I love creating GIFs while on shoots and then uploading them to Instagram.
GIFS are becoming more wildly popular on IG, too. They’re a fun way to look at content and get creative.
However, it took me a lot of trial and error figuring out how to upload a GIF to Instagram. In fact, Instagram doesn’t even take GIFs. I kept spending time making GIFs in Photoshop and then not being able to use them on IG like planned.
You can imagine my frustration. I have had a lot of people ask me how I make and upload my GIFs to IG so I hope I can cut out some of that frustration for you!
If Instagram doesn’t take a GIF then what are we actually watching on IG that look and act like GIFs but aren’t technically GIFs?
I show you in this video tutorial below!
Pre-Photoshop Step by Step Guide:
First, when I’m on the shoot to make a GIF, I make sure my subject is already in place and that my focal point is set on my subject. I don’t work with a tripod so I do my best to hold my camera still to make a smooth GIF. I take a bunch of photos in a row.
If you use a tripod then you’ll get an even smoother GIF that will look more like a video made of photos.
Second, I upload the series of photos that I snapped to create the GIF into my Lightroom. I edit them and export them into a folder that will say something like, “Marisa-GIF To Make” and then I use those photos in the folder to upload to Photoshop for GIF making time!
Now it’s GIF time, y’all!
Photoshop GIF Tutorial:
In order to fully understand these notes, you’ll need to watch the video. This is a re-cap and reference for you so you don’t have to watch the video every time you want to create a GIF but haven’t memorized the workflow yet.
Below are simple step-by-step notes that explain my workflow. If you want to make a proper GIF then skip step 7 and 8, only copy and paste your series of photos once, reverse them to loop and delete the two repeat photos, and save for web as GIF.
I don’t do this because I want to upload to Instagram. In order to do that, I save my work as a .mov file because IG takes movies!
Step by Step Guide:
1). Have your photos saved somewhere like your Desktop in a folder and ready to upload to Photoshop
2). In Photoshop: File - Scripts - Load Files Into Stack - Browse
3). Click Okay to upload your photos
4). Make sure your Timeline is open at the bottom. How To: Window – Timeline.
5). In your timeline, choose and then click Create Frame Animation.
6). Click the four bars in the right hand corner of your timeline and select: Make Frames from Layers
7). Choose 'forever'
8). Select all your photos and set them to .2 seconds
9). Copy and Paste photos, reverse, delete the photo in the middle that repeats twice and the last photo. You will find the copy and paste and the reverse function in those four bars in the right hand corner.
10). Repeat step 9. You want to copy and paste the photos enough times for it to look like the video is looping forever and doesn’t just end in one loop of photos. I usually repeat 3-5 times to make my video last between 20-60 seconds.
8). to save : file - export - render video