What tools are there for synchronizing photos to audio by time in a slideshow?

October 28, 2009 9:59 AM

What tools are there for synchronizing photos to audio by time in a slideshow?

I have a set of digital photos taken manually, at about a photo each second but not quite. I have audio recorded at the same time, and I'd like to be able to match the photos up to the audio by time. What's the best way to do this? Mac tools are preferred, but I'd love to hear all suggestions. Thanks!

posted by friedapplepie to technology (8 comments total)

You can do that easily in Windows MovieMaker.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:12 AM on October 28, 2009

Have you checked out Soundslides?
posted by eatcake at 10:12 AM on October 28, 2009

Program called Soundslides is made for just this. Very easy to use. They have a trial version on the site.
posted by WickedPissah at 10:12 AM on October 28, 2009

As far as I can tell these applications put the photos in at regular intervals, rather than matching the timestamp on the photos with the audio. I know I can do this manually, but I have hundreds of photos and am looking for an automatic function. Am I missing something?
Thanks
posted by friedapplepie at 12:16 PM on October 28, 2009

Video editing software (iMovie) should work. The default for imported still images is 4secs and there is the Ken Burns effect, but you can hopefully set the defaults if you have hundreds of images to import.

You can also embed images in mp3 files as chapter images. GarageBand does this (add a "Podcast Track") but it seems the resolution is limited to 300x300.
posted by kamelhoecker at 1:24 PM on October 28, 2009

So, the photos are not regular intervals apart, so I'm looking for software that looks at the timestamp for each photo and matches it to that of the audio, to the second. Does that exist?
posted by friedapplepie at 1:37 PM on October 28, 2009

As far as I can tell these applications put the photos in at regular intervals, rather than matching the timestamp on the photos with the audio.

With Windows Movie Maker you can control exactly when each image appears and how long it is displayed.

But it doesn't do it automatically by looking at something in or on the file. You do it by setting up a timeline and telling it on that timeline where each image transition takes place.

It's tedious, but it isn't difficult.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:10 PM on October 28, 2009

thanks for the moviemaker suggestion. i've had to rule out the easy imovie/moviemaker type apps. unfortunately, with thousands of photos, automaticity is really important.
posted by friedapplepie at 9:56 AM on October 29, 2009