Photodex ProShow: Visual QuickStart Guide

It’s All About the Content

xi

Introduction

It’s All About the Content

Don’t let the ease of creation give you the

wrong impression, though. A poorly designed

slide show will still leave your viewers wish-

ing they were doing anything other than

watching a show where you decided to use

everything ProShow has to o er just because

you could. In addition, you don’t want to end

up with a distracting assortment of images

and e ects that don’t bring all the elements

together e ectively, leaving your audience

wondering exactly what it was they were

supposed to be seeing.  e more care you put

into selecting your images and choosing the

appropriate transitions and music, the more

compelling your show will be.

Before you begin assembling your content,

you should consider who your audience is

and plan the show around who will be watch-

ing it. Some shows are meant to be seen and

appreciated by family members only—little

Junior growing up, for instance. Others,

such as a show featuring a particular event

or place, might be seen by countless people

around the world, thanks to the Internet and

Web sites such as YouTube.

For a family show, or any show tailored to a

more general audience, you’ll want to focus

on images that tell a story and move at a com-

fortable pace to keep viewer interest high. For

a show designed for a more technical audi-

ence—for example, a show on  owers that

would be seen by a horticulture club—you’ll

want to slow things down and concentrate

on the elements you’re trying to teach. One

good example is a show on the evolution of a

particular type of plant. You might start with

an overview of the plant species and some

sample images, and then go into a detailed

show with slides illustrating the di erent

phases of the plant—details perhaps boring

to someone who isn’t technically inclined

toward the subject but fascinating

to the group who will be viewing this.

It’s All About the Content

xii

Introduction

I’ll cover how to add content to your show

in Chapter 2, but it’s not too early to start

thinking about what you want to present.

If you’re at all like most digital photogra-

phers, you have thousands of images from

which to choose.  at doesn’t make them

all worth adding to a show, though! Give

careful consideration to not only what goes

into your show but also how you present it to

your viewers. A good show will always have

a logical start and  nish. Your start should

set the viewers up for what they’ll be seeing.

Often, this takes the shape of a title slide with

text and perhaps a background image.  e

main portion of the show should be grouped

into similar categories of imagery, whether

the organization is based on a timeline or on

subject matter. Finally, the show shouldn’t

conclude with just an abrupt stop to the

music and images but rather should gradu-

ally wind down, leaving your viewers feeling

that they’ve seen it all, yet wanting more.

To view a couple of examples of shows that

follow these guidelines, check out the com-

panion Web site, www.proshowbook.com,

and click the Chapter 1 button.  e examples

will give you a taste for the types of shows

that are possible with this amazing program.