Digital Storytelling using Photo Story 3 for Windows
"Microsoft's Photo Story is a free
Windows program that lets you create audiovisual presentations out of your
photos and images. You can quickly crop, rotate, and edit your pictures;
personalize them with captions and titles; and add sound effects, narration,
and background music. Photo Story saves your presentations as WMV files you can
play on your PC or convert using a third-party video converter. Finished files
can be small enough to send by email, too. Many Windows users already have it;
those who don't can download and install it or repair their current
installation, if necessary. We looked at the latest release, Photo Story 3."
"Photo Story 3 opens with a wizard
offering three choices: Begin a new story, edit a project, or play a story.
With no stories to edit or play, we started with the first option. However, in
the lower left corner of the program's window is a small Help button that opens
a fairly large Help file that many users may prefer as a starting point since
it explains every step and even offers extras such as tips and tricks,
accessibility options for individuals with disabilities, and a Glossary. In any
case, the program's wizard made each step easy even for beginners. We imported
some images and arranged them on the film strip. A main window displays
selected images and let us crop and rotate them, correct color levels and red
eye, and apply a variety of visual effects from a drop-down list. An Auto Fix
feature automatically corrects color, contrast, and red eye, too. Photo Story's
wizard offers lots of advice, such as telling us that removing the black
borders from our images with the Remove Black Borders tool would improve its
on-screen appearance. A selection tool ensures that the right part of your
photo is retained. We added text, narration, and music, and saved our project
with lots of playback options."
"Presentations created with Photo
Story 3 are great for weddings, birthdays, and other celebrations. With a
little time and effort, this surprisingly versatile tool can tell all kinds of
stories. It's a hidden gem in Windows."
"Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Photo Story 3
3.0.1115.11."
Student Assignment:
- Photographic athletic shoe photo essay for Nike or Adidas .
- Collect and edit ten images from www.google.com.
- Ten images must clearly show the style and design of shoe from different angles.
- Images must include a testimonial image of a famous athlete wearing the sports shoe in action.
- Photo Story must utilize transitions between each image.
- Photo Story must contain written text by student.
- Photo Story must contain a Source Page; Students must identify all url source addresses, and usage from each source.
- Photo Story must contain heading with student credit & class #.
- All work must be saved in one student folder labeled; "Photo Story, Student's name, and class #."
