Funeral and memorial slideshows: photos, songs and showing it
Gathering photos from everyone, how many to use, songs families often choose and how to show it on the day.
Updated · 7 min read·By the DropSnaps team
Quick answer
A funeral slideshow is a short video of photos from someone's life, shown with music at the service, the wake or a celebration of life. Gather photos from family and friends, choose about 40 to 65 for a three-to-five-minute slideshow, put them in order from childhood to recent years, add one or two songs that meant something to them, and check with the venue how to play it.
Questions people ask
How many photos should be in a funeral slideshow?
At four to five seconds a photo, about 40 photos make a three-minute slideshow and about 65 a five-minute one. For a loop at the wake, use as many as you like.
How long should a funeral slideshow be?
Three to five minutes during the service, usually one or two songs. Crematoria often have fixed time slots, so ask the funeral director first. A longer slideshow can play on a loop as people arrive or at the wake.
What songs are good for a funeral slideshow?
The best song is one that meant something to them. Families often choose songs such as "My Way", "What a Wonderful World", "Supermarket Flowers", "Over the Rainbow" or "Time to Say Goodbye", or a hymn such as "Abide with Me".
Can you show a slideshow at a crematorium?
Many crematoria have a screen and can play a tribute slideshow you send in advance, usually a few days before. Ask your funeral director about the format, the length and the deadline.
How do I collect photos for a funeral slideshow?
Send one link or QR code with the funeral details so family and friends can add photos from their phones, including photos of old prints. With photo sharing for funerals, approval lets the family see everything before it's shown.
A slideshow of photos is one of the most comforting things at a funeral, a wake or a celebration of life. It shows the whole of someone's life, from a gap-toothed school photo to the last family barbecue, and it gives people something to share when words are hard. This guide walks through gathering the photos, choosing and ordering them, music that families often choose, how long to make it, and how to show it on the day.
How to make a funeral slideshow
Ask family and friends for photos, with a deadline a few days before the funeral.
Scan or photograph old prints so everything is digital.
Choose the photos and put them in order, usually from childhood to recent years.
Choose one or two songs that meant something to them.
Build the slideshow in a free app, with each photo on screen for about four to five seconds.
Export it as a video file, and keep a copy on a USB stick.
Check with the venue or funeral director how it will be played, and test it there if you can.
Gathering photos from everyone
Friends and relatives often have photos the family has never seen: from school, from work, from holidays decades ago. Asking everyone is one of the kindest things you can do, and it takes the weight off one person searching through boxes.
Ask early, in the same message as the funeral details, and give a date by which you need them.
Make it easy. One link or QR code where people can add photos straight from their phone works far better than asking for emails and messages, which often shrink the photos.
Ask for a few words with each photo: where and when it was taken, and who's in it. It helps with ordering, and the stories are precious in themselves.
With DropSnaps, you create a free page for the funeral or memorial and send one link. Family and friends add photos from their phone's browser, with no app or account, and older relatives can photograph prints the same way. It starts with gentle tags such as "Old photos", "Memories" and "Family", so photos sort themselves as they arrive. Turn on approval and nothing appears on the wall or the slideshow until the family has approved it. Free covers up to 50 photos; for more, Standard and Premium are a one-off payment. See photo sharing for funerals and memorials.
Scanning old photos
Use a phone in good daylight, holding it straight above the print, with the flash off to avoid glare.
Free scanning apps such as Google PhotoScan take several shots and remove reflections from glossy prints.
For small or precious prints, a flatbed scanner at 600 dpi gives the best results. Many libraries and print shops have one.
Take photos out of albums with plastic sleeves if you can, or scan at an angle to dodge the shine.
Keep the originals safe and return them to their owners afterwards.
Choosing and ordering the photos
Go in order, in chapters: childhood, growing up, young adult, love and family, work, hobbies and holidays, recent years.
Mix close-ups and group photos, so the room sees both them and the people they loved.
Include a few that make people smile: the terrible fancy dress, the fish they were proud of, the dog that ruled the house.
Leave out near-duplicates and blurry photos, however tempting.
Check with close family before including photos that could be painful, such as former partners or people who've fallen out.
End on a favourite: a photo that captures them, held on screen a little longer.
How long should a funeral slideshow be?
At four to five seconds a photo, here's roughly how many you need:
Length
Photos
Good for
3 minutes
About 40
During the service, one song
5 minutes
About 65
During the service, two songs
8 to 10 minutes
About 100 to 130
Before the service starts, as people arrive
On a loop
As many as you like
The wake or celebration of life
Services at a crematorium often have a fixed time slot, so ask the funeral director how long the slideshow can be before you build it.
Songs for a funeral slideshow
The best song is one that meant something to them: the one they sang in the car, the first dance at their wedding, the band they saw every year. If you're stuck, these are songs families often choose:
Classic and timeless
"My Way" by Frank Sinatra
"What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong
"Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole
"Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
"Over the Rainbow" by Eva Cassidy
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel
Modern
"Supermarket Flowers" by Ed Sheeran
"Angels" by Robbie Williams
"Fix You" by Coldplay
"See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth
"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane
"You Raise Me Up" by Westlife
For a mum or a dad
"Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler
"Dance with My Father" by Luther Vandross
"Father and Son" by Cat Stevens
"The Living Years" by Mike and the Mechanics
Uplifting, for a celebration of life
"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by Monty Python
"Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles
"Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen
"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley and the Wailers
Hymns
"Abide with Me"
"The Lord's My Shepherd"
"Amazing Grace"
Two songs of three to four minutes each fit a slideshow of six to eight minutes. Choose the photos first, then trim the slideshow to the music, or let the last photo stay on screen as the song ends.
Making the slideshow
Free tools that turn photos and a song into a video:
Apple Photos and iMovie on an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
Google Photos on Android or the web.
Microsoft Clipchamp, which comes with Windows.
PowerPoint or Keynote: add one photo per slide and the song, then export as a video.
Canva, in a browser.
Keep the transitions simple, such as a slow fade, and export the finished slideshow as an MP4 video in 1080p. Save it on the laptop, on a USB stick and somewhere online, so there's always a copy.
Showing it on the day
At a crematorium, ask the funeral director. Many crematoria have a screen and a system for playing a tribute, and will ask you to send the file a few days before.
At a church or another venue, ask what screen, projector and sound they have, and who will press play.
At the wake, a TV and a laptop with the slideshow on a loop lets people watch at their own pace. Turn off sleep and screensavers first.
A live slideshow shows photos as family and friends share them, which is lovely at a wake or celebration of life: open the DropSnaps slideshow on a laptop connected to the screen, and new photos appear within moments. It has no sound, so play music separately if you'd like some.
Afterwards
Send the slideshow to family and close friends, and keep every photo people shared, with their stories. With DropSnaps, you can download all the photos in full quality and the guest book messages as text or a spreadsheet, and on Premium print the messages as a keepsake book. Paid plans keep everything for 12 months, so there's no rush.
