iPhoto 6 for Mac OS X

5. Showing Photos Onscreen

Although there are those for whom a photo isn't real unless it appears on a piece of paper (and iPhoto can satisfy those people too), one of iPhoto's coolest features is its capability to present photos on screen in a wide variety of ways, ranging from slideshows on your Mac and Web-based presentations that anyone can view to customized screen savers and QuickTime movies.

Gone are the days of the carousel projector and a darkened room; now a slideshow involves high-resolution photographs slipping on and off a computer screen, complete with elegant transitions between pictures. But that's only the beginning with iPhoto 6. Your slideshows can take advantage of the Ken Burns Effect, which zooms and pans around photos, turning them from still images to scenes in a movie.

iPhoto's various onscreen presentation tools are not only the best way to display your photographs to friends and relatives, but also the best way for you to experience your own photos, whether through a constantly changing Desktop picture or a slideshow-based screen saver that kicks in whenever your Mac is idle.

Read on for instructions and advice on how to present your photos on screen!