Ever heard of Cinemagraphs?
I’ve been learning to make them and I love it.
It’s going to be a new direction for Active Backpacker, as we roam the world we’re going to use Cinemagraphs to help nurture our creative sides and utilise a new medium to share visual and cultural travel experiences with you guys.
The term “Cinemagraph” was coined by the funky duo of Kevin Burg & Jamie Beck and is making a splash in the world of fashion photography.
They define a Cinemagraph as…
…which I think is awesome.
To make these I use a combination of video and still image layers pieced together inside the ever confusing labyrinth that is Photoshop CS6. The only drawback to these is that the filesizes are larger than normal images, so let your browser load the page for a good minute before taking a peek for best results 😀 Tests also show that these look horrible in Internet Explorer (which is the bane of the internet anyway), so get on Firefox or Chrome if you’re not already!
The first in the new Active Backpacker Travel Cinemagraph Series is titled Rotterdam, Part I.
See the hands swinging? I’m aiming for subtle yet effective 😉
Featured in this little series of Cinemagraphs we have our Australian friends, Yash & Chris (swinging and holding hands). In the distance lies the iconic Erasmusbrug. The bike wheel and I are backdropped by the Het Witte Huis (White House), another classic piece of Rotterdam architecture.
Making these is just plain fun! There are so many special travel moments for us to catch and preserve as living, breathing things here on the blog. Amsterdam, New York, Canada, South East Asia are on the horizon for the end of this year and into the next. I wonder what moments we can capture, snatching something magical like fireflies in a night jar.
i love these Tom! just beautiful.
Thanks Kelly 🙂 That’s great to hear! Say Hi to Trev & Wilfred for me 😉
Cool
🙂
Gorgeous! I bet Yash and Chris love their’s…the bike wheel is really fun too..Clever!!!
Thanks Louise. Need to do a few more bicycle ones before we leave Holland!
So fucking awesome! If you share your trips like this I will love your blog!!! Currently there are so many travel blogs and it is hard to pick the best! this time you definetely make the best! hope to see much mure of this.
Thanks Manuel! That’s awesome to hear 🙂 We loved the few we’ve done already so there’s definitely more to come. I really appreciate your feedback, cheers!
Nicely done. I like the bike tire.
Cheers Bob!
You should put up some of the others too! Good work!
Haha, thanks Chris. I had your head turn one up as well, but I realised it was like 6mb just on it’s own. I need to get better at making them smaller, more manageable file sizes for the web.
Hi Tom,
Love the idea; they remind me of the moving photos in Harry Potter. Technology catches up with inspired thinking in fiction?
Thanks 🙂 Yeah they remind me of the paintings and photos in Harry Potter too! And come on, who doesn’t love Harry? Technology catching up with fiction indeed (now I’m just waiting for my Marty McFly Hoverboard!).
Awesome concept Tom, I’m sure you’ll have fun with this one – the web is coming alive more each day – well done for being the first!
Hiya Jo! We sure will, they’re a lot of fun to make 🙂 Thanks!
I have never heard of this Tom. Great job. What a cool and unique addition to your blog. P.s. It loaded quickly in my browser. I am using Chrome.
Thanks Stephen! Good to hear it loaded quickly, I’ve been working on making the file sizes smaller with much success – so the next ones will load even better and faster 🙂
Neato! I hadn’t heard of these before. Great choice of images! Would love to learn how to make them.
Thanks Steph! If you want some resource links/videos on how to make these, just let me know and I’ll shoot them over 🙂