Create a YouTube video with Photoshop Elements - Part 1

In Part 1, I'm going to go over the basics of creating the slideshow using Photoshop Elements; in Part 2, I'll cover some additional options and the upload procedure.  Please note that you'll need to create a YouTube account if you don't already have one ... it's easy and it's free!

1. In Photoshop Elements (PSE), open all the files you want to have in your slide show.  I generally use photos that have been saved as JPG (max quality), sized to about 1200 pixels wide.  There are no hard and fast rules for this, so feel free to experiment.
   
   
2. Click on the Create tab (upper right corner) and select Slide Show:
   
   
   
   
   
   This will open the Elements Organizer Slide Show Editor.  You'll see the photos you opened in PSE in the Storyboard along the bottom of the screen.
   
   
3. Click on Quick Reorder button to sort your photos.
   
   
   
   
4. This will open another screen where you can click and drag the images into the order in which you want to have them displayed.
   
   
   
   When finished, click Back to return to the main Slide Show Editor.
   
   
5. Each slide and transition are automatically set to default values (5 second duration for slides, 2 second duration for transition, transition type = Fade).  You can changes the defaults by going to Edit, Slide Show Preferences, or set each duration and transition individually by clicking on the small black arrow next to the slide duration/transition.  For right now, we're going to accept the default values.
   
   
6. Note that the editor has determined the duration of the entire slide show based on the values selected:
   
   
   
   
7. You can now select an audio track with approximately the same length.  Don't worry if you don't have one - if the audio track is too short it can be set to loop automatically; if it's too long, it will just fade out at the end.
   
   
   
   
8. If your audio track and the slideshow length are pretty close, you can select Fit Slides to Audio to have the editor automatically adjust the duration of the slides to make them match:
   
   
   
   
9. Click the Play button to see what it looks like so far.  If your Slide Show Preferences are set to Apply Pan and Zoom to All Slides, you'll notice that the Editor has automatically enabled this on each slide.  We're going to refine this in Part 2.
   
   
   

In Part 2, we'll also look at adding a title slide, changing transitions, and how to upload your completed slideshow to YouTube. 

Part 2 is here!  http://activerain.com/blogsview/1636072/create-a-youtube-video-with-photoshop-elements-part-2