How do you narrate over multiple photos of slideshow in PE6?

[jan]

I am starting a new part of my experience with PE6 and frustrated.
1. I can locate anywhere how or what I am doing wrong to create narration that transpires over many photos within my slideshow. PE6 is only allowing me to narrate one photo. I can not even find the way to control the volume.
I find it difficult to believe that PE6 would not allow for continual narration all the way through the slideshow.

2. When finished with my PE6 I want to export to my Sony Vegas Studio Platinum 6.0 so I can add a second audio track and then create a multiple slideshow DVD. Do I need to save the slideshow in PE6 as jpeg or as psd?

[Barb O]

PE6 is only allowing me to narrate one photo

What I think you are experiencing is that the PSE slide show is automatically increasing the duration of the slide that you had selected when you started the narration. It is acting on the premise that you are narrating for that specific slide: that seems to be a variation on the Organizer concept of having an audio caption that is related to a photo. In fact you also have the option of saving this narration as an "audio caption" that is related to that photo file.

So you might end the first narration and then select the next slide and start narration you wanted at the time of the next slide. HOWEVER, I do have concerns that this might not sound very smooth in playback.

I can not even find the way to control the volume.
I find it difficult to believe that PE6 would not allow for continual narration all the way through the slideshow.

Unfortunately the audio functions in the PSE slide show are very, very basic. If you do not have music in this slide show at the same time as you are narrating, you might try recording your narration using Windows and then adding the resulting .wav file to the slide show as an audio file.
BETTER YET, I wonder if you could do the narration in Sony Vegas ? - since you say you already have plans to add an audio track using Vegas. I have Adobe Premiere Elements for video editing and DVD creation and there have been times when I add audio for my Photoshop Elements slide show after I had taken it to Premiere Elements.

Do I need to save the slideshow in PE6 as jpeg or as psd?

I don't know what formats Vegas accepts as input - so hopefully someone else here will comment.
However, you can't save a slide show as a jpeg or a PSD: it is no longer a photo: it has other attributes such as duration, potentially movement from pans and zooms and transitions.

The normal output formats from the PSE slide show editor are :
-- a WMV compressed video file OR
-- a PDF file, but the PDF format has limitations like no pan or zoom

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

I know that this answer doesn't deal with the PSE and Sony Vegas issues - others with experience of those products will hopefully chime in - but this may help provide some ideas for a work around.

When I want to create a narrative for a slideshow or video, I play the finished show/video on my PC whilst running Adobe soundbooth (you can do the same in Audacity which is free) and use my webcam mic (Logitech 9000) to record the narration 'on the fly' as the show/video plays. I can re-record until I am happy with the narration then I import the recording into Premiere Elements/Premiere Pro (or Sony Vegas in this case) and make any final edits/tweaks to the soundtrack.

[jan]

Thanks for the informtation; I will use Sony or Windows to make my narration. I am sad that PE6 can not do the simple narration I used in other systems.

JW

[Chuck Engels]

I guess they just assume that people will use Premiere Elements for the purpose of narrating the entire slideshow

Welcome to Muvipix Jan, thanks for joining us

[Barb O]

Does anyone have comments about how Jan should transfer this slide show from the Photoshop Elements slide show editor to the Sony Vegas software?

My guess was that it needs to be a WMV file: however, I am not sure of exactly which of the WMV parameters to choose.

[Chuck Engels]

And we know what kind of problems there can be with the WMV files coming out of Photoshop Elements

I would almost recommend just starting over and doing it all in Vegas.