Using Windows XP > Digital Photography

Create a unique greeting card with Photo Story 3

Published: June 2, 2005

Learn how to use Photo Story 3 for Windows to do more with your digital pictures by creating a personalized greeting card for any special occasion.

With Photo Story 3, you can now experience an exciting new way to bring your pictures to life with panning and zooming, background music, titles, narration, and more. So, instead of trying to attach multiple pictures in e-mail, surprise your family and friends by turning your pictures into a unique and memorable photo story greeting card with Photo Story 3.

Creating a photo story greeting card is easy. Photo Story 3 can easily compress your digital pictures to a small file size which is easy to send through e-mail, without sacrificing great image quality. Also, Photo Story 3 enables you to add a whole new dimension to your digital pictures with stunning special effects, motion, soundtracks, and your own voice commentary.

*
**
Related Links
•Download Photo Story 3
•Create your first photo story
•Explore digital photography with Windows XP
**
On This Page
Creating your greeting cardCreating your greeting card
Saving and sending your greeting cardSaving and sending your greeting card

Creating your greeting card

To create a Photo Story greeting card, follow these simple steps.

1.

Download Photo Story 3 and install it on any computer running Windows XP.

2.

Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Photo Story 3 for Windows.

3.

On the Welcome page, click Begin a new story, and then click Next.

4.

On the Import and arrange your pictures page, click Import Pictures, and then add pictures from your computer, a network folder, or from MSN Groups such as a family Web site.

5.

If you want to rotate and crop a picture or adjust the contrast, color level, or red-eye, click the picture in the film strip, and then click Edit.

6.

If you want to reorder your pictures, drag the picture to a new position on the film strip. When you're satisfied with the order of the pictures, click Next to continue.

7.

On the Add a title to your pictures page, you can do the following:

•

Add a title or picture caption. Simply click a picture in the film strip, and then type the title or caption in the text box. For example, you may want to add a "Happy Mothers Day!" title to pictures of the children, and then create fun captions for a Mothers Day card.

If you want to change the appearance or location of the text, click the font and alignment buttons located above the text box.

•

Apply special effects. To change the appearance of a picture, click a picture in the film strip, and then click a special effect in the Effect list. For fun effects, you might want to try Water Color, Colored Pencil, or Diffused Glow.

•

When you're happy with the title, captions, and effects, click Next.

8.

On the Narrate your pictures and customize motion page, you can do the following:

•

Record voice narration. To record narration for a picture, click a picture in the film strip, and then click the Record Narration button. You can record up to five minutes of narration for each picture and narrate the pictures in any order you want. If you do not like the narration for a picture, you can delete the narration and record it again.

•

Customize picture motion. Photo Story can apply pan and zoom motions automatically for the pictures in your story, or you can customize the motion yourself. To customize the motion, click a picture in the film strip, and then click Customize Motion. On the Motion and Duration tab, specify the starting and ending position for pan and zoom effects, and the number of seconds that a picture without narration is displayed.

•

Add transitions between your pictures. To add transitions, click Customize Motion, click the Transition tab, and then select the transition you want and the number of seconds to display the transition.

9.

Click Preview to preview your story. When you're satisfied with the narration, the motion, and the transitions, click Next to continue.

10.

On the Add background music page, add background music for your greeting card. For example, you may want to add a cheery Christmas carol for a holiday card. A different piece of music can play for each picture or for a group of pictures.

To choose the music, click the picture in the film strip where you want the music to begin, and then do one of the following:

•

Click Select Music to choose a piece of music from your computer, a network folder, or the Internet.

•

Click Create Music to customize prerecorded pieces and styles of music by selecting the genre, style, bands, mood, tempo, and intensity of the music.

If you recorded voice narration for your story, make sure that you select a volume level for the music that still allows the narration to be audible.

11.

Click Preview to see what your story looks like. When you're happy with your creation, click Next to continue.

Saving and sending your greeting card

With just a few more quick steps, you can save your photo story greeting card and then send it via e-mail it to friends and family.

1.

On the Save your story page, click Send the story in an e-mail message.

2.

Click Next to build your story as a Windows Media Video (.WMV) file.

3.

On the Completing Photo Story 3 for Windows page, click Continue to e-mail your story.

Photo Story opens a new message in your e-mail program and automatically attaches your photo story greeting card to the e-mail message.

4.

In the e-mail message window, type the e-mail addresses for the people you want to send the greeting card to, type a message, and then click Send.

Friends and family can view your photo story greeting card using Windows Media Player. A typical photo story with five pictures and background music in it is about 300-500K in size—perfect for sharing through e-mail while still less than the size it would be if you had tried to send the original images.