trouble with exporting high res iPhoto slideshow

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trouble with exporting high res iPhoto slideshow

Iphoto Slideshow Gurus, I beseech thee! PLEASE HELP.

I have beautiful high resolution images taken by my professional wedding photographer. Imported just fine into iPhoto. I have been trying for 2 weeks to create a slideshow for my friends and family. It's been easy to create the slideshows, then I go to export. The export "works" in that I have a product to view, but several of the photos don't show up in the final product--the screen just goes black for a few seconds. I've redone the project, re-exported, etc. Nothing appears to work. Well... one thing worked. I eventually chose the lowest resolution setting for the export and voila! no more black screen clips. But the final product looks so crappy I no longer wish to send it to anyone. (If I choose the "medium" resolution option I still get the occasional black screen instead of the image.)

Any clue what to do? Is there some way to "alter" the affected images and dial down the resolution just on them individually and use a slightly lesser quality image just on those? It's the only thing I can think of, but I can't seem to figure out a way to do it.

Any thoughts welcome. THANKS!

Posted on Aug 4, 2015 5:54 PM

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Answer 1

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Aug 4, 2015 10:38 PM in response to Hot Banana

Some folks have fixed these kinds of issues by reinstalling the App.

Alternatives to iPhoto's slideshow include:

iMovie is on every Mac sold.

Others, in order of price:

PhotoToMovie $49.95

PulpMotion $129

FotoMagico $99

Final Cut Pro X $299

It's difficult to compare these apps. They have differences in capability - some are driven off templates. some aren't. Some have a wider variety of transitions. Others will have excellent audio controls. It's worth checking them out to see what meets your needs. However, there is no doubt that Final Cut Pro X is the most capable app of them all. You get what you pay for.

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Answer 2

Hot Banana Author

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Aug 5, 2015 5:09 AM in response to Yer_Man

Thank you Terence! I suppose I should try reinstalling before purchasing something. Forgive me for the novice question, but if I just reinstall the app, am I in danger of losing any of my photos?

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,308 points

Aug 5, 2015 6:51 AM in response to Hot Banana

Your photos are in the Library which is quite separate from the app, so no. But honestly, it would be unwise to do anything without having an up-to-date back up.

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

207,439 points

Aug 5, 2015 9:47 AM in response to Hot Banana

Try creating a small slideshow with just some of the images that don't process in your large slideshow. This can help narrow the problem down to whether it's the number of slides or those few slides themselves.

Which theme are you using?

What system and iPhoto versions are you using?

How much free space do you have on your boot drive?

Where is the iPhoto library located?

How much RAM do you have installed?

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Answer 5

Hot Banana Author

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Aug 5, 2015 1:34 PM in response to Old Toad

Excellent idea, Old Toad. Indeed, my new "troubleshooting" slideshow was an intriguing mix of... one black screen followed by another, and another and another. So it's those slides themselves. I'm no photographer (or mac genius, duh) but I poked around on the "info" screen that is available for each photo in the slideshow creator. Turns out all the problematic ones have one thing in common. They are listed as "7360 x 4912" shots. Don't have any idea what that means, but it's the largest number out of all the shots. (For example, those listed as "5131 x 3421" or "4928 x 3280" or lower are exporting just fine.) So.... I noticed that this same number also appears in the "edit' tab for each of these photos and that you can "constrain" them and use different numbers. So I changed some to existing number combos that I know are working (i.e. "5131 x 3421"). Then I tried to export again. I truly thought I was on to something. Alas, it did nothing. Those same images, now "constrained" still exported as black screens. ARGHHHHH.

As for your other questions... I am using the Ken Burns theme. I will try to go find out all the other info, but I just got this MAC in late December 2014 and have kept it updated.

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Answer 6

Hot Banana Author

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Aug 5, 2015 2:04 PM in response to Hot Banana

ok... so... I have OS Yosemite. Version 10.10.4. Don't know what version iPhoto but it would be the most recent one since there are no pending updates. And I have 83.82 GB free out of 249.8 GB. Don't know "where" my iPhoto library is located. I feel... illiterate.

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Answer 7

Old Toad

Level 10

207,439 points

Aug 5, 2015 2:44 PM in response to Hot Banana

Turns out all the problematic ones have one thing in common. They are listed as "7360 x 4912" shots.

Those are very, very large images and are overkill for slideshows. Export them to the Desktop via the File ➙ Export ➙ Exp;sort Unedited Original menu option with this custom size selected:

Import those smaller versions into the library and use them with the slideshow. You can rename them before importing with an "-s" at the end of the file name to identify the smaller version.

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Answer 8

Hot Banana Author

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Aug 6, 2015 4:40 AM in response to Old Toad

HOLY COW! Old Toad! You are a genius! You have saved my wedding slideshow! I can't thank you enough! This worked!

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Answer 9

Old Toad

Level 10

207,439 points

Aug 6, 2015 9:36 AM in response to Hot Banana

Glad to hear it's working now. You're feedback will help others with a similar very large image file problem.

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