I create several slideshows per week with all photos animated - some degree of zoom and pan. I hate the portraits that customers bring in to include in the slideshow. If you get rid of the black on the sides, you lop off Grandma's head. So I just start zoomed out (black bars all around) and zoom in until the photo fills the top and bottom leaving black bars on the sides. I'm experimenting with using a backgound in place of the black. Sort of like the HD satellite TV channels (ESPN, TBS, etc) do with subdued graphics when they have a 4:3 video on a 16:9 screen. Anyone else tried something like this?