Column: Create a Story from a Single Still Photo with Photo Story

[John Inzer]

Hi Chris,

I am trying to create a photo story in 16x9 format insted of 4x3. I've
alredy create a profile to encode at 1280 x 720 but once the file is
encoded the pictures get stretched. Is there any solution to work at
16x9?
Many thanks
J. Eduardo

========================================
Did you pre-crop the image files to the 16:9 ratio?
Have a look at the following article:

Prepping Still Pix for Import
http://tinyurl.com/v9vo9
(scroll down to: Heading for a widescreen story?...)

There are some downloadable profiles at the
following site:

Photo Story 3 - Saving and Distributing
http://www.papajohn.org/PS3-Saving.html

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Guest]

Hi Chris,

Just discovered Photo Story and had a go, liked your explaination, but on
saving mine couldn't hear the music I'd chosen when played in WMP 10 - hear
it okay in Photo Story, so what am I missing using Windows XP?

Derek

 

[Guest]

Hi Chris,

Sorry to have bothered you with my so called problem, I messed about with
WMP 10 and eventually got the sound playing - so using it and Nero Vision was
able to creat my first DVD.

But again. thanks for all your tips

Drex

 

[Guest]

Hi Chris,
Back again much improved, but can you tell me why my music doesn't sound
when I've sent an e-mail - I sent a good one to myself to try it, but the
pictures appeared but no sound?

Using Version 3 - I've made a DVD with it, complete with sound, so why not
in the e-mail?

Regards

Drex28

 

[Guest]

Vladimir's article was great!; many thanks. In Photo Story 3, is there a way
to change the default motion?; e.g., I'd like the default to be "Set end
position the same as start position" - - and I'd like to have the entire
picture in the viewer at the start. Then, with that as default, I'd add
motion only where I want it; now, I have to click a box for every picture
because they all have motion. Thanks again, Thom

 

[John Inzer]

Vladimir's article was great!; many thanks. In Photo Story 3, is
there a way to change the default motion?; e.g., I'd like the default
to be "Set end position the same as start position" - - and I'd like
to have the entire picture in the viewer at the start. Then, with
that as default, I'd add motion only where I want it; now, I have to
click a box for every picture because they all have motion. Thanks
again, Thom

=============
Maybe the following app would be useful:

TweakPS
http://www.windowsphotostory.com/TweakPS



--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[John S.]

I am having trouble with two things using Photo Story:
1. I am unable to play my story on Windows Media Player. In fact, I cannot
even see the Photo Story file when I'm in the Windows Media Player. The
Photo Story instructions say that a link to Windows Media Player is
automatically generated when a story is saved. However, I can't see that a
link was made.
2. When I try to add a music file to my story, I get a message that says
that the music file is protected. I downloaded my songs from the Walmart
music site, thinking that I could use them in my story, but I can't seem to
be able to use them.

Can someone please advise on these two problems? Thanks!

 

[Michael J. Mahon]

I am having trouble with two things using Photo Story:
1. I am unable to play my story on Windows Media Player. In fact, I cannot
even see the Photo Story file when I'm in the Windows Media Player. The
Photo Story instructions say that a link to Windows Media Player is
automatically generated when a story is saved. However, I can't see that a
link was made.

You'll need to "continue" further through the Photo Story wizard
to the point where you choose to save your Photo Story as a .wmv
file. This file (not your saved .ps3 file) is playable by Windows
Media Player.

2. When I try to add a music file to my story, I get a message that says
that the music file is protected. I downloaded my songs from the Walmart
music site, thinking that I could use them in my story, but I can't seem to
be able to use them.

Photo Story 3 construes incorporation of protected (Digital Rights
Managed) music as "copying" and prohibits it. You will need to convert
your "protected" music into a non-protected form before it can be
imported into Photo Story 3.

One way of doing this is to burn a CD of the protected music (often
this is permitted), then "rip" the CD to .mp3 files. The .mp3 files
can then be imported or used in any way you wish.

Can someone please advise on these two problems? Thanks!

:

-michael

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."

 

[jay]

How can I add music from I tunes to the Photo Story

thanks

jay

 

[John Inzer]

How can I add music from I tunes to the Photo Story

thanks

jay

==============================================
Try converting them to .wma, .wav, or .mp3 before importing.

Have a look at the following article:

Movie Maker 2 - Importing Audio
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Importing-Audio.html
(look at the right column under PapaJohn Comments)

Here's some info on ripping if you need it:

===
Windows Media Player 10
Quickly Rip CDs to Your Computer
http://tinyurl.com/3nvfu
===
Windows Media Player 11
Rip (Copy) Songs from
CDs to Your Computer
http://tinyurl.com/ywmevc
===

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://support.microsoft.com/ph/695

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[yukii]

do I need the sonic DVD software to burn the story ?

 

[John Inzer]

do I need the sonic DVD software to burn the story ?

==========================================
Sonic is one option and there are others.

Here's a freebie and a tutorial:

Free Videos To DVD
http://www.koyotesoft.com/indexEn.html

Burn Your Photo Stories to DVD for Free
using Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows
http://pctoby.com/DVDPhotoStory.aspx

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[refract]

It is five years later and Photostory is sitting there.

Vladimir showed us how to create a story with a single photo.

By golly---it works---and well.

But PS is a pain in that you must import the original photo over and over
and over---depending on how much of a story you want to tell. And I can pan
and zoom that camera such that people are amazed. Sometimes I work a group
photo and have to import the same photo 6, 7, or 8 times to "tell my story".

Why the pain? Why can't a simple improvement be made to PS so that you can
click any photo in the timeline and request a duplicate. Then if you need
another duplicate, you click again---and maybe again.

This seems like such a simple request to make a beautiful program stand head
and shoulders above anything else out there.

Please PS engineers and programmers---make this simple improvement.

 

[John Inzer]

It is five years later and Photostory is sitting there.

Vladimir showed us how to create a story with a single photo.

By golly---it works---and well.

But PS is a pain in that you must import the original photo over and
over and over---depending on how much of a story you want to tell.
And I can pan and zoom that camera such that people are amazed.
Sometimes I work a group photo and have to import the same photo 6,
7, or 8 times to "tell my story".

Why the pain? Why can't a simple improvement be made to PS so that
you can click any photo in the timeline and request a duplicate.
Then if you need another duplicate, you click again---and maybe again.

This seems like such a simple request to make a beautiful program
stand head and shoulders above anything else out there.

Please PS engineers and programmers---make this simple improvement.

=================================
FWIW...if you open your pictures folder next
to photo story...you can quickly drag/drop as
many copies of a picture as you need onto
the files tray.

--

J. Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[rydaway]

Create a Story from a Single Still Photo with Photo Story 3

In this article, Lead Program Manager Vladimir Rovinsky describes how to
create a mini story based on a single picture with Photo Story 3.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/tips/create.mspx

You can discuss the article in this thread.

Chris Norred
Tech Editor
(This post provided as is and implies no warranties)

Is anybody please able to help with the following problem?

We create a story in PS3 and save it to file.
We are able to re-visit this story to edit it.
When we want to run this story we are told no stories are available. Does
anybody please have any tips on whythis could be. Thanks.

 

[John Inzer]

Is anybody please able to help with the following problem?

We create a story in PS3 and save it to file.
We are able to re-visit this story to edit it.
When we want to run this story we are told no stories are available.
Does anybody please have any tips on whythis could be. Thanks.

========================================
Apparently you saved the .wp3 project file...now you
need to save the completed project in the .wmv movie
format.

In PhotoStory 3...when you are on the last screen that
says: "Save Your Story"...Browse and choose a save
location and then click...Next...one last time...that will
save your story in the .wmv movie format.

--

J. Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk