Add iPhoto Images to iMovie Video Projects in iLife ’11

5 of 12 in Series: The Essentials of Editing Video with iMovie in iLife '11

When you add photos from your iPhoto library to your iLife video project, iMovie automatically applies the Ken Burns pan and zoom effects, to make it appear that the camera is sweeping across the image and moving closer or farther away from it.

To browse photos in your iPhoto library, click the Photos button — the Camera icon on the right side of the toolbar under the Viewer pane (or choose Window→Photos). The iPhoto Browser appears next to the Event Browser.

Browse photos in iPhoto by event, select an album, or search the iPhoto library.

These techniques can help you find the photos you want to add to your movie project:

Your iPhoto library’s events appear if you select Events in the list at the top of the iPhoto Browser. You can skim events to find a photo, just as you can with iPhoto.
Select a photo album or keepsake (such as a photo book) to see only the photos in that album or keepsake.
You can also enter a photo’s title or part of a description in the Search field at the bottom of the iPhoto Browser to display photos that match your search term.
To see only the photos that match the selected event in the iMovie Event Library, click the Show Photos option at the bottom of the iPhoto Browser, which has a pop-up menu set to Within Event Date Range. You can change the range by choosing Within 1 Day of Event, 1 Week of Event, or 1 Month of Event from the pop-up menu. The iPhoto Browser shows only images that were taken (or imported) in that date range.

To add a photo to the video project, follow these steps:

Select the photo in the iPhoto Browser and drag it to the position you want it to appear in the project sequence, just like a source clip.

iMovie sets the photo clip’s duration to 4.5 seconds and applies the Ken Burns effect, but of course you can change both settings.
(Optional) To change the duration, select the photo clip in the Project Browser and then double-click it — or click the Gear icon at the beginning of the photo clip and choose Clip Adjustments.

The Inspector appears with the Clip pane open.

Choose Clip Adjustments to change the photo clip’s duration.

Change the photo clip’s duration and add a video effect.
(Optional) Enter a new duration in the Duration field.

You can specify that all photo clips (also known as stills) have the same duration by clicking the Applies to All Stills option.
(Optional) Choose a video effect for the photo clip by clicking the Video Effect button, which displays the Video Effects pane, and then click an effect.
Click Done when you finish making adjustments.
(Optional) To change or remove the Ken Burns effect, click the photo clip in the Project Browser and then click the Crop button in the clip (or the Cropping tool on the toolbar).