Lightfolio galleries now supports animated GIFs
Animated GIFs are as popular as ever. Although they may have been invented way back in the early days of the internet, these animated images are particularly well-liked on social media. While they’re commonly used to communicate jokes and memes, animated GIFs are also a great way of capturing a particular moment and bringing a scene to life.
You can now upload your own animated GIF files to galleries in Lightfolio and offer your clients something different in addition to the stills you already capture from photo shoots. Photographers like Benjamin Dunford of Who Is Benjamin have been making animated GIFs for a while and see a great benefit in being able to provide their clients with moving imagery.
Creating your own animated GIFs
If you have a bunch of images that have been taken in continuous shooting mode, then you can easily combine them to create an animated GIF. Dunford describes his process by saying that he “finds 5-6 images that have been taken in fast sequence” and then moves through them, “to see if they animate, like frames in a video.”
There are a few simple tips to making great animated GIFs. Dunford advises, “hold the camera really still and shoot around 7 fps… even better if you can use a tripod for a more solid GIF”.
It’s also important to let the subjects move naturally through the frame, so you can easily bring the moment to life. “I think the best ones are of small details, like a groom adjusting his tie, or a champagne bottle popping,” Who Is Benjamin said.
Once captured, there are a few different ways to create them, including using specific animated GIF creation tools like ezgif, giphy or programs like Photoshop. Either way, animated GIF files are now supported in Lightfolio, a feature which is not supported by many other online gallery services.
Why add animted GIFs to your galleries?
Creating and adding even just a few moving images per shoot is enough to make it stand out.
“It brings a little feeling back from the day with movement,” says Dunford. “The trick is to be subtle. They look awesome scattered about in photo sets on my website.”
Clients also tend to really appreciate the addition of animated GIF images. Laura O'Toole of Miss Whittington’s Photography chooses to include them, “because I love how they can transcend the limitations of still imagery and really bring a moment to life.”
“Clients always love the GIFs because they just add something a bit different and special to their galleries,” she said. Plus, they are incredibly popular on social media, which is always a bonus as well. In fact, it’s hard to imagine social media without animated GIFs anymore.
O'Toole is a big believer in using the animated snippets to stand out from the crowd. "Just a glimpse of movement withing a gallery of still images just looks so magical and really brings my galleries, and client experience, to the next level".
Create an account and try it out for yourself.
Follow Miss Whittington's photography and Who is Benjamin here:
IG: @miss_whittingtons_photography_
IG: @whoisbenjamin
