How to create Cinegraphs

Cinegraphs are pretty easy to create if you have good understanding of how to shoot video on your digital slr. The preferred output for cinegraphs is an animated .gif but unfortunately if you want to show them off to your friends, posting on Facebook is a challenge (I've yet to see it done).  They are great for blogs like blogger.com. You have a choice of creating a frame animation or video animation.  I find timeline a little easier to use.

STEP BY STEP-quick start guide

1. Use a tripod when you shoot. The background must remain perfectly still. Consider how your action will loop.  Subtle effects work best but don’t be afraid to experiment.  Shoot horizontal for video  or TV display.

2. Go through the video and use Quicktime to trim your video to a 2-4 seconds to loop.

3. Export as .mov file  Rotate and correct canvas before export.

4. Go to Photoshop>File>Import Video Frames to Layers from beginning to end make frame animation.

5. Group all the layers into a folder, except the first layer.

6. Create a layer mask on the folder revealing the portion you want animated.

7. Choose the first frame of the animation in the timeline and select “Match Layers across Frames” in the side menu of the timeline panel.

8. Save for web as a .gif (Watch your image size if you intend to post). You can also export to video for an movie file but looping is not an automatic output and only works if the viewer selects it in the Quicktime movie player.

For more detailed instructions please check out these tutorials. 

http://tinyurl.com/cinegraphhowto

http://tinyurl.com/cinegraphhowto2