Create a slideshow

You can create two kinds of slideshows:

  • Instant slideshow: To very quickly showcase a selection of your photos—with a theme, music, and transitions—you can create an instant slideshow. If you show the same selection again, the same settings apply. However, you can’t change the photos included or customize the slideshow further.

  • Saved slideshow: For more control over your slideshow, you can create a saved slideshow. With a saved slideshow, you can reorder photos, modify transitions between photos, add text to slides, add the Ken Burns effect, and more. A saved slideshow appears in your Source list so that you can play it and change it at any time.

Note:  In addition to photos, you can include video clips in your slideshows.

To view photos as an instant slideshow:

  1. Select the photos (or an Event, an album, or a project such as a book, card, or calendar) you want to display as a slideshow.

  2. Click the Slideshow button in the toolbar.

    Image of Slideshow play button

  3. In the slideshow panel that appears, select a theme.

    To see a preview of each option, move your pointer over the thumbnail.

  4. To add music or change settings, click the tabs at the top.

    For more information about adding music and changing settings, see the other topics in this section.

  5. Click Play.

To stop playing the slideshow, press the Escape key.

To create a saved slideshow:

  1. Select the photos (or an Event, a Faces or Places group, an album, or a project such as a book, card, or calendar) you want in your slideshow.

    You can always change the photos in the slideshow later.

  2. If you’re in full-screen view, exit it by clicking Full Screen in the toolbar.

    If you’re using Mac OS X v10.7 or later, move your pointer to the top of the screen, and then click the Full Screen button that appears in the top-right corner.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Click the Create button in the toolbar and choose Slideshow from the pop-up menu.

    • Choose File > New > Slideshow.

    The new slideshow appears in the Source list, below Slideshows.

  4. Type a name for your slideshow.

  5. To reorder photos, drag photos in the photo browser at the top of the window.

    To display photos in random order, see Change slideshow settings.

  6. To choose a theme, click the Themes button in the toolbar.

    To see a preview of each option, move your pointer over the thumbnail.

    Tip:  If you use Places to add location information to your photos, you can use the Places theme, which shows maps and the place names of where your photos were taken. You can also change the place names that appear in the slideshow. Select any of the thumbnail images for title slides in the photo browser (they’re black with a T in the center), and then double-click the place name text and type a new place name.

  7. To play the slideshow, click the Play button in the toolbar.

    Image of the Play button in the toolbar

While a slideshow is playing, move your pointer to make the slideshow controls appear:

Screenshot of the slideshow controls

Tip:  If it takes a long time for a slideshow to start, it might be because the background music is a very large file. Try choosing a song with a smaller file size. To see a song’s file size, open iTunes, select the song, and then choose File > Get Info.