Multimedia Slideshows get a Boost with ProShow 8

August 2, 2016

By Laura Brauer

It’s been a long time since photography was only about still images. What do you do with all the photos, video footage, overhead drone shots and other elements that come out of a shoot? While the days of turning off the lights and firing up the Kodak Carousel with a bunch of slides are over, there’s really nothing like a slideshow to put a spotlight on your work and wow your client—just ask photographer Tyler Branch, who provided us with this handy slideshow storytelling guide. Fortunately, there are several products on the market for creating slideshows—like Animoto and the newly updated trio of apps called Adobe Sparkbut today we’re focusing on Photodexs ProShow software. ProShow is an ideal solution for pulling together a slideshow that looks and sounds great and, even more importantly, offers an efficient workflow so you don’t have to spend a lot of time at the computer.

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Now in version 8, the software is available in two desktop applications: ProShow Gold and ProShow Producer. ProShow Gold has most of the same basic features as its more sophisticated sibling, ProShow Producer. But pro’s will want to go for Producer—the latter has features, including branded publishing that pro’s need. (Here’s how the two compare.)

The latest version features a number of improvements. If you’re in a real hurry, the show wizard feature now provides more control than before. Pick a theme, add your content and music and the wizard will add effects and time out the show based on the elements you choose.

Of course, if you want to design the show from scratch, there are an almost unlimited number of tools to create a slideshow that merges multimedia with transitions, overlays, text, special effects and more options than we can possibly list here.

Also new are more sophisticated text and caption options along with audio volume leveling. Anyone who has struggled with audio levels before will truly appreciate the latter.

Output options have also been expanded to include AVCHD so you can burn HD quality output on a DVD. And ProShow 8 has also enhanced output profiles for Blu-ray and video. Need output for a Smart TV? No problem! You can easily output the show to a USB flash drive as well.

Currently the software is available on Windows only (Mac users can check out the Web version). Upgrade pricing is available, but if you’re a first-timer, ProShow Gold 8 will set you back $70; ProShow Producer 8 costs $250. For more details on the new features, visit photodex.com.