Dust off those old family photos and put them to use. With today’s digital tools, turning your old family memories into a DVD slideshow has never been easier or more fun to do. Follow along as we share some easy steps to get you on your way to creating and sharing a personalized family DVD slideshow.
- Locate your photos: old photo albums, old memory cards, yearbooks, etc..
- Throw in a few ‘artifacts’ if you have them (e.g. documents, letters, souvenirs)
- Scan printed items
- Retouch /optimize
- Sort them into order
Start this process early! It takes a little time—but the rest will be a breeze. Once all your content is digitized, it’s time to create your slideshow!
Software for Creating DVD Slideshows
There are a ton of options out there when it comes to looking for great software for creating a DVD slideshow, but one stands heads and shoulders above the rest. ProShow is an award-winning, easy-to-use slideshow tool that turns your photos, video clips and music into really stunning, personalized slideshows. You can download a free trial to test it out.
The software comes in three versions: ProShow Gold (consumer), ProShow Producer (for the serious hobbyist/ or pro) and ProShow Web (the cloud-based solution for online slideshow creation) See the comparison chart to judge which one is right for you.
Telling Your Story
Once you’ve selected the software you’d like to use, the rest is simply telling your story.
- Consider the order of which to show the photos to your audience.
- Add a caption to the bottom of each slide to indicate the year the photo was taken and possibly the names of the people in the photo.
- Choose a background song that’s not too distracting as you want the focus to be on the visuals of your presentation. Consider a nice instrumental tune or one that is soft and subtle.
- Voice-overs do a great job of explaining moments in time and life’s milestones. Consider adding a few voice-overs to your slideshow to help tell your story and guide the audience through your presentation.
Inspiration: See What Other’s Have Created
There’s nothing like seeing other people’s work to spark your own creativity. To see what other people are doing with their family reunion slideshows, check out the following videos.
The Wade Family: Created in ProShow Producer by family historian Cyndy McAtee, this is a rich and beautifully-presented story about a family’s ancestral history.
A Marine’s Homecoming: This slideshow is about a Marine coming home from deployment in Afghanistan, reunited with his wife and family. The show was created using ProShow Producer.