Section 7.2. Option-Click Slideshows | iPhoto 6: The Missing Manual

7.2. Option-Click Slideshows

There's mercifully little to learn about instantaneous slideshowsthe ones that begin when you Option-click the Play button beneath the Source list. The slideshow begins automatically and instantaneously. Each photo is displayed full screen for two seconds, and then softly fades out as the next one dissolves into view. The default musical soundtrackJ. S. Bach's Minuet in Gplays in the background.

As noted in Chapter 4, this is a terrific feature for reviewing photos you've just dumped into the Mac from the camera. In fact, that delicious moment when you first see the pictures at full-screen sizeafter having viewed them only on the camera's two-inch screenis just what Apple's engineers had in mind when they designed the Play button.

Remember to wiggle your mouse during the slideshow when you want to summon iPhoto's onscreen control bar (Section 4.3).

When you've had enough, click the mouse or press almost any key to end the show and return to the iPhoto window. (Otherwise, iPhoto will run the show in a continuous loop forever.)

Finish the show by clicking the mouse.

Note: The Play button generally appears at the lower-right corner of the iPhoto toolbar (at the bottom of the screen). If the toolbar is full of buttons, the Play button may not fit. In that case, you can either click the >> button to see the Play command, or you can get rid of some of the buttons on your toolbar, using the View

Show in Toolbar commands.

7.2.1. Which Photos

Among the virtues of this slideshow type is the freedom you have to choose which pictures you want to see. For example:

If no photos are selected, iPhoto exhibits all the pictures currently in the photo-viewing area, starting with the first photo in the album, book, or Photo Library.

Most people, most of the time, want to turn one album into a slideshow. That's easy: Just click the album before starting the slideshow. It can be any album you've created, a smart album, the Last Roll album, or one of iPhoto's built-in monthly or yearly albums. As long as no individual pictures are selected, iPhoto will reveal all the pictures in the album currently open .

Tip: You can also create an Option-click or instant slideshow from multiple albums. That is, you can select more than one album simultaneously (by -clicking them); when you click Play, iPhoto creates a slideshow from all of their merged contents, in order.
If one photo is selected , iPhoto uses that picture as its starting point for the show, ignoring any that come before it. Of course, if you've got the slideshow set to loop continuously, iPhoto will eventually circle back to display the first photo in the window.
If you've selected more than one picture, iPhoto includes only those pictures.

Tip: If a slideshow icon(described momentarily) is highlighted in the Source list, you don't need the Option key to begin a slideshow immediately. Use the Option key only if an album or a batch of photos are selected.

7.2.2. Photo Order

iPhoto displays your pictures in the same order you see them in the photo-viewing area. In other words, to rearrange your slides, drag the thumbnails around within their album. Just remember that you can't drag pictures around in the Photo Library, a smart album, the Last 12 Months collection, or the Last Roll folderonly within a photo album.

Note: If iPhoto appears to be shamelessly disregarding the order of your photos when running a slideshow, it's probably because you've got the "Present slides in random order" option turned on in the Slideshow dialog box, as described in the following section.