Last night, the OKC SMUG met at the Downtown Library for our year-end holiday party, potluck, and slideshow celebrating the best of members’ work from 2011! 26 members each submitted two images, and the audience picked their top three.
Best of 2011 Winners
(Drumroll, Please!)
First Place: Amber Clawson Fife (Fife Photography)
Second Place: Rick Cotter (Exodus Photography)
Third Place: Mark Rose (Figure 8 Photos)
The winners will choose, in order of their finish, from three prizes including 1) a one-year SmugMug Pro membership ($150 value), 2) a three-month Animoto Pro membership ($125 value) and 3) a $25 Bay Photo credit.
Making Slideshows with Animoto Pro via SmugMug
Last night’s slideshow was produced using Animoto Pro (via SmugMug, with whom Animoto has a partnership). Photographers that are Pro members of both SmugMug and Animoto may take advantage of streamlined video production. Once images are uploaded into a SmugMug gallery, they can be sent directly (and very quickly!) to Animoto, by Clicking on “Buy” then “Create a Video”:
From there, you may send images to Animoto:
All of the images in the SmugMug gallery are automatically uploaded to Animoto – but first, you choose your slideshow style/theme from among many possibilities (many more than are visible in this screen shot). I use the HD (720p) Animoto Original (lower left):
Once your images are uploaded to Animoto (which only takes a couple minutes), you may make customizations including title, text, re-ordering images, credits, pacing, spotlighting particular images, song selection, etc.
Once your edits are complete, Animoto produces your video in only a few short minutes, and emails you a link from which you may download the file, make further edits, or upgrade to a higher resolution.
The partnership between SmugMug and Animoto makes slideshow production extremely easy, and streamlines your workflow. I promise they aren’t paying me to say this! 
I just think it’s a great tool. Hope this helps.
- HBA
Watch the Best of 2011 OKC SMUG Member Image Slideshow
