1. Wisdom on Creating Audio
Photo Galleries– From Those
Who’ve Done THEM
How to converge audio and
visual!

2. REALITY
• Newspapers can no longer work on a
story and only “think visually.”
• They must think “aurally”
• The audio slideshow caters to
newspaper readers consuming content
online
• The audio slideshow creates a place for
multiple images of a story to be shared.

3. Old vs. New?
Figure New York Newsday front page published July
20, 2013.
SINGLE PHOTO
PHOTO GALLERY

4. Creating an audio slideshow
• BEFORE YOU START
– Check out these examples so you can get an idea of what one
looks like.
• www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20070702/PHOTOS04/70702005/-1/PHOTOS
• www.ncsu.edu/sma/staff/photostaffmanuel/photopage.htm
• http://mindymcadams.com/guest/diversity1/Priddy_Slideshows_v1d
ot2.pdf
• PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
– Select a topic full emotion
– Think about the beginning, middle and end
– Doing a quality audio slideshow requires planning and
preparation

5. Gather audio BEFORE or
AFTER shooting pictures?
“After is best for me. By then, I
have a better sense of what the
story really is.. Getting THE best
storytelling image is and should still
be the most important task. About
the time I would normally say
goodbye (after shooting a single
image), I pull out the recorder for
the interview.”
Richard Koci Hernandez
Former Deputy Director of Photography and Multimedia
San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News

6. Creating an audio slideshow
•
Key steps
1.
2.
3.
Pick a topic (try and pick a topic that will let you easily
show emotion)
Shoot! (Get all angles and types of shots… especially
detail shots)
Retrieve the audio. (You want to get a combination of
background noise and you also want to interview several
people about your topic)

7. “I always look through the photos first and
then edit the audio. The photos will give
you an idea of how the sound needs to
flow and will give you a good idea of what
to leave in and take out of the audio. If
your audio is focused on something you
have no photos to show, then you will
have a problem. Once I have an idea of
the available photos, I edit the audio.”
Tom Priddy
Online Producer
Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal

8. Creating an audio slideshow
•
After you get your images, edit them and think about how you
want them arranged.
– Try and get audio that will go along with what the photos are
about. (EX. You pick the girls varsity soccer team as your
subject, while showing a picture of the coach have audio of
the coach talking)
REMEMBER - It will take several shoots to
get all the images required. It will take
more than one interview, you must get
many so that the reader gets involved.

9. EDITING PHOTOS: 4-step process
1. CULL- Discard photos that are not
very good, marginal shots are best
deleted
2. CROP- Follow basic composition rules
(i.e. Rule of thirds) eliminate
distractions or extraneous material
3. Color Correct – Check images for any
issues with exposure, avoid making
drastic changes (if drastic changes
needed, don’t use the photo)
4. SAVE edited images

10. •
AUDIO EDITING - Editing in Garage Band… Choose your best
soundbites or edit together your best narration track
– KEY #1: Take the least amount of audio you can.
– KEY #2: The smaller amount of audio, the shorter the time to edit it
– KEY #3: Keep the final product between 1:30 to 2:30 (2 mins. Is ideal)
“Any more than 2 minutes, 30 sec.
and I think it gets boring”
-
BEFORE “SPLIT”
Gerry McCarthy
Staff photographer
The Dallas Morning News
AFTER “SPLIT”

11. •
•
•
FIGURE OUT number of slides you need based on how long
your audio track is.
Suggestion: 2 minutes of audio (120 seconds), if each
image is displayed for FIVE SECONDS= 24 images needed
- Put your slides in order and match them up with the sound and
audio