Hey all. I'm hearing lots of chatter lately about slideshows. After a bit of digging, I'm still quite confused about a few things. Hoping those of you using slide shows for marketing can clear a few things up.

1. First question - Why??? Part of my business equation is keeping income high while keeping time involved low. If I can eliminate a step of my workflow and still turn the same product, I'm all for it. This is why I'd rather sell a pile of prints than an album. Less time involved. Maybe a few less dollars, but free time is gold to me. It seems any attempt at building a new product like a slide show is a step in the wrong direction.

2. I hear many of you "show a slideshow at the reception, this gains lots of referrals". Okay, this too hits me sideways. What slides are you showing? Is it actual images of the couple early in the day? Shots from the engagement? I'm lucky if I have time between the ceremony and reception to slam a powerbar, hit the bathroom, and get a pic or two of the cake. I wouldn't even think of opening the laptop, downloading cards, sorting images, building a slideshow, then rendering and turning it around in time to run in a scheduled time slot. Not to mention setting up the projector and sound. No thanks.

Are you showing an overall demo of your work, other than the couple? A pre-recorded slide show? I can't see why couples would allow this. It's their day, not a time for me to market to their guests. I'm at a loss to the logic here.


I can't help but think I'm missing a great marketing oportunity here, but it also seems like a bunch of added stress. My setup thus far is to create a wonderful gallery the couple will email to their guest list. I wonder how the effect of this would compare to a slideshow during the event itself.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

Kevin, recently the big craze on OSP has been referring to the web slideshows because Showit Web beta was released. This software came as a result of first doing a slideshow at the reception and then wanting to be able to post those pictures online quickly so that friends and family could view them again and show it off to other people.
Back to the reception slideshow. Two reasons to do this:
1. People LOVE IT!!! Everybody at the wedding would love to be able to see the special moments of the girls and guys getting ready earlier that day. Most of the guests would never see any of that happening. And plus, you are actually seeing the photos! Most of the time guests would walk away from the wedding and Never see a single photo from the wedding unless they were invited over to the couple's house and had a chance to view the album, but a majority would never see the photos.
2. MARKETING!! (Maybe that should be #1) When people see what they like they usually want more. Getting 150+ people to see your photos would be such a chore if you asked them all to go to your website. But if you bring the slideshow to them and all of the pictures are of someone they know then you have their full attention. This is such a HUGE thing!! There will always be someone standing around watching the slideshow. Place a stack of business cards in front of the laptop and step away. People will grab your card and start spreading your name around. They will promote you for FREE!!! They will tell all of their family and friends about the 'cool slideshow' they saw at the reception and how they need to hire this person for so and so's wedding! It totally works. I was shooting with a friend and I had the caterer walk up to me last week and say that she loved the pictures and took a few of the business cards and that she was the regular cater at a different local wedding facility and that she would definitely let them know about us. FREE MARKETING!!

Now down to pulling it off: It definitely helps to have another person with you but you can pull at small slideshow off on your own. The best time to work on it is while everybody is eating dinner. If you can get your pictures downloaded before the reception starts they you can go back and start editing them quickly during the meal.
One clarification: When we say slideshow, we are usually referring to a slideshow on a laptop. Panning and zooming and fading between pictures. No music needed. The best place to put up your laptop would be where most people would walk by...THE BAR!!
Here's a pic from last weekend, it was my first time being able to put one together:
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The pictures usually consist of a mixture of getting ready, ceremony, and portrait shots. Check out a recent slideshow on DJ's website. I was able to join them for this wedding and learned a lot about how they pulled off getting the slideshow done. Almost all of these photos were in the slideshow that played at the reception. Whitney & Jesse The slideshow was played using the mac photo screensaver. Nice and simple. No need to render anything.

If you've got a laptop that you can use to play a slideshow on I would be glad to join you on a shoot and help you pull one together!! I'm over in Chandler. Oh...a few of us OSPers are getting together next Thurs. afternoon/evening. You able to join us?

I hope that helps you out! I'm tired so it may not have all been clear.