What to do with all those wedding pictures? Or Vacation pictures? Or the 3,000 pictures you took of baby's first year? Make a slide show out of them, email it to your friends and family, and share your life.

Technorati Tags: [tag-tec]photo slide show[/tag-tec], [tag-tec]slide show software[/tag-tec], [tag-tec]create slide show[/tag-tec]
Below video tutorial shows you how to make a photo slide show with www.slide.com. It's way cool, not because it's free, but because you can easily specify how the photos should transition to the next - dissolve, spin, revolve…(they call it "Style"); you can easily add frames and borders (they call it "Skins") and adding background music is also a mouse click away.

Recently, they added preset designs so you just pop in your photos, and oila, you have a photo slide show complete with border, music and fun effects. You could be done in 2 steps.

But my guess is that you won't resist tweaking it. Warning: give yourself a time limit, it's addicting. Anyway, once you're done with it, save the slide show and an URL is created for you to copy and paste in an email to your family and friends. If you have a blog, the 'embed code' is available to your blog post.

Click To Play

To make a slide show, go to: www.slide.com.

Technorati tags: [tag-tec]photo book[/tag-tec], [tag-tec]photo gifts[/tag-tec], [tag-tec]create photo book[/tag-tec]

Creating a Photo book is very easy as more and more user-friendly services like Picaboo and Shutterfly crop up on the web. But don't just slap your photos into a book. Get creative. Create a Double Vision photo book.

You've seen Double Vision books. Two images side by side, and you have to find what's different. It's ten times more fun when they are your own family photos. And it makes a very special personalized photo gift, like an eye test for a 50th birthday, for example.

Follow these steps to create a Double Vision photo book. At the end of the project steps, I show a video of what kind of edits you might make to a photo for a project like this.

• Decide what size photo books you want to make. I suggest a rectangular book size, about 7" wide by 5" tall. Anything too big, you might have to stretch your photos to fill the page and lose sharpness. Square books will also require you to crop many of your photos as most photos are not square.
• Choose 8 to 10 photos. Choose photos that have a lot going on, as opposed to a portrait on a plain background.
• Check the original photo before duplicating it: size, brightness, no red-eye that kind of thing.
• Make a copy of the original photo or the enhanced original photo (see step above).
• Now the fun part. Make the edits - take some stuff out, add something in, change something). Watch a video below of sample page I did for my double vision book. Record your edits in an answer key page (or you yourself will forget what you changed).
• Now you are ready to compile your photos into a book. The original photo goes on the left page, the edited photos on the right. If you've never made a photo book before, see related links at the end of this post.
• Don't forget to include an answer key at the end of your book. BUT turn it upside down so folks can't just easily flip to it. They have to consciously turn the book upside down to cheat.
• Get your photo book printed bound. I usually have my photobooks bound in hardcover. But for this project, I choose soft cover, makes it more casual - and I can get more books because softcovers cost a lot less.

Below video shows you a sample page I did for a Double Vision book. Check out the section after the video for more tips on editing your photo.

Click To Play

Tips on editing your photo:
1. I do 6 edits a photo. That's a manageable number per photo. A couple of removals like taking off a wall painting, a couple of additions like adding that tiara to the lucky girl, and a couple of changes like changing the upholstery color in the video.
2. To add images, like a tiara, or a painting, you can use your other photos. Example, I use a portrait of my dad to replace a wall painting, or just duplicate what's on the photo itself. Example, if the original photos had 3 flowers, duplicate them, change the size and angle so they don't look like carbon copy.
3. You can also find free photo images http://www.sxc.hu/ . Microsoft also generously provides free clip art and photo images at:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx
4. Be kind. Don't make edits so small, so obscure, or the color shade change so subtle that it's impossible to find without a magnifying glass. This is a fun book, maybe even a photo gift, don't bring them to tears. Make half your changes very easy to find, and the rest a little harder, but not too hard.
5. Answer key. Record the things you change on an answer key. Turn the answer key upside down when you compile it on the last page of the book.

Related Posts:
How to Create a photo book with Picaboo
The 9-minute Scrapbook

Do you enjoy creating unique photo gifts? Join our Premier Program. Premier Membership is the fastest way to get familiar with the various memory-keeping techniques available today. Each month, we focus on one memory-keeping topic (see Premier schedule). The in-depth coverage, step-by-step instructions and goodies kit will get you started with your own family memories right away. Find out more about our Premier Membership.

Birthday parties present many photo ops. Don't just shoot for quantity though, a few quality photos are more precious than many poor ones. Here are some tips on improving the quality of your photos.

The world must freeze when you press that camera button or your photos won't be sharp. The world usually freezes that split second your camera shutter is open … but you don’t, and the camera shakes. That’s the most common reason our images are blurry.

Here’s what contributes to camera shakes. Avoid these situations. Read more

On your Anniversary, one way you can relive your wedding celebration is by having a digital photo frame play through every snapshot of your wedding the entire day.

The Philips Digital Photo Frame price has dropped another $30. It is now $139 for the white frame. A couple months ago, you would have to pay $199 for this popular digital photo frame.

When I bought my digital photo frame, I put it right beside my monitor so I can see changing photos of my kids, their cousins, smiling dogs, silly faces, etc. Instead of inspiring me to produce greater work, I got so distracted each time the picture changes. So I moved it. If you watch the video below you will see which one 'is not like the others'. Can I tell you, it was a hit with the Thanksgiving guests.

If you are considering buying one, I recommend the Philips Digital Photo Frame. It's very easy to set up, even dim pictures look vibrant (because the screen is lighted), and it takes all kinds of memory cards. Pop the card out of your camera and pop it in the frame. Or copy new photos of the baby every 3 months and mail the memory card to Grandma to swop it into her digital photo frame. The one shortcoming about the Philips picture frame is that it does not play video files (I am an avid video editor too). Some of the high end frames, like the Kodak Easyshare 10-Inch Digital Picture Frame plays videos (and is wireless too!) but you'll be spending north of $200.

All in all, if you don't need to display videos, and you know how to transfer photos from your computer using a USB cord or memory cards, you'll get the best value with the Philips photo frame. Read what Amazon customers say they like or don't like about this 6.5 inch digital picture frame.

Sisters always have a special bond. Evelyn used to be the little girl in the middle. She lost Elizabeth (right) to childbirth during World War II, and Helen (left) died of cancer last year. Only then did Evelyn discover this photograph in the bottom of a trunk in her sister's attic. It was torn, racked and discolored, but now it sits on Evelyn's nightstand. Where it belongs.

So you think photos are forever? Think again. The forces of time, nature and man-made threats constantly endanger your cherished photo collection. For a basic 4-page
guide to caring for your vintage photo, send us an email at photocare@joyremembered.com.