5 guides

Guides

Longer pieces on animating photographs well. The action library answers which movement suits a picture; these answer everything around it.

Shooting for animation

Framing, light and the specific things that decide whether a photograph can carry a movement at all.

A woman posed for a portrait against a plain backdrop, face turned toward the camera and evenly lit

The photo that will actually animate well (and the ones that will not)

Most camera rolls have hundreds of good photographs and only a handful of good source material. A practical way to tell which is which before you spend a generation on the wrong one.

7 min read

Why people animate a photo

Reunions, anniversaries, graduations and seasonal cards. Remembrance belongs on this shelf too, and is written carefully or not at all.

Four people smiling at the camera and raising glasses in warm indoor light

A moving photo as a gift: anniversaries and parents' wedding photos

Their wedding portrait is usually the best photograph in the house, which makes it good source material and a risky gift. What to animate, what to leave alone, and how to hand it over so it reads as care rather than a novelty.

6 min read

Five people standing close together and smiling for a phone held out at arm's length

Animating old family photos for a reunion or milestone birthday

A photograph from forty years ago, brought into the room as five seconds of movement. Which pictures out of the shoebox can actually carry it, what to repair first, and how to pace the reveal so it lands.

6 min read

A graduate in a mortarboard smiling on a lawn, other graduates blurred behind her

Graduation, new baby, and the milestone photo

The lighter end of animating a photograph. Which milestone pictures have enough in them to move, why a graduation shot is nearly ideal and a swaddled newborn nearly isn't, and how to share the result without flattening it.

6 min read

A person in a Santa hat and patterned jumper beside a lit tree and wrapped presents

Holiday cards that move: seasonal photo animations

Christmas, Halloween and the end of year card, made from a photograph you already took. Which seasonal presets need what, how to send a clip without it arriving as a broken attachment, and the several occasions when a still card is plainly better.

6 min read