Getting Started with Photo Story 3
Photo Story 3 is a free piece of software created by Microsoft as a program to create picture slideshows that
allows users to add narration, music, effects, and transitions between pictures.
Benefits: Incredibly easy to use, free software, fantastic alternative to overused or tired project assignments,
promotes creativity, fun to use, nice alternative to PowerPoint, Free Software, appeals to visual and auditory
learning styles, shows can be saved in various playback forms (i.e. on a pocket PC or any portable media
player), FREE SOFTWARE (you can’t pass that up as a teacher).
Photo Story 3 is available on the Microsoft website and is now part of the 2009-2010 WFU software load.
Find it in Digital Media Tools>Video Tools.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/default.mspx
A project really has three parts: Planning, Production, and Saving. The planning stage is probably the most
important as a good plan helps save you time when you start the Production phase.
PLANNING – Research your topic/theme/idea. Since you will use images and audio as the primary method
for communicating content, you need to have good images to go along with the content you communicate
through narration. Consider saving your images in a folder for your project. Information that you learn from
Web sources can be saved in Word files and used to help construct your narration. It’s better to get more than
you need during the research project as your project idea may go in different directions during Production.
Remember to SAVE ALL CITATION INFORMATION FOR IMAGES AND CONTENT MATERIAL!
PRODUCTION
BEGINNING A NEW STORY
There are two steps:
creating a story and saving
a project. You MUST
create a story first.
To begin a new story,
simply select that radio
button.
Click the Next button to
continue.
NOTE: Be vigilant about
saving as you develop
your project.
IMPORTING & EDITING PICTURES
To import pictures from your computer, you
must click on the Import Pictures button. This
will open a browser window that allows you to
locate the pictures you wish to use. Select the
picture you wish to import and click OK.
Repeat this step until you have imported all the
pictures you wish to use.
You can add more pictures to a project later on,
by returning to this screen and importing again.
You can move pictures around in the
Storyboard by selected the image and then
using the directional arrows to move the image
in the Storyboard.
Once you have imported a picture, Photo
Story 3 will present an option to “Remove
Black Borders” underneath the IMPORT
PHOTOS button. This process crops AND
resizes your images, so you get a chance to
preview the results before you determine if
you want to accept that option. You can do
this for all of your pictures at once, but it is
wise to check to see if the changes made by
Photo Story are what you want. See what is lost in the image to the right.
You can also edit your images within Photo Story 3.
When you have an image selected, you will see
editing tools under the image.
If you click the edit button, you get the rotate, crop,
and AutoFix options you got earlier, but you also
have the option to ADD EFFECT. This gives you
lots of options for changing the look of your picture.
It also provides a way for you to change your
photos so that text shows up on top of them. Click
the ADD EFFECT tab and the drop-down menu
will appear.. You will also get an opportunity to
change the effect on your image when you add a
title.
If you haven’t saved your project yet, it’s a good time
to do it now. Photo Story 3 saves the project as a .wp3
file. This is similar to MM2 where the project is
editable in .wp3 format, but not after it’s been saved as
a .wmv. You now have a working PROJECT.
ADDING TITLES TO IMAGES
You can add titles to images or leave them
without any text. It all depends on what
effect you’re trying to create. Type the text
you want on the slide into the text field, use
the buttons above the text field to format
your text. Notice that you can change the
effect of your image here, too. This is helpful
in case your text does not show up well over
the image.
ADDING NARRATION
Adding narration is probably
where you’ll spend most of
your time during the
production phase.
1. Before you begin, you
should
configure
your
microphone and set your
recording volume. This is
completed by clicking on the
small button with the
microphone icon.
2. To begin, select your
starting slide and push the
red recording button.
3. You must manually click
to the next picture in order to continue your narration across photos. This requires some trial and error. If
you click too quickly while narrating, you will lose either the end of the previous recording or the beginning
of your new slide recording. You should allow for a short pause between clicking slides and continuing your
narration. You can also add notes for yourself in the text box (i.e. “DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE”). OR,
you can customize the timing for your slide to accommodate the length of your narration. This all depends on
the way you want to communicate information to your audience. To do this, click on the CUSTOMIZE
MOTION button under the image and the CUSTOMIZE MOTION dialog box will appear. From here you
can customize the motion of the image as it enters and exits, but you can also determine how long the image
stays present before exiting. By selecting SET DURATION AUTOMATICALLY, the length of time the
slide stays visible equals the length of your narration. If you are not using narration, but you want some slide
to stay visible longer than others (this could be helpful if you have lengthier bits of text, or if you want
questions to stay visible), select NUMBER OF SECONDS TO DISPLAY THE PICTURE. Use “preview” to
check your work.
Click on the transition tab to setup how your images move from one to another. You can also set the timings
for the transitions here, too.
ADDING MUSIC
One of the most effective
aspects of Photo Story 3 is the
ability to add background
music to your show.
1. Click on the slide where
you want to music to begin.
2. Click on Select Music in
order to locate a song on your
computer.
3. Once you have found your
music file, click OK. This
song will play over all the
slides until its end, unless you
choose to add another song.
4. You can add more than one
song by simply clicking on
another slide and repeating the
above steps.
5. It is possible to create your
own background music by
clicking on the Create Music
button. This is an area for experimentation.
6. You can also set the background music volume on this page. This is an important step if you are narrating
your show, because you do not want the music to overwhelm your narration.
7. As on earlier pages, you can preview your current show by clicking the Preview button.
8. Save your project and click Next when you are finished.
SAVING YOUR STORY
You should have been
saving throughout the
creation progress. Up until
this point, you have been
saving your show as a .wp3
file (as a project). This
means that you can return
to this project at any time
and edit what you have
already done. Once you
save it as a story, you
cannot edit further. If you
are completely satisfied
with your project and are
done editing, you are ready
to save your project as a
completed story for
playback, a .wmv file.
When you are ready to
save as a story, simply click the Next button.
Once the story has saved,
you will be given the
opportunity to view your
finished story or create
another story. If you do not
wish to view your story at
that time, you can Exit the
program.
When you next open Photo
Story 3, simply choose the
option Play a story to view
your finished project OR you
can just open the .wmv file
and it will play in your
media player.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Copyright Issues: If you are using this program for classroom use without publication online or replication
elsewhere, copyright issues are minor – just cite all of your sources at the end of your show. This program is
easy for students to use and offers a great opportunity for teaching your students about copyright, fair use,
and Creative Commons resources.