Blank (black) photos when inserting from iPhoto

Question

When trying to insert photos from iPhoto in a recent iMovie project, some photos rendered as black while others inserted with no problem. I first thought this was related to enabling /disabling the Ken Burns effect, but could not verify that. However, after some puzzling, I found that if I reduced the size (dimensions in pixels) the photos would insert fine. I checked the photos using Get Info and the only pattern I could see was that the larger photos (3072 x 2304 pixels) would insert as black while the smaller (2592 x 1944) would insert ok. So I used Photoshop Elements to crop the larger and, WA-LA, they inserted fine.
Any one else have this situation or can verify if I am on the right track or if this is even a consistent problem? I noted on one of the other boards that some people have been having problems of photos showing as black in slide shows using iPhoto.

Answer 1

Yes, we've seen a few reports recently of certain imported images arriving as black clips. It's not entirely clear why. Resizing as you did has helped some.
It's not clear whether it's the resizing that helps or simply editing the photo — any editing — that causes the modified image to be saved in a format iMovie handles correctly. I suspect the underlying problem is tied to the image source — the camera — instead of the image size, and that saving the image in an image editor may fix the problem. Anything you can discover that helps identify the cause would be very helpful.
Here's one with problems with images from a Kodak:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1989357#1989357
(For what it's worth, I cannot reproduce the problem on any image, no matter what size. Images much larger than 3072 x 2304 import just fine.)
Please say what camera model you use.
And to test whether the problem is related to the camera or to the image size, try resizing a 3072 x 2304 image LARGER to see if that imports okay. If it's okay, it's not a size problem.
Then to see if it's an image file format problem, try doing a Save As with NO changes. If that doesn't import correctly, try changing one pixel and saving.
Yes, it may be important whether the Ken Burns checkbox is on or off. When importing BMPs, for example, a red color shift occurs when the KB checkbox is ON, but not when it's OFF.
Anything you can discover would be very helpful.
Karl