the quality, music and incredible transitions. Testimonials and referrals? I think so!
You see, the Animoto software will take your images and create a unique slideshow every time. It will also take any song of your choice (from their growing library of Royalty Free music) and fit it perfectly to the slideshow.
When I first saw this I couldn't believe how Animoto was able to sort the transitions so they matched perfectly with the beat of the music. Amazing!
So what do you do?
Well, it is simple really. You just upload your images (making sure the resolution is good enough for TV but below 5mb for each image. Bear in mind that the DVD quality resolution is 864 x 480) to the Animoto Slideshow Maker website. Select your piece of music and press "create"! Da-naaa!
The Animoto Slideshow Maker software will then create a unique, one off slideshow for you but that's not all. If you want to tweak and amend your slideshow, you can select certain images to get a longer viewing. Juggle them about, add or remove images and create a revision. Or you can simply hit "remix" to make a whole new show.
Don't worry though, every time you do this, the original and previous version is stored in your account. However, you get another totally unique slideshow with different transitions.
So how much does the Animoto Slideshow Maker cost?
Animoto Pricing and Free Account
This is the good bit. You can set up a free account today and start making slideshows right away BUT be warned. You will become addicted and very quickly become frustrated by the limitations of the free account.
Animoto Paid Member Options
You have a few choices open to you depending on your needs and current photography status:
This is a real no brainer if you want to impress your friends or more importantly, your clients.
If you are a wedding, portrait, property, commercial or whatever photographer, think about it. Once signed up, you can make unlimited slideshows for clients, friends and/or family.
Wedding Photography Example
You are shooting a wedding and it is time for the meal. When the guests are eating you could be selecting your best images from the day so far. Use a laptop to upload them to the Animoto website. Within minutes, you have a high resolution, stunning slideshow to show people just before the speeches. Very cool!
The Animoto Slideshow Maker software produces totally unique and stunning slideshows. Videos that people just haven't seen yet so to get your business out there in a unique position, you should start making these now and putting them everywhere. What a great promo tool!
Get on board with the Animoto Slideshow Maker and start having fun! Join Animoto
Please leave any comments on Animoto below and share this page with your Facebook friends.