PhotoPeach SlideShow Tool
This photo video/slideshow was created with a free, online tool called PhotoPeach. It is a very flexible, creative, intuitive tool that makes it very easy to add photos and captions, select music, and they provide a way for viewers to add comments to the show. It is a Beta service right now, and they have been very responsive to requests from users for features. I’m excited to report that they responded to my request and have now included a way to delete comments (important for school use). If you make a typo or change your mind about a comment/caption you have added you can easily go back and delete it and re-enter it. You can add your comment about a specific photo. Even friends and family without a PhotoPeach account can add comments to your video. This suggests some very creative possibilities for student collaboration in creating a video and collaborating on photos, music and captions!
Express Import lets you import all new albums from your existing albums on other services and automatically convert them to PhotoPeach slideshows. I imported my photos from Picasa on Google and was amazed at how quickly they uploaded! Once they are imported you can remove individual photos from the album before you publish it. You are allowed up to 100 photos per video in the free account. For now with Express Import, your background music is chosen by the system, but you can change it afterwards from their extensive collection of music. If you use Express Import in the future, the system will auto-detect new albums, and import only albums that you did not import to avoid duplicates. They have lots of variety in the choices you can make for music but you can’t yet upload your own music.
You can embed your video in a blog, wiki or website as well as export it to Facebook or via email. You can choose to make it public, unlisted or by invitation only. I especially like that the default is “unlisted” so YOU can make the choice whether you want it public or not. I was really happy to see that if you select to view the video in full screen view that it doesn’t lose photo quality and it is a wonderful viewing experience!
I encourage you to take it for a spin! I think you’re going to love it! I’m very excited about this tool and plan to explore the possibilities for different uses for the classroom. This is my first attempt to create a PhotoPeach slideshow. Feel free to add your comment to my slideshow if there’s a photo you especially enjoy.
Dale Chihuly Exhibit-Desert Botanical Gardens on PhotoPeach
Update: I’ve had a chance to further explore PhotoPeach and have discovered for myself what a fantastic tool it can be for digital storytelling in a classroom. I used PhotoPeach to capture my photo memories during a school visit with Jackie Gerstein and her amazing students at Sahuarita Intermediate School, AZ. It allowed me to say thanks and celebrate their accomplishments with my original slideshow and allowed them to add their comments to my show. I’m not thrilled with the music so I disabled it for this blog post. I chose the country music from the options available on PhotoPeach because it was Rodeo Days during my visit and I thought the students would enjoy it. I think it tells a great story without the music. 🙂
Sahuarita School Visit on PhotoPeach
