[Shark Girl]

I have of number of images, taken with a 3008x2000 pixel camera in RAW mode. Many were subsequently cropped to various aspect ratios, in Adobe Camera Raw or in Photoshop. I have not converted to non-square pixels in CS or CS2.

In addition to printing some, I wish to use them in a DVD slide show that will play on NTSC-sets (not wide format) and to small audiences via a DLP projector.

I have seen wedding videos where the bride looks huge because it was played in Wide Screen Format. How do I avoid that with my images? What ratio and pixel size should I use at 72ppi to fill the screen?

Thanks for your help

Richard Todd

[james_hardin]

The slideshow will be converted to DVD Movie format at, 720 X 480 (NTSC). Likewise that will cover a 4:3 ratio screen or at least as close as you can get since it will never be a perfect match.

[vid2man97]

You want to make your pics as close to 640X480 as you can (like James said 4:3). But that's for square pixels. Those will fill the TV screen since the pixels are rectangular.

Personally I find it worth the effort to batch process them in CS2 to the .9 aspect ratio and paste them onto an NTSC template painted black. Then I know for sure the pic will look as good as it can. And again as James mentioned, you'll almost never get that 4:3 ratio so with the painted template, you'll be in control of the background and the positioning of the pic.

So what you're aiming for is 640X480 square pixels or 720X480 .9 aspect ratio pixels. It just depends on how much work you want to make for yourself. The CS2 .9 aspect method will also make sure your bride doesn't gain any weight that isn't really there. It's subtle but to some (and me) it matters.

And the other way in either case to avoid making the bride or anyone else look wide or thin, is to not play it on a widscreen TV. Unless you can adjust the TV in its menu to emulate 'regular' TV. It'll look like letterbox but with black bands on the sides rather than top and bottom.

have fun and hope the bride looks nice

[Shark Girl]

Thanks so much to both of you.

James is "DVD Movie format" mpeg-4? and is this better than WMV compressed format?

And VID2MAN97,
I found NTSC templates for 720x480 with guides (titlesafe) also 640x480, presummable square, in CS2 file>new>preset. All I'd have to do is fill with black and paste. For titles I'd have the titlesafe guides displayed. Thanks for the idea.

My projector uses 1024x768 size. This is also a 4:3 aspect ratio. If I'm using images for both , am I better off saving in the biegger 1024x768 size and let Videowave scale down when it converts to "DVD movie format"?

[vid2man97]

If you glance further down the template menu, you'll see that it automatically sets the pixel aspect ratio to .9 for you.

And you could save yourself some work by using the larger image and using it for both purposes. I'm not entirely sure how the Videowave program works though. Does it resample the image down or just 'squeeze' the image into the viewable area. I usually go 'by the book' so I've never used anything other than the 720X480. Try a slideshow and see if it hurts the image at all. I'm pretty sure it won't. I may even try it myself too cause this is a good question and a good cause....to save the image once for two projects.
Who needs to work more than they need?