iMovie HD 5.02 - Photos

Hi Shadow360 - Welcome to iMovie Discussions!

In iPhoto, make a duplicate of the photo (Photos>Duplicate). Again in iPhoto, crop the duplicate to the widescreen aspect ratio of 16x9 (HD) - see the pre-sets in the drop-down menu. I'm not sure what version of iPhoto you are using, but you should be able to do all of this in all the recent versions. Import the cropped photo into iMovie HD in the usual way. I haven't tried this personally, as I'm still doing 4x3 productions, but it should work.

John

Update:

I've now tried my suggestion in iMovie HD 6.0.4 and it works perfectly (why did I doubt it)! I'm not sure though if it works in iMovie HD version 5.0.2 - I'll need to check that separately.

Note that a similar result can be obtained, simply by using the Photo Settings box in iMovie HD 6.0.4 (where the Ken Burns effect can be applied). Turn off the KB effect and adjust the start slider to "zoom" in on the photo until it fills the entire widescreen preview. In the preview window, the photo can be moved around (with the "grab hand") to achieve the desired position - effectively cropping the photo. Click on Apply when satisfied with the result.

John

Welcome Shadow360 to the iMovie boards..

Shadow360 wrote:
.. but can't see how to adjust the aspect ratio of the photos to match the video clips

watch..
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie-making-29

The Photo Settings method also works in iMovie HD 5.0.2, but the layout is different to version 6.0.4 - similar principles apply though. Just move the "zoom" slider to the required position, which is the wording I should have used in my last post (not Start slider).

In version 5, the Preview window is quite small compared to the full preview in version 6. The small Preview window appears at the top of the Photos pane. In version 5, clicking on the imported photo in the timeline or clip viewer allows you to make the appropriate adjustments, as described earlier.

All this brings back memories of using earlier versions of iMovie (how quickly we forget!). I can recall Karl Petersen describing how to use this "cropping" method many moons ago - it's not just for applying the Ken Burns effect. Just on that, I hope Karl is OK as I saw in Discussions that he was ill and hadn't participated in the Forums for quite a while. We certainly miss his invaluable input.

John

Thank you Karsten for the link to the iMovie tutorial. As my broadband is running sluggishly (träge) at the moment I haven't viewed it yet - but did you notice that Shadow's question related to iMovie HD 5.0.2, not iMovie 8 🙂

I'm sure though that very similar methods will apply - I will watch the tutorial once I'm back up to speed (Geschwindigkeit). I haven't actually used iMovie 8 very much at all - like you I still prefer the "old" timeline method used in earlier versions (and in Final Cut Express - your new favourite). iMovie 8 has its place of course (horses for courses!).

Regards
John

John Cogdell wrote:
.. Karsten .. t did you notice that Shadow's question related to iMovie HD 5.0.2, not iMovie 8 🙂

ooops, now it's ME who's in the wrong catagory.. 😀

You're welcome Simon! Hope you were able to get the result you were seeking.

John