Presentation possibilities in the Slideshow module, part 2: Customizing the slideshow's appearance
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Giving your show a unique look
- Making your images pop, adding backgrounds, and more
- Changing the background of the image display
- Working the design of the image display
- Timing and music
- Working with text
- What overlay options do you need?
- Making your own templates
Working with text
In Slideshow, you work with text by using the ABC button below the work area, as shown in Figure 18. When you have text on or by the images, you can click ABC and two new buttons become active to the left of it: Rotate Left and Rotate Right arrows. Also, clicking text or ABC gives you an active area to the right (seen as Custom Settings in Figure 18) that allows you to control text. You can also click on any text and use the Delete key to remove it. All of these are overall text effects; that is, you do it once and it affects all photos. You cannot change text on any individual photos in the Slideshow module (though you can do it by using captions in the metadata). If you want an overall title to your program, you must create such an image in Photoshop; Lightroom is not designed for doing that.
Figure 18: Click the ABC button to work with text in the slideshow.
I suggest being conservative in your use of text. Your photos should be the stars of your show, not clever text or special messages. But often, you will want to include some text to give your show and its images context or ownership. Here’s how you can work text for your slideshow:
- ABC button (add text). Click this button to add text to the photo, as shown in Figure 19. You get an active text box to the right of ABC called Custom Text. You can type whatever you want in that box. Nothing appears in the photo until you press Enter or Return. Click and drag the text to the position you want.
- Edit text. Click on the text you want to change and it becomes active, as shown in Figure 20. You size the image by clicking and dragging the control boxes around the outside of the active text. Rotate it by clicking the arrows to the left of the ABC button.
- Defined text choices. If you click on the words to the right of ABC (it will likely say Custom Text), a drop-down menu of text options based on file names and metadata appears, as shown in Figure 22. This is mostly a rather specialized use of text, but professional photographers who are using a slideshow to present images from a shoot might need some of this specific data. The Edit choice gives even more options for automating text, as shown in Figure 23 (the Text Template Editor dialog box appears). If you want separate captions for each image, you can choose Insert Caption, then go to Metadata in Library and put in specific captions there.
Figure 19: Click the ABC button to work with text in the slideshow.
Figure 20: Click on the text you want to change to make it active.
You can change the font and type variations such as bold or italic in the Text Overlays category of controls on the right panel of Slideshow. Just click the font name or face type for a drop-down menu like the one shown in Figure 21 for font choice.
Figure 21: Click the font name or face type to display the drop-down menu.
Figure 22: This drop-down menu shows text options based on file names and metadata.
Figure 23: The Edit choice gives you more options for automating text.
