Merging video and photography?

Pukka312 · Dec 20, 2012

Question...is there any affordable software that allows you to create a video/photo slideshow merged? I've worked with ones that let me choose one or the other, but I'm interested in merging both. I had a friend once make a VCD of a vacation, and though it was only video, he had control to manipulate the background music to decrease when anything funny or important was mentioned, and then the music would take over all sound the rest of the time. I'd like that capability too.

I have a 60D but have never tried the video capability, but figured it could be quite useful if I want to attempt something new here (new here in Tanzania, as I'm sure it's being done elsewhere). I'm not sure what to look for, but can't even play around with the idea without software. My iMac died

so I'm using a PC now, so until I get another Mac, I'm limited to PC software.

Also, one reason I haven't tried using video with my camera at events is because I worry about missing any key shots. Is it possible to steal a frame from a video clip and edit it as a photograph??? I won't worry so much about testing out the video capability if I know I can still nab some shots from the video.

tcphotography · Dec 20, 2012

I'm not a pc user but don't they have movie maker or something like that? Not as nice as iMovie but does the same thing.

Pukka312 · Dec 20, 2012

Unless I am crazy, I could do only photos or only video...couldn't combine the 2 in 1 slideshow

Orrin · Dec 20, 2012

The software (ZoomBrowser) that came with my P/S Canon has the ability to mix video and still images in a movie.

skyy38 · Jan 1, 2013

Pukka312 said:
Unless I am crazy, I could do only photos or only video...couldn't combine the 2 in 1 slideshow

Windows Live Movie Maker will let you use videos and pictures ...*together*....

paross2 · Mar 28, 2013

Adobe Premiere merges them really well, perhaps Premiere Elements 11 would be a good choice? ($65 on Amazon).

skieur · Apr 3, 2013

Pukka312 said:
Unless I am crazy, I could do only photos or only video...couldn't combine the 2 in 1 slideshow

I have integrated both in PowerPoint but computer RAM, buffer size, speed, etc. are complex parts of the mix. While displaying a large photo, uploading a video at the same time with speed becomes quite a difficult challenge for many computers.

KmH · Apr 3, 2013

Many don't appreciate that a DSLR with video capability is not really set up to do high quality video.

An external microphone, follow focus, shoulder rig, rear LCD hood and other similar accessories are needed.
Digital DSLR Shoulder Mount Rig with COUNTER WEIGHT and Follow Focus for Camcorder Steady DSLR Video Cam Camera WYRL02SET

All video is, is still shots shown at 25 frames per second or faster, so yes individual frames can be edited and displayed as standalone images.

TheKenTurner · Apr 4, 2013

I'm confused. Do you want a video where you press play, and then some pictures show up for 5 seconds? Or do you want a PowerPoint where you click for the next image/video?

-Ken Turner

CherylL · Apr 4, 2013

Just to add to all of the above comments, Premiere Elements 11 may be a good choice. You will need to have a capable computer to edit hi-def video. Ram, fast processor, video card and enough free space for the program to have elbow room all plays a factor.

Premiere Elements 11 appears to be a stable version (there were some not so good versions). The Quick Mode view is fairly simple layout compared to the Expert Mode, which was called the Timeline in previous versions. In the latter mode you can add many tracks for video, photos or audio. To help save on processing, resize your photos to slightly larger than your project settings. This will allow for some pans & zooms. No need to bring in a 5,000x3000 image.

You can get frame grabs as stills, but will only be the size of your video settings. 1920x1080 or 1280x720.

Premiere Pro allows to set the preview monitor resolution to half or less for faster playback when editing. I do not think Premiere Elements has this feature. I use Premiere Pro so I do not know for sure.

The Mac version of Premiere Elements 11 has less video effects, audio effects & transitions than the PC version.

Take some test footage and download the trial version of Premiere Elements to see if your system can edit the video and try some frame grabs to test for quality.

skieur · Apr 6, 2013

TheKenTurner said:
I'm confused. Do you want a video where you press play, and then some pictures show up for 5 seconds? Or do you want a PowerPoint where you click for the next image/video?

-Ken Turner

You can set slides and transitions to enter and leave the screen with different time settings to run automatically and add video and animation to the mix where appropriate again automatically based on preset times. There are however several technical issues:

The projector will only handle a certain resolution, so stills should be saved in that resolution.
Your computer buffer should be set to maximum.
You should have at least 8 gig ram
Computer speed should be high with dual or quad processing.
You may need to compress the video to take up less memory.

You will also need to know the software specs and whether they are adjustable or not related to speed, resolution, etc.

grafxman · Apr 7, 2013

Pukka312 said:
Question...is there any affordable software that allows you to create a video/photo slideshow merged? I've worked with ones that let me choose one or the other, but I'm interested in merging both. I had a friend once make a VCD of a vacation, and though it was only video, he had control to manipulate the background music to decrease when anything funny or important was mentioned, and then the music would take over all sound the rest of the time. I'd like that capability too.

I have a 60D but have never tried the video capability, but figured it could be quite useful if I want to attempt something new here (new here in Tanzania, as I'm sure it's being done elsewhere). I'm not sure what to look for, but can't even play around with the idea without software. My iMac died so I'm using a PC now, so until I get another Mac, I'm limited to PC software.

Also, one reason I haven't tried using video with my camera at events is because I worry about missing any key shots. Is it possible to steal a frame from a video clip and edit it as a photograph??? I won't worry so much about testing out the video capability if I know I can still nab some shots from the video.

I use Corel Video Studio X5 and it will do all you ask and much, much more. The snapshot feature allows capturing a .jpg or .bmp image. I just captured a .jpg image from a video and it came out excellent. You can produce a DVD that has a slide show with video. You specify the display time of each slide. You can zoom in on each photo, use a traveling camera feature that allows you to travel the camera across a photo, etc. The only "downside" to the software is that it has a rather odd interface but once you get used it, it's no problem. It's got an excellent online help system and Corel has forums for additional help. I use it for all my video work. So far I have nearly 400 videos posted to flickr. Corel Studio X5 has been replaced with X6 however I see X5 still available at Amazon for under $50. X6 is under $100.