They're not quite photos. They're not quite movies. They're cinemagraphs, you made them and they're so much more incredible than your run-of-the-mill animated gif. (Note: Give these images time to load, they're quite large
WINNER! Here's my submission for the Cinemagraph Contest. I shot this at Patricia Beach, just outside of Winnipeg on Canada Day long weekend with my Panasonic GH2, and the 25mm Voigtlander f/0.95 lens, ISO100. Rather than take a bunch of stills, I've found it makes a lot more sense to take a bunch of video and piece together the cinemagraph from that. Doing it that way allows for some happy accidents like the bird flying overhead. That happened at a much later part of the shot, but I just comped in that one frame where I wanted it.
All of the tutorials I see online recommend you use Photoshop to make these Cinemagraphs, but that seems like the wrong tool for the job... I used Adobe After Effects, since it's built for manipulating video. It's much easier to make things loop properly since you can cross fade the layers over time, and make non-destructive adjustments to your masking which allows for a lot more experimentation and refinement. I did use Photoshop for the final export to an animated GIF, but other than that, it was totally assembled in After Effects.
-Kert Gartner
When I saw this weeks challenge, I knew I wanted a picture with some sort of an electronic sign (neon sign, crossing sign, traffic light, etc). I grabbed my camera, tripod and my sister along for the ride and headed out to downtown. We were walking past a bar and smoke shop and my sister stopped to check out a hookah pipe and I thought it'd be an interesting capture. I talked to the owner to see if we can shoot outside the store but I was surprised when he wanted to check our IDs. We had to get 'special permission' to shoot in front of the store with my sister, since she was underage. And the owner was nice enough to keep the sign switched on for about 20 minutes even after the store closed up.
The picture was taken with a Canon T2i, 18-55mm lens, ISO 3200, with exposure set to +2. I used a bit of color correction on the video before adjusting the curves and putting a vignette.
-Shali Herath
Skateboarding has been a large part of my life for the last 11 years. I've had many broken bones and a few stitches here and there but that doesn't stop me. The thrill of landing a trick down a set of stairs makes the desire to skate that much greater. The gif represents my passion for skating; it never stops. I shot this using my canon 60d with the iso at 1200, shutter 1/60, aperture 5.6.
-Robert Lundskow
Camera: 5dmkii
ISO: 100
Focal: 50mm
f/: 1.4
I have been amazed by Jamie's cinemagraphs for a while now and wanted to create something different, something that looped a dynamic object like steam. It took me forever to create a technique that allowed me to loop steam. So, here it is. Hope you enjoy.
-Jackson Finter
A Dinner in Nazarethstraat
we used a panasonic hdc tm900 in picture mode, took something like 130 frames and looped it.
edit/photoshop: we took the 1st frame and expanded it true the all sequence, masked the 2nd frame showing only the guy in the red t-shirt(maartin) swinging in the chair, then created a clipping mask on all the other frames.
the story behind this animation: my friend came to my place overexcited about this "Cinemagraph"/ gif animations. after experimenting with it for the all afternoon we decided to eat something. after having dinner a nice light came out and we decided to go for a last one.
-Davide Bellotta, Maartin Hunink and Ingetje Wielenga
This looked like an interesting challenge so I thought I'd give it a try. Problem was my Canon 450D doesn't shoot video. I thought of EOS Camera Movie Record, a program that captures camera's live feed. But then I was limited by the length of my USB cable. So I decided to take a shot from my balcony and capture something at the bus station below. I was trying to film people getting on and off a bus, then this girl turned around and waved at my direction. And that was it, my first cinemagraph.
-Nikša Stanović
Title: Cramming
I had always wanted to do something with pen spinning and this is a great method. I recreated my terrifying exam study experience for this challenge. In this photo, I was plotting how to ace my Japanese exam and I ended up writing 6 full pages of notes for practice (which paid off). This was shot with a Panasonic DMC ZS3. For a tripod, I stacked some books on a chair and mounted my camera on an adjustable lamp with masking tape. Though risky, it worked as well as a real tripod!
-Kelly H.
Gear and technique: Nikon D300, Sigma 85 F1.4, tripod and burst rate. Each picture is shot at f/1.8, 1/100s, ISO 800. I used f/1.8 instead of 1.4 to have more details on the 2nd candle. F1/4 would have smoothed the background too much. D300 does not have a movie mode so i had to use burst (6 FPS) and cropped images in photoshop.
Story: From dusk till dawn, Prague becomes the golden city, thanks to the street candle lights and wet pavement.
-Ghetu Daniel
Shot on Friday 1st July.
Camera: RED Epic
Lens: Carl Zeiss Primes 24mm
Frame size: 4K
60fps
When creating this cinemagraph as soon as I saw the lady shaking her head from side to side I knew it had to be included, it just sums up the fact that this shouldn't be happening. The world is moving as usual, but all the people have frozen. It is wrong some how, but comical at the same time.
There's a bit more movement in the scene which some people don't even notice. I've had to scale this down from its original resolution of 4K down to 640x360, so it has got quite small.
-Lee Spooner
Shot with Canon 60d 24mm iso800 f/1.4 1/50s
Just got 5 husky pups. This one in particular has a very serious looks. And the animation just make her looks more serious while her siblings can't stop playing around. Doesn't make her less cute though.
-Zefanya Hanata
My cat, Stitch, resting on the window sill waiting for birds to fly by. When he sees a bird, he likes to move his tail around.
Used a tripod and a Canon T1i DSLR with kit lens. Shot the video at 1080p at 24fps.
GIF made in Photoshop CS4.
-Oriana Kwok
I was out taking pictures in my neighborhood when I came across this open fire hydrant. I thought it would be a great opportunity to add some motion to an otherwise still image. To catch this guy skateboarding and woman walking by at the same time adds to the surrealness of the cinemagraph. It's awesome to create these types of illusions because your brain and eye are expecting movement from the other objects. Shot with a Canon 60D.
-Tom McCarthy
Dripping Drop
For this challenge i wanted to shoot someone in the rain, but it didn't rained hard enough this last days. So I did like a smaller version, with just two drops. I tried different drops, speed, and amount of blur in the background, ending up with this one. I made the gif using After Effects and PS.
Canon T2i, 24fps, ISO 400, f/18, Shutter Speed 50
-Diego Ramírez
I used a canon SD800 IS—the only camera I had with video capabilities. Took this at a park over the weekend. I had another shot I wanted to use in portrait orientation, but after I realized the resolution constraints (vertical widescreen doesn't look to great), I chose this landscape one.
-Matthew Vajen
Canon T2i, EFS 17-55mm lens.
I call this cinemagraph "game over". It was shot at Patriot Stadium in Foxboro, MA. I'm sure anyone who has ever had their car break down can relate to it.
It was interesting that the security staff at the Patriot Stadium escorted me out of their parking lot because of "suspicious activity," and also had me show them all the pics I took on the DSLR, even though this was about a mile away from the actual stadium :-S — I guess the tripod looked menacing? Game over for everyone, I guess.
Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg are brilliant! I actually ended up with 3 decent cinemagraphs, and plan to do more in the future. GREAT idea.
-Diego Jiménez
I spent the long weekend with my family in upstate New York, and spent a while wandering around with my camera and my brand new tripod trying to get a good video to make into a cinemagraph. I was looking for something natural that stayed mostly still and moved a little, but it seemed like everything either moved places constantly (butterflies) or didn't have any noticeable movement at all, until it vanished suddenly (frogs). I finally found this dragonfly, which was posing for me in the garden, with just a gentle breeze moving its wings.
-Leah Nicolich-Henkin
"Queen of the Couch"
When I saw the challenge on cinemagraphs, I knew I had to take part as I love the style and wanted to learn how to create one on my own. I borrowed a friend's DSLR for a day and headed out to the beach, hoping to grab some good videos in which I could isolate out a particular action during post-processing. After spending a few hours on Photoshop, I realized that the best video clip I had was too shaky due to the sea breeze and did not turn out very well as a cinemagraph. Towards the end of the long weekend, while hanging out with friends, I noticed that Snow-eie, a friend's frenchie, stayed so still that she almost looked like a photograph. I quickly whipped out my iPhone, steadied it on a coffee table, and took a video of her. Post processing was minimal, although I had to fiddle with the delay to make the looping look more natural. iPhone 4 camera, unknown ISO.
-Jayme Khoo
This is the view from the passenger seat of my car. I aimed the camera out the window at the rearview mirror, and also managed to get my hand in the shot. I have the inside of the car holding still, and the outside whizzing past. A fun little detail is the reflection of my hand in the window, as you can see my fingers moving.
ISO 80, 1/500, Lumix DMC FZ-35, Adobe Photoshop CS4.
-Peter Glitsch
Nikon D3100 10-55mm F/3.5-5.6G lens, 1080P Video.
Spin Me Round Round!
I shot Spin Me Round Round by accident. I was intending to shoot a photo but I hit the record button by mistake. I'm sure glad I did because what I was originally intending to submit was nowhere near as fun and creative as this. I had first made a cinemagraph of a NASCAR race on TV. It was easy to do since the moving object is already encased within a square TV frame. It looked great and I was happy with the results, but I couldn't help but notice that it looked too much like a video and not a moving photo. I decided to try again but I didn't know what I wanted to film.
The next day while at a family BBQ, I filmed my nephew Carlitos spinning round round on a swivel lawn chair. What was meant to be a photo, ended up being the perfect video for my submission. The total video length was no more than a minute long but that's all I needed. This cinemagraph was not as easy as the first NASCAR image I had made the night before. I had never used photoshop so that added another challenge. Thankfully the tutorials linked in the challenge gave very clear directions. I played around with the moving objects until I found the right balance of what should be moving, and what should be still. I initially had the swiveling kid and the trees in the background moving. Though it looked great, it still looked like a video and not a photo with motion. When I removed the tree's movements and made only the swiveling kid move, that's when it felt and looked right.
The entire process of this challenge was as fun as it was challenging. I thank Gizmodo for inspiring me to go out and shoot, and for introducing me to other forms of photographic art!
-Fernando Fernandez
I shot this in the backyard as the sun was on its way out. I suppose it's a little more subtle nod at the recently concluded holiday weekend. There is such a fine balance in masking and maintaining continuity in the animation. It's really rewarding to find the key frames and see this half-photograph/half-film image emerge. I'll be working on making more of these.
Shot on a Canon Vixia HF200, Aperture priority @ f/2.8
The whole animation is about 86 frames long
-Jonathan Vanderweit
Being 4th of July weekend, I thought it might be cool to create a cinemagraph with some sort of USA flag theme. After riding around San Francisco without finding what I was imagining I'd see, I thought I'd check out the military graveyard in the Presidio. I had a vision of each gravestone having its own flag. I didn't see any US flags that I could get a good angle on, but did see a POW flag.
After that, I happened to ride by the golf course in the Presidio and realized there's a flag on each green. Not a US flag, but a flag non-the-less. With the ball in flight from a chip off the green, and the sun quickly setting in the background, the shot turned out pretty good for a 2nd attempt at a cinemagraph with a completely unstaged scene.
Canon 7D, 24mm Prime lens.
I can't remember the ISO or aperture
Thanks for the contest and showing this technique. I definitely will keep playing with it.
-Dave Walker
I was sitting in our garden, reading, when my wife Rebekah came out with a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes. I was holding my glass up in the light while she poured it and watching the cascade of bubbles I thought... "Hey, this would make a great cinemagraph!" This is only my second attempt at the process, but it's something I will continue exploring. Because it's awesome. Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, Sigma 50mm/1.4 lens, f/3.5 (I think) and I don't know what ISO or speed I shot at. I think the ISO was somewhere between 400 and 800... or ... well... we were drinking champagne, so I really can't tell you all the details. But I hope people enjoy it!
-Craig Schott
The legend has it that whoever drinks water from Gazi Husrev-Beg Mosque Fountain is bound to return to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. That's what my girlfriend and I (natives) were told by a randomly passing tourist while filming the video. We kinda knew that already, but hey, thanks, guy! The shooting itself was pretty straightforward once I borrowed a tripod from a friend. Camera: Nikon D90 with the 18-105mm f/3.5 kit lens. Settings: Aperture priority mode, f/5.6, ISO 250, 1/160, 105mm.
-Damir Zekić
This one was tough! I spent a lot of time trying to plan an interesting shot, and went through about a dozen different ideas before settling on the simplest one. At one point I had a landscape with fluttering flag and a skindiver repeatedly diving (movement looked too small), a car rapide (small bus) zooming past on an overpass (could not get the frame rate correct), and my dog wagging his tail (looked cool, but was boring.) I settled on the swingset and fluttering flag in the background as it had a creepy quality to it. Overall, it was a lot of fun, and taught me a few things about using Photoshop and shooting video (which I rarely do with my P&S.)
Taken in Dakar, Senegal with a Canon SX210IS in standard HD video mode.
-Matthew Sweeney
I used my Canon T1i with the kit lens. I had several Ideas that didn't quite work out, but for my first attempt I think this one worked OK.
-Andrew VandenHeuvel
Setup: Panasonic GF1 w/ 20mm pancake lens. Shot with video, edited in PS5 using the tutorial supplied in challenge.
Great learning experience! Thank you
-Aaron Hinckley
Here is my very first cinemagraph. I wanted to try something I had not seen before which is juxtaposing the same model several times in a photograph...a fashion photo convention that I love...and animating it. It's an interesting still photo convention used to evoke motion. Yet, ironically the motion comes from the "wind" animating the hair and necklace unexpectedly.
It was actually a really painstaking production process that took me several days to figure out and execute. I basically animated each figure and then cut and paste each frame onto the final canvas. I wanted a graphic design element to add the feeling of an animating fashion editorial which I had not seen much of either.
The equipment: Canon 7d, Macbook pro, Photoshop CS4
The settings: zoom lens 28-135 mm, shot around 50 mm, ISO 800, lit with two 1K Arri lights
-Karen Ngo
When I read this week's challenge, I wanted to try it! I knew my knowledge of a cinemagraph was limited, so I did some research. I don't own any fancy Photoshop software, but I do have GIMP and I was bound and determined to figure it out using that. Between the helpful links on the challenge site and this one: http://www.slideshare.net/Keef21Moon/how-to-make-a-gif-from-a-video-file-using-gimp, I was able to figure something out!
I took quite a few small videos at the local park, but it wasn't until a thunderstorm arrived that I really found something I wanted to use. This is a plant outside of my small apartment that quietly collects raindrops from any storm. I thought this was much better than what I had before (moving ducks, fountains, and dogs...) I think this is one of those "less is more cases".
My dslr doesn't have a video component, so I used my Sony Cybershot. This was on all "auto" settings, and sadly none of the settings recorded on the digital video that I can see.
-Amanda Jaeger
I never heard of this type of image before this challenge, and it opens new doors for still photography. I used my Canon XSi mounted to a tripod, since it does not have a video function, This was shot in natural light in my Boston apartment. I used continuous shooting to create the feeling of a video. It was shot at f/1.4 at 1/50 using my 50mm 1.4 lens. Using photoshop to create a video from the photos and a clipping mask to get the cinemagraph. Keep the fresh types of photography coming!
-Seth Porter
If you are like me, the worst thing that can happen is someone sending you a link to "the funniest video EVAR" only to meet with this swirling circle of evil for twenty minutes. Look, Youtube, I get it. You serve eleventy billion videos a day, and I could probably wait a minute. But that's beside the point. The point is that if I want to watch a video of a cat falling asleep, I want to do it NOW. RIGHT NOW.
-Garret Evans
Shot with Canon 7D, 50mm 1.4L lens.
After reading about the challenge I grabbed my camera and noticed my cat enjoying the sun next to me. So he became a model for the day. Took a video of him at 1080p@24p used photoshop and the guide provided to make this pic.
-Oleksandr Panasyuk
Done with a 7D 28mm 2.8 lens (at F/2.8). The story behind the picture is pretty hilarious. My friend and I tried doing a couple other pretty boring ones (drinking out of a glass that would never empty, stuff falling through the frame every couple of seconds, etc). But after experimenting with that for a bit and realizing that on the whole they didn't turn out to be that interesting, we decided to try and think up a moment which nobody wants to relive infinitely. Initially our idea was a long string of spit that would constantly dribble from someone's mouth into the toilet, however at that very moment my father came home after having a meal of watermelon (so don't worry it's not red for any dangerous reason) and offered to take our Cinemagraph to a whole new production level. Ironically, after we finished taking a video of him, I was so disturbed that i actually puked myself...(TMI, I know). So there is the whole messy story, and I hope that everyone "enjoys" it to the maximum that something like this actually can be enjoyed! It's gross, and without a doubt, NOT FOR THE FAINT OF STOMACH, but someone had to push the proverbial envelope and we are happy to be those people.
-Adrian Nugent-Head
The camera used for this shot is a very crappy Insignia NS-DV720P. I don't really know the specs on this camera, except that it's 5mp. I just set it on Auto in the Settings and let her rip.
The idea of this shoot came about when I was watching Inside the NBA on TNT. Charles Barkely was challenged to this 25-Second White Bread Challenge that Kenny Smith discovered on the internet. Basically you have 25 seconds to eat a plain, single piece of white bread. Sounds simple enough but it is very difficult. Needless to say, Charled Barkely failed the challenge, as did I. I came in at about 35 seconds.
I decided to use this video as my Cinemagraph simply because using this technique really emphasizes the eternal struggle I had with that damn piece of bread. It made my mouth extremely dry and I felt like I was on a continuous loop of chewing while trying the challenge.
-Steve Galea
This particular contest really appealed to me, so I dove in head first for my first shooting challenge. I had tried a couple scenes prior to this, but the animation wasn't coming out as smoothly as I'd like so I thought I'd try this scene for more practice and it turned out to be my favorite. I thew my camera in the corner on a tripod and jumped away everytime fearing I'd smash my head on the low ceiling in the basement. Fortunately I did not, and although my head was a little cut off in the picture I liked the result. My basement isn't particularly visually stunning, walls are lime green in fact, so I put it in black and white, which also made it a bit sharper once saved as a gif. Equipment used: iPhone 4.
-Mike Thweatt
Shot with a Canon FS200, built in lens. ISO? Riiight. I'm no photographer. Just someone who enjoys Gizmodo and likes to have phun with Fotoshop.
THE STORY:
Evie enjoyed lounging in the sun, cleaning herself and coughing up the occasional fur ball. She'd play a bit, get a bite to eat then take a break in the litter box and start all over again.
Until the parakeet showed up.
The bird cage is in the corner near the ceiling. Just out of reach. The bird inside stares down at Evie. Taunting her. Bouncing from side to side as if to say, "You want some of this?" Tilting its tiny morsel of a head from side to side as if to say, "What are you waiting for? I'm right here..."
"Come and get me."
So Evie waits.
Any day now they'll set up the ironing board like they always do.
Right there in the corner.
And it'll be so ON.
-Jeff Pedigo
Taken Friday evening as my girlfriend calmly waits for me to get ready before heading out for the night. I recently took and left my main camera on a trip to Florida at a friends. I didn't want that to stop me from completing this great shooting challenge so I used my phones camera in its place. I took the video at 720p. Converted the video to .MOV and then I played around with color hues and contrast till I got to what you see.
-Javier Urbieta
