How to Add Photos to an iMovie Project
Any images located in your Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture library are available for use in iMovie. If the photos you want to use in your iMovie project are not located in one of these libraries, add them to the library before you open iMovie. Apple recommends you use the Photos Library when working with iMovie. You can use any size or resolution photo in iMovie, but big, high-quality photos look best. Quality is important if you’re going to use the Ken Burns effect, which zooms in on your images.
Add Effects to iMovie Photos
Double-click a photo to open it in the preview window, which contains several sets of controls to apply changes and effects to the photo. Choose the Clip Filter icon from the row of icons above the preview image. Click on the Clip Filter field to open a window with effects that include duotone, black and white, X-ray, and others. You can only apply one effect per photo, and you can only apply that effect to one photo at a time.
Change the Look of Your iMovie Photos
Use the icons above the photo in the preview window to color correct the image, change the brightness and contrast, adjust saturation.
Adjust Ken Burns Effect Movement
The Ken Burns effect is the default for each photo. When Ken Burns is selected in the Style section, you’ll see two boxes superimposed on the preview indicating where the animation of the still photo begins and ends. You can adjust that animation in the preview window. You can also select Crop or Crop to Fit in the Style section.
Fit a Photo to the iMovie Screen
If you want the entire photo to show, choose the Fit option in the Style section. This reveals the full photo with no cropping or movement for the entire time it’s on screen. Depending on the size and shape of the original photo, you might end up with black bars along the sides or top and bottom of the screen.
Crop Photos in iMovie
If you want a photo to fill up the full screen in iMovie or if you want to focus on a specific part of the picture, use the Crop to Fit setting. With this setting, you select the portion of the photo that you want to see in the movie.
Rotate an Image
While a photo is open in the preview window, you can rotate it left or right using the rotation controls above the image. You can also play the movie from inside this window to see the effects, cropping, and rotation you have applied to the photo.
