Getting rid of black background in iPhoto slideshow converted to .mov

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Level 1

9 points

Getting rid of black background in iPhoto slideshow converted to .mov

Hi all!

I have a desperate friend who created about an hour long slide show in iPhoto using "Vintage Prints" theme --it has a black background with photos getting dropped in. There are four segments she wants me to edit together for the whole show for her daughter's graduation party. Is there any way to get rid of that black background and replace it with a solid color background or texture? I have tons of animated textures and backrounds but I can't figuere out how to bring them to the rescue since the .mov is already created...... I thought of keying but 'black' isn't the new chromakey blue or green...... thought of a garbage mask but the shapes of the photos and collages dropping in are not constant.... Ideas?

I didn't see a way in iPhoto to convert that black background to white or color either.... Did I miss something there?

Thanks all!

ClemKins

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Jun 4, 2014 8:56 PM

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Answer 1

ClemKins Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 4, 2014 9:18 PM in response to ClemKins

Oh sorry about that....it wasn't the Vintage Prints theme, it's "Snapshots" theme in iPhoto....

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Answer 2

Jun 4, 2014 11:37 PM in response to ClemKins

ClemKins wrote:

.... I thought of keying but 'black' isn't the new chromakey blue or green......

black WAS - historically - the 'new' key effect 😉

(was first in use beginning 20th cent...)

use a Luma-mask for keying (Effects/keying) ...

instantly, black becomes transparent, and allows to place some other background underneath the keyed clip...

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Answer 3

ClemKins Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 5, 2014 4:55 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Hi Karsten! Thank you so much for your kind assistance. I've got the luma key effect up, it looks to be in transparency mode (that first icon on the left showing the idea of an alpha background) ...but I can't get a background or color in underneath.... Hmmm....this was so much easier in FC 7. Thoughts?

Thank you for any suggestions,

Cheers,

ClemKins

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Answer 4

Jun 5, 2014 9:23 AM in response to ClemKins

Just connect the background clip below the slideshow.

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Answer 5

Jun 5, 2014 10:58 PM in response to ClemKins

ClemKins wrote:

.. ...but I can't get a background or color in underneath....

works like charme here:

.. ok, needs some tweaking: a luma-key is never working as good as a color-key ... but iPhoto delivers some very solid black, so FCPX' keyer creates an acceptable job (in my humble criteria).

ok, the fade-out-to-black in the ending of the slideshow theme makes a luma-key impossible! 😁

keep in mind: the 'key' is more like a 'key-hole' (=as a non-native speaker, this is my mnomic 😝 ) - the color, alpha or black gets transparent and allows a look-thru to anything underneath ... that simple.

ClemKins wrote:

...this was so much easier in FC 7. Thoughts?

you still think in 'tracks' - no need 😉

Think of 'layers' 😁

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Answer 6

ClemKins Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 5, 2014 11:21 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Thanks so much Karsten! Your thinking did the trick! As you say, not quite as good as chroma key but given the circumstances a solid solution. This 'big dog' of my friend's slideshow turned out to be an hour and 29 minutes long! Yikes! I don't have the heart to tell her no one is going to watch it in its entirety. 👿

Again thank you and have a great day! If I were in Munich I'd buy you a beer!

Cheers!

ClemKins

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Answer 7

Jun 5, 2014 11:35 PM in response to ClemKins

ClemKins wrote:

... This 'big dog' of my friend's slideshow turned out to be an hour and 29 minutes long! Yikes! I don't have the heart to tell her no one is going to watch it in its entirety. 👿

<snore> ............. 😉

... If I were in Munich I'd buy you a beer!

ohhh, that's an expensive hobby - for this year's Oktoberfest, the greedy tent-owners raised the price for a stone to 10,10€ ... that is about the price for TWO trays (each 20-24 bottles, results in about 16-20l/stones) of cheap beer .. 30y ago, a stone cost 1,50€ ...

I drink on that! 😝

glad to be helpful...

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