GIFS: Your Pet Photos In Motion

Even if you don’t recognize the name, you have almost certainly seen a gif-type file somewhere online.  Not quite photos, not quite videos, gifs are a fun in between that work like an automatic, looping slideshow.  Gifs are quirky and fun and I think that makes them perfect for sharing those quirky and fun moments our pets seem to deliver on a daily basis.  Making a gif used to require you use Photoshop, but nowadays they are so easy to make that even a chump like me can do it!  Here’s the first one I made of Eko.

This Windy City vignette is a compilation of seven different photos

My second attempt featured Eko welcoming a guest to my party last weekend

“Welcome!  Got any treats?”

If you want to make a gif the process is very straightforward:

1. Select 3-10 photos you want to use.  In the above examples I used the rapid shot  feature on my camera to get a lot of photos in a short burst.  The shots don’t have to be in sequence though, you can use photos from over a day, week or even a year to tell your story.

2. Upload your photos in order to a site like Gickr or Gifninja, click to continue and download your newly created gif.

3. Enjoy!  You can post gifs to wordpress, tumblr or anywhere else just like you would a normal photo.

Eko didn’t exactly enjoy this water spray but we get to enjoy the gif at least!

Gifs can also be made with movie files, so I’m going to be experimenting with  that to see what I can come up with.  Hope some of you enjoy making gifs of your pets  – if you have any questions feel free to drop me a line.  If you do make a gif be sure to let me know where I can check it out!