4x3 original format on blu-ray

[Uncle Ben]

What is the best way to deal with pictures shot in original 4 x 3 format when inserting those pics in a slideshow?

The production includes slideshows, video clips and music.

While in many cases, the portion of the pics that is chopped off doesn't affect the overall quality of the picture; in other cases, it does.

I've tried various settings in the project properties, all to no avail. Either I'm using the wrong approach, or just trying to do something that is not doable in the first place. In other words, if I want to keep the pics in their original 4 x 3 format, perhaps I have to compromise and forego the HD Blu-Ray rendition and produce a DVD instead.

TIA for your help! Cheers!

[Steve Grisetti]

I'd use the 4:3 photos in my slideshow and now worry about the fact that they don't fill the whole frame, from left to right.

You can also use a background image, if you're nervous about having all that black space on the sides. But that sometimes just draws attention to it. Leave it black and the audience may not even notice it.

[Uncle Ben]

I understand how this would work if I start a new project, using the slideshow wizard. But how do I accomplish that 4 x 3 rendition on those pics after the fact, or, as it is the case with this particular project of mine, in cases where the pictures were just imported (outside the wizard?)

[Uncle Ben]

I understand how this would work if I start a new project, using the slideshow wizard. But how do I accomplish that 4 x 3 rendition on those pics after the fact, or, as it is the case with this particular project of mine, in cases where the pictures were just imported (outside the wizard?)

Please strike out the above, the old man is confused. You say

I'd use the 4:3 photos in my slideshow and now worry about the fact...

That's my point - how do I prevent Movie Studio from cropping the pictures? I want to keep the 4:3 photos but MS won't let me. Crop, crop, crop...

[Steve Grisetti]

If you manually add the photos to your timeline rather than use the Slideshow Creator, they will fill the frame, top to bottom, but not side to side.

[Uncle Ben]

If that's the case, I'm doing something wrong somewhere, because the photos are cropped at the top and bottom. I'm OK on the width, but the height isn't there. As indicated in my initial post, in many cases, the cropping doesn't adversely affect the picture; but in other cases it does. I've tweak various settings ... obviously not the right one.

[Bob]

It sounds like a scaling problem. If your photos are sized taller than the video frame size and "scale to frame size" is turned off, you can get what you described.

Right click on one of the problem photos on the time line to see if Scale To Frame Size is checked in the context menu. It probably isn't given the description of your problem. If that's the case, click on "scale to frame size" in the context menu to enable it and the photo will be scaled down to fit the height of the frame. Alternately, you can manually scale the photo. With the photo selected in the timeline, bring up the properties panel. Under the Motion entry there is a scale property. Reduce the scale to the value that works for what you want to do.

You can set "Scale to Frame Size" to be the default in the Premiere Elements Preferences. Be aware that if want to pan and zoom a photo, you should have scale to frame size off for that photo. If it is not off and you zoom into an image the image quality will be degraded.

[Uncle Ben]

But I'm in Vegas not PE. When I right click a problem photo, I don't have a "scale to frame size" option.

[Uncle Ben]

But your response did point me in the right direction. It's the Even Pan/Crop tool that allows me to scale the picture to show all the I want to see.
So now that I know how to scale down the photo and avoid cropping, how do I go about invoking this for all the 4:3 photos?

[Bob]

Sorry, I forgot and didn't look at which sub-forum this was--I was in a Premiere Elements mindset. Vegas, I thought, defaulted to scaling to fit the frame. But, that's not happening, I'm wondering if there is a preference that can be set. I'm not that familiar with Vegas, so maybe Steve or one of the other Vegas users can jump in. I was going to mention Pan/Crop, but you already found that. I understand you can scale using Track Motion also.

[Uncle Ben]

Sorry, I forgot and didn't look at which sub-forum this was--I was in a Premiere Elements mindset...

Not a problem. As I said in my earlier post, your comments were very helpful in pointing me in the right direction. For now, I'm reviewing each picture one by one and adjusting the ones that are problematic with the Event Pan/Crop tool. It's tedious, but it works. Ideally, I wish there could be a preference/setting that would allow me to retain the 4:3 format throughout the slideshow, thus circumventing the need to adjust each photo individually.
Thanks for your help! Much appreciated.

[Steve Grisetti]

With the Pan/Crop Tool, you'll need to uncheck the option to constrain proportions on the frame box. Then you can drag the frame box to display your entire 4:3 photo.

[Uncle Ben]

Thank you Steve. Is this the only way to achieve this Steve, doing them one by one?

And also, will there be a price to pay for this when the time come to render this piece of art?

[Steve Grisetti]

The easiest way to do this with several photos is to do it for one photo on your timeline, right-click and select Copy and then select all of the other photos on your timeline, right-click and select Paste Event Attributes. This will apply the animation and Pan/Crop to all of the photos.

Alternatively, you could start a new 4:3 project and create your slideshow in it, then output that finished slideshow as a video and import it into your 16:9 project.

[Uncle Ben]

Thank you Steve.