As a business owner, I’m constantly trying to think of ways to get my brand out into the view of my clients & potential clients. I want to deliver my message as quickly and as accurately as possible. Being that the beginning of the year is generally my “slow” season for shooting, I have plenty of time on my hands to tinker around with ideas on what to do this year.

Stop Scrolling

I’ve been seeing a lot of blog posts with long chains of photos embedded in the post. There’s one thing I loathe about photo blogs, it’s scrolling for (what seems like) decades. I wanted to also share a bunch of photos, but in a way that’s a little more fun & lively than just scrolling.

Since I recently discovered the joy and ease of use of SongFreedom & Photodex ProShow software, I decided I’d do a year in review slideshow. The interesting visuals of not just my photos, but the transitions within ProShow would be eye catching and the right music choice would add (and guide) the emotion I want celebrating all the fun I had in 2014.

My Approach

I decided to use ProShow Web so I could upload my images and work on the slideshow from anywhere, online. There are a lot of theme’s available but I poked around until I found one that added some pizazz without being too flashy. Once my photos were uploaded I added my song that I had purchased the licensing and downloaded from SongFreedom and told the software to create the slideshow. Easy!

Once the rendering was done I noticed some transitions & effects I wanted to change, which the software easily allowed me to do. After a few tweaks here and there, I had the show that I wanted and was able to render the final version and download the sized copies I wanted. I remember even a few years ago the thought of creating slideshows like this was a bit daunting, but these two companies make it supremely easy and fun to do.

How It Looks

The resulting product is something that definitely celebrates my brand, which is one of happiness, joy, and love. The music is upbeat and celebratory and sets the tone for the viewer to feel the emotions I want them to feel and reinforces the visuals of my photos that are conveying the same emotions. Any (and every) company can easily do this same thing by analyzing what it is that your brand says (elegance, artistic, fun), matching it with a song that carries a similar tone, and carefully culling images down to the ones that say the same thing.

[vimeo 118997515]

I have to say the longest and hardest part of the whole process was culling images. I had so many that I loved, but had to hold myself to a strict qualification of “does this say Lovesome?” If all it was was a pretty image and nothing more, it got nixed. If the image doesn’t speak to your brand, it dilutes your message. A lot of those images will be great for your client’s album or personal choices, but for celebrating what you’re all about, for your branding purposes, they need to go.

Check out my results and I challenge you to think of ways you can use this to celebrate your brand!

Lisa is a D.C. based wedding & boudoir photographer. Check out her !This Post Sponsored by:

Drobo. A family of Safe, Simple, and Expandable storage systems for capture in the field, editing in the studio, or backup and archive.

Zenfolio. Looking for more than just a photo hosting website? Join the tens of thousands of photographers who switched to the best all-in-one solution to organize, display and sell your photography work online.

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pacefrom bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/Photofocus.

SongFreedom is about artists supporting artists. Were a music licensing platform with the best music availablestuff from the radio, or your favorite indie bands and soundtracks. A place where photographers and cinematographers can find the most powerful song for their story with the click of a button.

Capture Cinematic Weddings with Ray Roman. A Wedding Workshop Series Traveling the US and Canada. Learn to shoot stunning wedding videos from the master of ceremonies, Ray Roman — The World Renowned Wedding Cinematographer! Use the code PHOTOFOCUS for discounted tickets.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images. Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDRsoft.