Countdown To Christmas: ProShow Gold

In a rough economy, gifts that you can do at home (aff) that have sentimental value are becoming more common place.  ProShow Gold allows you to take your photos and make slide show with it.  You can then put your slideshow on a DVD or even online.  We did this for my inlaws several years ago, and they absolutely loved it.

My favorite part of this software has to be how easy it is to use.  All you need to do is drag and drop the photos you want.  You can then crop the pictures, add borders, and even remove red eye.  There is even one click color correction that automatically optimizes your pictures for you!  You can also set up custom timing for each photo or modify a bunch at once.  Next, you can add transitions to the slide show also.  There are 280 transition styles including dissolves, fades, wipes, and shapes.  You can even add custom captions and backgrounds to any photos too.  You are also able to add a soundtrack to your slide show.  You can import your music from your CDs, WAV files, and MP3s.  There is an auto trimmer too, so you can crop songs and apply fades too.  If you want to do some narration, you can do that too!  When you are done, you can save your slide show into 40 different formats!  Those included are DVD, Blu-ray, and you can even load it right up to YouTube!  It also automatically backs up, so there is no losing your show that you just spend five hours on.

The software alone makes an awesome Christmas present for yourself or someone else.  What you can make with the software makes an even better gift to your loved ones.