Creating a Cinemagraph in Photoshop

Learn to use Photoshop to create cinemagraphs—still images that have moving components.

Put your stills into motion with cinemagraphs. A cinemagraph is a still image that contains a trace of subtle motion: wisps of hair in the breeze, water running through a stream, or a dog's tail wagging.

You can use numerous tools for creating cinemagraphs, and one of the best is Photoshop. With Photoshop's masking, compositing, and video features, you can combine the layers of a still image with video that makes a cinemagraph come to life. Photographer, author, and educator Seán Duggan shows you how.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What is a cinemagraph?
• What you should know before watching this course
• Using the exercise files

1. The Basic Cinemagraph Effect

• Shooting video for a cinemagraph
• Creating the still layer and choosing video length
• Using a layer mask to reveal motion
• Creating a seamless video loop
• Adding image adjustments
• Exporting a cinemagraph

2. Create Multiple Cinemagraphs on One Image

• Selecting an area of video for the cinemagraph
• Adding a second effect for the cinemagraph
• Comping in a new background to the cinemagraph
• Adding color adjustments
• Exporting a cinemagraph as a video file

3. Fine-Tuning Video Clips for Cinemagraphs

• Adjusting the video frame rate for the cinemagraph in Photoshop
• Selecting and fine-tuning the video loop for the cinemagraph in Photoshop

Conclusion

• Next steps