Exploring the PSP s Image Tricks

Exploring the PSP's Image Tricks

Beside sitting there like some sort of futuristic picture frame, the PSP can do things other than simply display images. Sure, it does that wonderfully, but it also puts on shows, redecorates, and flings files to other PSPs, all through the Photos menu.

Viewing Slide Shows

A slide show is simply a collection of images displayed sequentially. To start a slide show, you simply navigate to the Photos section of the PSP's home menu; navigate to the Memory Stick Duo icon, a photo icon in the main directory, or a subfolder icon; click the triangle button; and select Slideshow.

You can also launch slide shows from the control panel while viewing an image. Depending on what's selected when you launch the slide show, different images will be included:

• If you launch a slide show while the Memory Stick Duo icon is selected, the slide show will feature every photo on the PSP.

• If you start a slide show with a folder highlighted, the slide show will show the photos in that folder.

• If you start a slide show while an image is displayed, that image will be the first in the slide show, followed by the rest of the images in the same folder.

To adjust the amount of time each photo is displayed during a slide show, navigate through the home menu to the Settings menu, and select Photo Settings. You can set the slide-show speed to normal (the default), fast, or slow (Figure 9.10).

Figure 9.10. Head over here to tweak slide-show speed.

Using an Image File as Wallpaper

If you grow tired of that nifty, pulsating menu background that changes color every month, otherwise known as the wallpaper, you can replace it with one of your photographs.

To set an image as wallpaper, simply select it so that the PSP displays it. If the image is not exactly 480x272 pixels, it won't fill the screen properly, so you might want to do some fancy footwork with your image-editing program to crop it or otherwise adjust it to the proper aspect ratio.

Before you set an image as wallpaper, you might try using the control panel's zoom function to zoom in, which will get rid of the spacer bars and allow the image to fill the entire screen but will also cut out some parts of the photo.

With the image displayed, simply hit the triangle button to invoke the control panel, and select Set As Wallpaper. The PSP will ask whether you're sure, and after you tell it that you are, the displayed image will serve as your PSP's background until you change it again (Figure 9.11).

Figure 9.11. Wallpaper adds an element of personalization to your PSP.

If you decide that you can't stand having a custom image as your wallpaper, get rid of it. Navigate through the home menu to Settings, choose Theme Settings, select Wallpaper, and change the option to Do Not Use. The PSP will revert to its default wallpaper.

Transferring Images to Other PSPs

Suppose that you're hanging out with someone who has a PSP of her own. You decide to show off your picture of ... oh, say, a gorgeous little girl on the shore of New York's glorious Canandaigua Lake. Your friend says, "Awesome photo! Let me have it."

What do you do?

Simple: You send it over. You can effortlessly "beam" photos from one PSP to another. Simply highlight the photo you want to send, click the square button, and select the Send option from the menu on the right side of the screen (Figure 9.12). Alternatively, you can select the photo and display it, call up the control panel with the triangle button, and select the Send option.

Figure 9.12. The menu on the right side of the screen lets you send (or receive) a PSP image.

Meanwhile, your friend has to enter Receive Mode. To do that, she must navigate to the Photo area of the home menu, highlight the Memory Stick Duo, click the triangle button, and select Receive.

When one PSP is receiving and another is sending, the two devices will find each other, and as if by magic, the picture will copy itself from one PSP to the other. Then the person whose PSP received the picture can follow simple prompts to save or delete the image.