Last week, my husband and I took a little drive through downtown Indianapolis so I could work on my next project. I wanted to create a night time GIF of us driving through the city with some bold color added. For this one, I had my video camera sitting on the dashboard while he drove and I just recorded. I did a few others, but this one ended up being my favorite. Here's the steps I took to create this fun GIF!
First step. Open Adobe Photoshop CS5 and click File - Import - Video Frames to Layers.
Click the "Limit to Every" box and type in 15 frames. This gave my video a "shaky" look. Plus it reduced the file size tremendously.
First thing to do is size that file down. You don't need the GIF to be 27 inches wide (like mine).
Make sure "Constrain Proportions" is checked and then size it down in the "Document Size" section. Press OK!
Now, click Window - Animation.
Your animation toolbar is now visible showing the progression of all your layers. This is where you can hit PLAY and see how your GIF currently looks. Your layers window should open automatically, but if it does not, open in "Window".
Select your first frame in the Animation window and hit the tiny right pointing triangle to play your GIF.
Now, to add the color. Select your first frame in the Animation window and then go to your Layers window. Select "New Layer" (the small button on the bottom that looks like a square with a little square in the corner of it). Make sure this new blank layer is at the very top of all your other layers. The eye should be turned on and this layer should be visible when you click on any layer in the Animation window.
Click the Gradient tool in your toolbar (the box filled with a gradient black and white).
Now at the top left hand corner of your screen you will see a gradient of colors in a small rectangular box. Click that!
Here you can create the colors you want to lay over your GIF. I chose these cotton candy colors. Slide the dials around or click the colored arrows to change the shade. Play until you like it! Press OK.
Now, in the upper left side of your window near the little gradient box, there will be 5 icons with different styled gradients. I chose the first one (a slow progression from left to right). These icons are just to the right of the gradient box. You can choose any style you like! Now, click on the left side of your image and hold down while dragging to the other side. When you release the mouse, it will lay the gradient over top of your image. (see above)
The next step is to click the first layer in your Animation window, then click the top layer with the gradient in your Layers window. At the top of your Layers window will be a drop down button that should say Normal. Click that and select Linear Dodge (Add).
And you're done! Click File - Save for Web & Devices.
Make sure GIF is selected and hit SAVE! Voila!
Hope this was simple enough! Let me know if you decide to try it! I really want to do one maybe taking a video looking out the sunroof of our car of the night sky stars. Have a great Wednesday everyone!
