Animated slideshows with PhotoFilmStrip
Evening slideshows were often highly technical operations in the glory days of analog photography. Along with crossfades using two projectors or one projector with two lenses, it was also possible to provide both the soundtrack and the control signals for the picture change using a multitrack tape recorder. The results were pretty impressive and far superior to tediously skimming through an album.
But, no matter how you looked at it, the slideshow as such remained a static image. Now, however, you can not only compile slideshows and play movies using software, you can also create the illusion of a real video by panning and zooming in on images. This is much more than just a gimmick; it can be used specifically to draw the viewer's attention to certain parts of an image that might otherwise go unnoticed. Whereas it only used to be possible to create such effects using professional rostrum cameras [1] – which are placed above the subject to facilitate zooming and panning – today, the software takes care of both processing the frames and rendering playable movies.
PhotoFilmStrip [2] is one such program that breathes new life into your photos with the help of the Ken Burns effect. The name comes from American filmmaker, Ken Burns [3], who, although he might not have invented the technique, he perfected it and earned numerous awards for his use of it.
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