How To Animate a Still Photo in Photoshop

In today’s video tutorial we’re going to have some fun creating what’s known as a Plotagraph, which is a motion picture effect similar to Cinemagraphs, but it’s created from a single still image, rather than a video clip. The name Plotagraph comes from the brand name of the software and the associated community based on this effect, which you can find at Plotagraph.com. The full software is pretty expensive, so I’ve been playing around in Adobe Photoshop to figure out how to create the effect manually. It works by stretching a certain portion of the image using keyframes in the Photoshop animation timeline. Repeating this simple transformation in a loop gives the illusion that the picture is moving.

► Skogafoss photo by Kym Ellis – https://unsplash.com/photos/GSyVkoBAWQM

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22 Comments

  1. Chris,
    I just wanted thank you again for your cleverness, willingness to share and the concise and effective manner in which you present your tutorials!!

  2. Absolutely amazing tutorial, I’m impressed, Chris.
    Really bluffing result. Thanx again, You remain a reference for me and my knowledge of photoshop

  3. You are so clever! This is awesome! I saw a tutorial video one time where the snow layer was dragged down during the clip, causing the snow to look as if it was really falling in the final.
    Very cool, indeed!
    Thank you!
    Su

  4. You are a star! Wasnt prepared to buy into the software just to see how it was done. Thank you for explaining this magic.

  5. Following this tutorial can I make an animation video where I want to show that I am removing the background of a product photo in Photoshop?

  6. Hey Chris,
    I’m surprised.Really awesome tutorial .Actually, I was looking for a video animation tutorial.I’m very glad :) thanks for your photoshop hacks.keep it up

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