how to make a GIF with only ONE element in the picture moving?

i saw some interesting works recently that actually add to the flavor of a photograph : e.g. taking multiple static shots of a person, combine it and the end result being a person standing in front of a spinning ceiling fan (gif of course).

assume no tripod, how do we line up the photos such that it stacks well, then subsequently process it as a gif to just animate one portion of the photograph?

a complete workflow would be welcome!

Well, for one thing, when you say "assume no tripod", that's a bit of a mouthful. Without good camera support, you are ensuring a lot of "fails", so if you don't have a tripod, find a means of support and shoot using either a cable or a wireless remote to prevent handling the camera. Otherwise you will have a task ahead of you, a lot of wrestling with shots that are a bit out of alignment with each other (or a lot out). Yes, some people are steady enough to get enough shots that can be aligned with their software, I just don't have enough trust with my 62-year-old body to "assume no tripod"!

These are typically made from video, not stils. Google "cinematic gif how to", there are plenty of tutorials.

I'm certainly no expert in GIF, and have only tried a couple. This was from two handheld shots, and I initially wasn't planning them as a GIF. I just lined them up (the static leaves) as layers in GIMP using about a 50% opacity. Had to do some very slight resizing and rotation to get them to match up, but worked okay.

Don't know why you couldn't do that with multiple images and layers in PS or whatever program you're using.

https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=11627887&p​ostcount=1

I did a couple a while back. I used photoshop to make the layers then i used Microsoft's gif maker (free).
The image is a bit too big to post here but here is a link if you want to check it out. Give it time to load, takes a min or so...
http://i1100.photobuck​et.com …rts1/Photos/Sto​pwatch.gif

chris_holtmeier wrote in post #15586288
These are typically made from video, not stils. Google "cinematic gif how to", there are plenty of tutorials.

hmm but i'd like to retain maximum quality if possible - using video to grab frames will just restrict me to 1080p resolution..

the.forumer wrote in post #15592365
hmm but i'd like to retain maximum quality if possible - using video to grab frames will just restrict me to 1080p resolution..

Even with a 1DX, it's still gonna be pretty choppy shooting stills. I am pretty sure every cinematic gif you've seen is pulled from video.

chris_holtmeier wrote in post #15592417
Even with a 1DX, it's still gonna be pretty choppy shooting stills. I am pretty sure every cinematic gif you've seen is pulled from video.

While I'm sure that some have been using video stills, but it's not by any means the "standard" approach. The only "standard" is to have stills that can be "put together" and then deliver the desired animation. And it's "animated" gifs, not "cinematic" gifs!

tonylong wrote in post #15592682
While I'm sure that some have been using video stills, but it's not by any means the "standard" approach. The only "standard" is to have stills that can be "put together" and then deliver the desired animation. And it's "animate" gifs, not "cinematic" gifs!

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=c​inematic+gif

tonylong wrote in post #15592682
While I'm sure that some have been using video stills, but it's not by any means the "standard" approach. The only "standard" is to have stills that can be "put together" and then deliver the desired animation. And it's "animate" gifs, not "cinematic" gifs!

What has been blowing up across the internet are cinemagraphs. They are indeed made from video, broken down into individual frames in Ps, masked and looped.

OP, of course it's going to limit you to 1080P, but I'm curious where you'd be displaying one of these that you'd need more resolution than that? If you wanted full resolution you could try a timelapse......

http://www.tripwiremag​azine.com/2011/07/cine​magraphs.html

chris_holtmeier wrote in post #15592715
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=c​inematic+gif

Scatterbrained wrote in post #15592745
What has been blowing up across the internet are cinemagraphs. They are indeed made from video, broken down into individual frames in Ps, masked and looped.

OP, of course it's going to limit you to 1080P, but I'm curious where you'd be displaying one of these that you'd need more resolution than that? If you wanted full resolution you could try a timelapse......

http://www.tripwiremag​azine.com/2011/07/cine​magraphs.html

Like I said, I'm sure there are folks making animated gifs from video stills and obviously calling them "cinematic gifs" or "cinemagraphs" or whatever, but based on the long time idea of "animated gifs", and it was "animation" that the OP mentioned. So pointing him to the "cinematic" gifs is fine, but don't limit the OP, especially since he specifically said he wanted more res than your HD pics!

tonylong wrote in post #15592777
Like I said, I'm sure there are folks making animated gifs from video stills and obviously calling them "cinematic gifs" or "cinemagraphs" or whatever, but based on the long time idea of "animated gifs", and it was "animation" that the OP mentioned. So pointing him to the "cinematic" gifs is fine, but don't limit the OP, especially since he specifically said he wanted more res than your HD pics!

Like I said, he could always try timelapse, or he could find a camera that can shoot at 24fps (I know some of the new mirrorless are getting up there, but I don't think they're that high yet), but I'm genuinely curious why he'd need the higher resolution.

Anyway, to the OP, the big question you may need to face is how to define the "look" of the GIF animation...I don't think you can show motion like you could in a video, so decide you have to what your individual frames will consist of to give the approximate/relative look.

One idea would be to take a series of shots with a "medium-slow" shutter speed -- it would depend on how fast the fan is spinning, you'd have to experiment, the idea being that each shot would capture a bit of the fan "in motion", showing "motion blur". Or, a series of fast shutter speed shots, each that would "freeze" the motion of the fan, and combine them together the animation could cycle through a complete rotation...

As to a person standing in front of/below the fan, you may be best to get one shot of the person, then multiple shots of the fan (no person) then clone the static person into each "fan shot"...

the.forumer wrote in post #15592365
hmm but i'd like to retain maximum quality if possible - using video to grab frames will just restrict me to 1080p resolution..

Animated GIF limits your quality way more than 1080p. And what's the point of making a GIF larger than a computer screen? I'd say 600x900 would be about the biggest you'd want to go.

Also keep in mind that a GIF is 1980s tech and can only display 256 colors at a time (vs 16 million for JPEG) so it may not be a good choice for "maximum quality" anyway.

But let's get back to the workflow that the OP asked about! Heck, the OP could shoot video or "Small Jpeg" or full-sized "Large Jpeg", but the outcome will still be an animated gif, workflow ideas? The last time I did an animated gif was probably, well, maybe 15 years ago and it wasn't photography animation, so let's start with the basics!