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A slide show (slideshow) is a presentation of a series of still images ( slides) on a
projection screen A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the ...
or
electronic display An electronic visual display, informally a screen, is a display device for presentation of images, Plain text, text, or video transmitted electronically, without producing a permanent record. Electronic visual displays include television sets, com ...
device, typically in a prearranged sequence. The changes may be automatic and at regular intervals or they may be manually controlled by a presenter or the viewer. Slide shows originally consisted of a series of individual photographic slides projected onto a screen with a
slide projector A slide projector is an opto-mechanical device for showing photographic slides. 35 mm slide projectors, direct descendants of the larger-format magic lantern, first came into widespread use during the 1950s as a form of occasional hom ...
. When referring to the
video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...
or computer-based visual equivalent, in which the slides are not individual physical objects. A slide show may be a presentation of images purely for their own visual interest or artistic value, sometimes unaccompanied by description or text, or it may be used to clarify or reinforce information, ideas, comments, solutions or suggestions which are presented verbally. Slide shows are sometimes still conducted by a presenter using an apparatus such as a
carousel slide projector A carousel slide projector is a slide projector that uses a rotary tray to store slides, used to project slide photographs and to create slideshows. It was first patented on May 11, 1965, by David E. Hansen of Fairport, New York. Hansen was an i ...
or an
overhead projector An overhead projector (often abbreviated to OHP), like a film or slide projector, uses light to project an enlarged image on a screen, allowing the view of a small document or picture to be shared with a large audience. In the overhead projec ...
, but now the use of an electronic video display device and a computer running
presentation software A computing, a presentation program (also called presentation software) is a software package used to display information in the form of a slide show. It has three major functions: * an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted * ...
is typical.


History

Slide shows had their beginnings in the 1600s, when hand-painted images on glass were first projected onto a wall with a " magic lantern". By the late 1700s, showmen were using magic lanterns to thrill audiences with seemingly supernatural apparitions in a popular form of entertainment called a phantasmagoria. Sunlight, candles and oil lamps were the only available light sources. The development of new, much brighter artificial light sources opened up a world of practical applications for image projection. In the 1800s, a series of hand-painted glass "lantern slides" was sometimes projected to illustrate story-telling or a lecture. Widespread and varied uses for amusement and education evolved throughout the century. By 1900,
photographic Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
images on glass had replaced hand-painted images, but the
black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
photographs were sometimes hand-colored with transparent dyes. The production of lantern slides had become a considerable industry, with dimensions standardized at 3.25 inches high by 4 inches wide in the US and 3.25 inches square in the UK and much of Europe. "Magic lantern shows" also served as a form of home entertainment and were especially popular with children. They continued to have a place among commercial public amusements even after the coming of projected " moving pictures". Between films, early movie theaters often featured "illustrated songs", which were community sing-alongs with the lyrics and illustrations provided by a series of projected lantern slides. Theaters also used their lanterns to project advertising slides and messages such as "Ladies, kindly remove your hats". After 35 mm Kodachrome color film was introduced in 1936, a new standard 2×2 inch (5×5 cm) miniature lantern slide format was created to better suit the very small
transparencies A transparency, also known variously as a viewfoil, foil, or viewgraph, is a thin sheet of transparent flexible material, typically polyester (historically cellulose acetate), onto which figures can be drawn. These are then placed on an overhea ...
the film produced. In advertising, the antique "magic lantern" terminology was streamlined, so that the framed pieces of film were simply "slides" and the lantern used to project them was a "slide projector". Home slide shows were a relatively common phenomenon in middle-class American homes during the 1950s and 1960s. An image on 35 mm film mounted in a 2×2 inch (5×5 cm) metal, card or plastic frame is still by far the most common photographic slide format.


Uses

A well-organized slide show allows a presenter to fit visual images to an oral presentation. The old
adage An adage (; Latin: adagium) is a memorable and usually philosophical aphorism that communicates an important truth derived from experience, custom, or both, and that many people consider true and credible because of its longeval tradition, i ...
"
A picture is worth a thousand words "A picture is worth a thousand words" is an adage in multiple languages meaning that complex and sometimes multiple ideas can be conveyed by a single still image, which conveys its meaning or essence more effectively than a mere verbal descript ...
" holds true, in that a single image can save a presenter from speaking a paragraph of descriptive details. As with any public speaking or lecturing, a certain amount of talent, experience, and rehearsal is required to make a successful slide show presentation. Presentation software is most commonly used in the business world, where millions of presentations are created daily. Another very important area where it is used is for instructional purposes, usually with the intention of creating a dynamic, audiovisual presentation. The relevant points to the entire presentation are put on slides, and accompany a spoken monologue. Slide shows have artistic uses as well, such as being used as a
screensaver A screensaver (or screen saver) is a computer program that blanks the display screen or fills it with moving images or patterns when the computer has been idle for a designated time. The original purpose of screensavers was to prevent phosphor ...
, or to provide dynamic imagery for a
museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
presentation, for example, or in
installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...
.
David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
, among others, has created ''
PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired Powe ...
'' art.


In art

Since the late 1960s, visual artists have used slide shows in museums and galleries as a device, either for presenting specific information about an action or research or as a phenomenological form in itself. According to the introduction of ''Slide Show'', an exhibition organized at the Baltimore Museum of Art: “Through the simple technology of the slide projector and 35 mm color transparency, artists discovered a tool that enabled the transformation of space through the magnification of projected pictures, texts, and images.” Although some artists have not necessarily used 35 mm or color slides, and some, such as Robert Barry, have even abandoned images for texts, 35 mm color film slides are most commonly used. The images are sometimes accompanied by written text, either in the same slide or as an intertitle. Some artists, such as James Coleman and Robert Smithson, have used a
voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...
with their slide presentations. Slide shows have also been used by artists who use other media such as painting and sculpture to present their work publicly. In recent years there has been a growing use of the slide show by a younger generation of artists. The non-profit organization ''Slideluck Potshow'' holds slide show events globally, featuring works by amateur and professional artists, photographers, and gallerists. Participants in the event bring food, potluck style, and have a social dinner before the slide show begins. Other known artists who have used slide shows in their work include
Bas Jan Ader Bastiaan Johan Christiaan "Bas Jan" Ader (19 April 1942 – disappeared 1975) was a Dutch conceptual and performance artist, and photographer. His work was in many instances presented as photographs and film of his performances. He made perf ...
, Francis Alys,
Jan Dibbets Jan Dibbets (born 9 May 1941, in Weert) is an Amsterdam-based Dutch conceptual artist. His work is influenced by mathematics and works mainly with photography. Life and career In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he started as an art teacher at th ...
, Dan Graham, Rodney Graham,
Nan Goldin Nancy Goldin (born September 12, 1953) is an American photographer and activist. Her work often explores LGBT subcultures, moments of intimacy, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. Her most notable work is '' The Ballad of Sexual Depe ...
,
Louise Lawler Louise Lawler (born 1947) is a U.S. artist and photographer living in Brooklyn, New York.Louise Lawler ...
,
Ana Mendieta Ana Mendieta (November 18, 1948 – September 8, 1985) was a Cuban-American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. Born in Havana, Mendieta left for the United States in 1961. Ear ...
, Jonathan Monk, Dennis Oppenheim, Allan Sekula, Carey Young and
Krzysztof Wodiczko Krzysztof Wodiczko (born April 16, 1943) is a Polish artist known for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments. He has realized more than 80 such public projections in Australia, Austria, Canada, England, ...
.


Digital

Digital photo slide shows can be custom-made for clients from their photos, music, wedding invitations, birth announcements, or virtually any other scannable documents. Some producers call the resulting DVDs the new
photomontage Photomontage is the process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs into a new image. Sometimes the resulting composite image is photographed so that the final image ...
. Slide shows can be created not only on DVD, but also in HD video formats and as executable computer files. Photo slide show software has made it easy to create electronic digital slide shows, eliminating the need for expensive color reversal film and requiring only a
digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...
and computer. Photo slide show software often provides more options than simply showing the pictures. It is possible to add transitions, pan and zoom effects,
video clips Video clips refer to mostly short videos, most of the time called memes, which are short videos of silly jokes and funny clips, most of the time coming from movies or any entertainment videos such as YouTube. The term is also used more loosely to ...
,
background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...
,
narration Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
, captions, etc. By using computer software one therefore has the ability to enhance the presentation in a way that is not otherwise practical. The finished slide show can then be burned to a DVD, for use as a gift or for archiving, and later viewed using an ordinary DVD player.


Web-based slide show

A Web-based slide show is a slide show which can be played (viewed or presented) using a
web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
. Some web based slide shows are generated from
presentation software A computing, a presentation program (also called presentation software) is a software package used to display information in the form of a slide show. It has three major functions: * an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted * ...
and may be difficult to change (usually unintentionally so). Others offer templates allowing the slide show to be easily edited and changed. Compared to a fully fledged presentation program the web based slide shows are usually limited in features. A web-based slide show is typically generated to or authored in
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaS ...
,
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...
and
CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone technolo ...
code (files).


See also

*
Photo slideshow software Photo slideshow software is computer software used to display a range of digital photos, images and video clips in a predefined order. In most cases the output file is a standard video file or an executable file which contains all the sound and ...
*
Presentation software A computing, a presentation program (also called presentation software) is a software package used to display information in the form of a slide show. It has three major functions: * an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted * ...
*Diaporama * Multi-image *
Slide-tape A slide-tape work (often slide-tape presentation) is an audiovisual work consisting of a slide show using a filmstrip machine with synchronised accompanying audio, traditionally audio tape. These have frequently been used for education and for touri ...
* Filmstrip * LCD projector


References

{{Wiktionary Photography Presentation