How to make a slideshow from photos
Last updated 2026-10-20
To make a slideshow from photos, choose and order your pictures, give each one about 3 to 5 seconds, add music and export. Photos on Mac builds one in a few clicks. A video editor such as Woven gives you control of each picture's size, motion and timing, and lets you set the canvas to vertical or horizontal.
Choose and order the photos
Cut first. Remove near-duplicates and keep one photo per idea. Then order them by time or by story, open with a strong picture and end on a calm one.
Count before you start. Divide the song's length by the seconds you want per photo. A 3 minute song at 4 seconds a photo needs 45 pictures.
Decide the shape for where it will play. Horizontal photos suit a 16:9 screen, and vertical photos suit a phone. A tall 9:16 photo on a horizontal canvas has two choices: show it whole with bars at the sides, or fill the frame and keep only about a third of its height.
| Song length | 3 s each | 4 s each | 5 s each |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 minutes | 40 | 30 | 24 |
| 3 minutes | 60 | 45 | 36 |
| 4 minutes | 80 | 60 | 48 |
How long each photo stays on screen
Start at 3 to 5 seconds. A simple scene reads in 3. A group photo, where people look for faces, needs 4 or 5. Hold any photo with text on it long enough to read twice.
Apple's Photos app offers two controls for this. Fit to Music matches the slideshow's length to the song, and Custom sets a length with a slider. Apple's page describes only these whole-slideshow controls. iMovie on Mac has a Photo Duration setting for the default length of new photos, and a Photo Placement setting that offers Fit, Crop to Fill or Ken Burns.
Keep the pace the same across the slideshow. Even timing feels calm. A few shorter photos in a row work as a burst, if that is the point.
Motion, crossfades and music
A still held for 4 seconds looks dead. A slow zoom or pan keeps it alive. Pick one motion and use it on every photo, since mixing several looks like a mistake. The Ken Burns effect guide covers the options.
Crossfades are where tools differ. In Photos, the Transition checkbox under Duration applies one transition to the whole slideshow, in themes that offer it. Woven has no crossfade between stills. Each photo enters with an entrance animation instead, such as Fade.
For music, choose something slow and instrumental unless the song is the point, and fade the end. If you will post the slideshow online, check the track's rights first, as the music guide explains.
A note on memorial and funeral slideshows
People searching for a funeral slideshow or memorial slideshow need the same steps with a gentler hand. Slow the pace to 5 or 6 seconds a photo. Use plain fades and one calm motion, or none. Open with a title card carrying the name and dates.
Ask the family which photos and which song they want, and ask the venue what file format it can play. If you will upload a recording of the service, remember that YouTube can claim or block a video for its music, and that policy can change later.
Build the slideshow in Woven
A photo you add by hand arrives small: 35% of the canvas width, set to Fit, 3 seconds long, on a picture lane above the main video, with a 0.3 second Fade entrance. So the work is to make each photo fill the frame. Woven reads PNG, JPG, WebP and GIF, and a GIF shows only its first frame. HEIC cannot go on the timeline, so convert those to JPEG first.
Ask in chat
- Make every photo 4 seconds and put them back to back.
- Fill the frame with each photo and add a slow zoom to all of them.
- Put my song under the photos and fade it out over the last 3 seconds.
- Make this vertical for a Reel.
Or do it by hand
- 1Pick the canvas before the photos. Set Format to Vertical 1080x1920 for a phone or Horizontal 1920x1080 for a TV. Woven never resizes the canvas to match a photo, so a late change means reframing every picture.
- 2Select the photos together. Choose Add, then Image, and pick them all. They land back to back from the playhead, 3 seconds each. To change the length, ask in chat.
- 3Make each photo cover the frame. In the photo's Crop tab, set Aspect to the canvas shape, such as 9:16, switch Fit to Fill, then raise Scale until no edge of the canvas shows.
- 4Give every photo the same motion. On the Animation tab, pick Slow Zoom from Loop for each photo, so the whole slideshow moves at one pace.
- 5Lay the song under the photos. Choose Add, then Audio, and drag the song's right edge back to the last photo before you export.
Common questions
Order the photos, add a music track under them, and make the slideshow as long as the song or trim the song to fit. Photos on Mac has a Fit to Music option. In Woven, choose Add, then Audio.
Start at 3 to 5 seconds. Use the shorter end for simple scenes and the longer end for group photos or photos with text.
In Photos, select the photos, choose File, then Create, then Slideshow, then Photos, name it, and pick a theme and music. For more control over timing and motion, use a video editor.
At 4 seconds each, 45 photos. At 3 seconds, 60. At 5 seconds, 36.
Yes. A slow zoom or pan gives a photo motion. In Woven, use the Slow Zoom loop on an image, or see the Ken Burns effect guide.
Choose photos with the family, order them in time, slow the pace to 5 or 6 seconds, use plain fades and one gentle piece of music, and open with a title card.
Sources
- Create slideshows in Photos on Mac - Apple Support, checked October 19, 2026
- Change settings in iMovie on Mac - Apple Support, checked October 19, 2026
- Restrictions on claimed music - YouTube Help, checked October 19, 2026
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