How to Make Your Own Videos for FREE Part 2a

09/10/2010 kashmier

The first thing you will need to do is get Google’s Picasa – it is a free photo program that works well with any type of picture not just photos.

Download it at http://picasa.google.com/intl/en/

You can easily load photographs from your camera to Picasa or import saved files to view. My favorite part of acquiring photos from my camera is Picasa gives you the option to erase from your camera all the photos you are putting on you computer. This saves me time having to delete photos from my camera. There is an area where you can make collages which is one of the things I do for parts of my photo videos. You can make a mosaic, a picture pile, a framed mosaic, a grid or a contact sheet, so your options are pretty good.

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PART 2a

This article will cover how to set up your program files to make your video.

– What you will want to do is start a new album for your video. Since I have photos already in my program that I am using the easiest way to start this album is to locate where many of the photos are. In my case they are in the “Spring photos for frame” file. You will see this in the next image.

– Next click on the icon at the top of the page to create a new album. You should have no trouble finding these icons because when your cursor hoovers over them the text for each shows up. Below I added an arrow to show you exactly where this icon is. When you click on the icon a small window will come up. I was not able to make a copy of this window. There are a few boxes you can fill in:

The name you want to use ( I used ‘How to Movie’ )

Today’s date will be there automatically

There are a few other things like description and music choice but all can be done later.

– After you finish with creating the album go back to where your photos are located. Find a photo you want to include and right click on it. A menu will appear with a long assortment of options. Hoover over the second one ‘add to album’ another menu will open with any albums you already have. Click on the album you just made for your movie. Repeat this for all the photos you want to use or go to the next step. I recommend not putting in many photos just yet.

– Find your album (‘How to Movie’ in my case) in the left menu bar. It should be at the top above your photos listed. High litght it and the photos you have already saved to it will show in the display area. As you can see in the image below I saved three photos in mine.

Now you are ready to start making a movie.

– Above the photos in the display area click on the ‘create movie presentation icon’ shown in the next image.

The next screen that opens is where you will be creating your movie. The name of your album will show up as the title and the photos you have already entered into your album will show in the time line.

You can start a movie from any file you already have in Picasa but then you will have to change more in the next area. I was going to start with the file holding all the ‘Spring photos for frame’ photos but then I would have to delete over 100 of them from the time line.

Below is an image of the menu bar you will now be working with.

Movie Maker

I will discuss the movie maker further, starting with how to add and design your title in the next article.

If you have downloaded this program and are working along with these articles please message me with any questions I have not covered.

Marisa Horn

a/k/a kashmier

Youtube videos done with Picasa and windows movie maker
http://www.youtube.com/user/lthrwood

Z Video

Japanese Kung Fu Bear (WITH MUSIC)

09/08/2010 kashmier

Uncategorized, Z Video

How to Make Your Own Videos for FREE Part 1c

09/07/2010 kashmier

The first thing you will need to do is get Google’s Picasa – it is a free photo program that works well with any type of picture not just photos.
Download it at http://picasa.google.com/intl/en/
You can easily load photographs from your camera to Picasa or import saved files to view. My favorite part of acquiring photos from my camera is Picasa gives you the option to erase from your camera all the photos you are putting on you computer. This saves me time having to delete photos from my camera. There is an area where you can make collages which is one of the things I do for parts of my photo videos. You can make a mosaic, a picture pile, a framed mosaic, a grid or a contact sheet, so your options are pretty good.
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PART 1c
This article will cover those last available options working with collage in Picasa. If you read part one and two you should be quite familiar with this part of the program. Once you are working with it all of these parts will come rather easy to you. The best part of it now is that you can experiment with your own photos and have some fun.
First is Grid: Arrange pictures into regular rows and columns
Below is the menu bar you will see
grid menu
In the next image I used the following settings – grid spacing (just a little) if you use no spacing at all the photos lack individuality. They run into each other but with a tiny bit of a grid you get each to stand out. The grid is set at a solid color and that color is black.
I used draw shadows because that adds just the slightest bit of depth to the images. You can try with it on and off to see the difference and choose which you prefer.
grid 1
In the next image I scrambled the photos and used a bigger grid.
Everything else is set the same.
grid 2
After you are happy with your creation hit save collage. Remember you can always edit at a later time.
The last of the options under collage is
Contact Sheet: Thumbnails with an informative header

In the image below the following settings were used.
There are three options for frames – I used the center one to add small frames. The frame color can not be changed it is always white.
With this option the amount of space between your photos is done automatically by the program. The more photos you add the less space. I used a photo for the background but you can set it to be a solid color of your choice. There is a color picker so you can choose a color in one of the photos and by holding it over the color you want and clicking it you will get that color instantly. No guessing. Again I added the Draw Shadows option for debth, you can play with this to see if you want it on or off. There is not a big difference when you use this but it does add to the image.
cs 1
In the next image I used the third option for the photo frames – polaroid. I set the background to a solid color – in this case I use the color picker over the grass of the photo with the bunny rabbit. The draw shadows is on.

I never did find a way to change the title and/or information on the contact sheet. The program chooses what you see. I will start with the ‘Create Movie Presentation’ in my next article. I discovered while putting together a video “The Beauty of Nature” that this is not the only program I have used.
I do hope to cover the Picasa program and then try and give some pointers on ‘Windows Movie Maker’ program.