You have pulled together your photos and designed the slideshow using the Slideshow module, and it looks fabulous!  Short of exporting it to a PDF or MP4 movie, how do you save it so you can be sure it will be there any time you visit the Slideshow module, and so you can continue to revise it?

Saving a template will save your design or layout, but it does not store the photos with it.  Creating a collection in the Library module stores a group of photos, but not the slideshow design.  The solution to storing the design with the photos is to create a special kind of collection, only available to you in the Slideshow module.

  • In the filmstrip, select all the photos you want included.  (Ctl/Cmd-A will select All.)
  • Click on the + to the right of Collections (left hand panel below the Template Browser), and choose Create Slideshow.
  • Give it a name, and if you have a Collection Set to put it in, choose it.  (A Collection Set is just a folder to store collections in so that your collections panel is more neatly organized. You can click on the + to the right of Collections to create one.)
  • Check Include Selected Photos.
  • I generally do not make new virtual copies for my slideshows — I want my slideshows to include the main copy of my photos.  This way, (a) I won’t have tons of virtual copies out there, and (b) if I work on the main image in the Develop module, the slideshow automatically includes the work.
  • Hit Create.slideshow collection lightroom

You will see a new collection in the Collections panel, with a special symbol indicating that it is a Slideshow collection.

slideshow-collection-symbol

 

Ok, so I have told you how to do this, and now I am going to tell you that I often don’t teach beginning students  this functionality. Why? Because if you are not clear on how it works and careful in using it, you will lose your work.  So NOTE WELL:

After you create the slideshow collection, any further work to the slideshow design will be saved to this collection without any instruction from you to do so.  As long as you have the slideshow collection highlighted as you work, it is being updated.

What’s the potential pitfall with this?  You are happy with your slideshow, you save it, then you decide to experiment some more, and don’t realize that Lightroom is overwriting what you were happy with.  If you realize it right away, you can do Ctl/Cmd-Z as many times as you need to in order to undo your experimentation, but if you have closed the program or gone off to do other Lightroom work, there is no way to get back to what you were happy with.

Here’s how to use this functionality successfully:
  • When you are happy with your slideshow, create the Slideshow collection.
  • If you want to experiment more, make sure this collection is highlighted, and then click on the + next to Collections again and create a new Slideshow collection to continue experimenting with.  This one will start off with your settings from the last one.
  • You can delete old versions by right-clicking on them and choosing Delete.
What’s the alternative if you think you might forget to create a new Slideshow collection before experimenting more?
  • Create a Template with your design (+ to the right of Template Browser).
  • Create a regular collection in the Library module with your photos.
  • Next time you want to get back to your photos with the design, choose your collection and then click on your template to apply the design.
  • If you further fine-tune the design, right-click on the template and choose Update with Current Settings. (Templates do not automatically update, as Slideshow collections do.)

Frankly, I use this template + collection alternative because it fits better with how I think about saving my work.

Similarly you will find Print collections in the Print module, and Web Gallery collections in the Web module.  These work the same way as Slideshow collections.