I received happy news earlier this year when a former wedding couple contacted me to let me know that what they had hoped for is becoming a reality - they are becoming parents!

Danielle asked me to help them make a way of announcing their “great expectation,” which she and Drew planned to occur on the 4th of July, using the slogan “Red, White, and Due!” Giving it some thought, I asked her if she was planning to do an online announcement only. When she said she was, I was happy - why not use a cinemagraph instead of a still picture?

What is a cinemagraph?

As you know, the still pictures you see posted on social media are mainly JPGs, maybe some are PNGs. But you also see “moving” pictures called GIFs. GIFs are simply snippets of video, usually on a looped playback, like this:

A cinemagraph is a type of GIF but it has some unique characteristics. First of all, the movement in it is looped seamlessly, that is, it doesn’t have that “jump” when it goes to loop through again.

It is even more striking when a part of the scene that you expect to move doesn’t while another part does.

So, how about a cinemagraph for Danielle and Drew’s pregnancy announcement? Fortunately, platforms such as Facebook allows GIFs to be upoaded to a feed just as a picture or video is done.

And with a theme such as “Red, White, and Due!” it demands the use of that Independence Day classic - SPARKLERS!

Yes, this takes a little bit of Photoshop wizardry, but having attended the Hogwarts Extension course on that, I can make this happen!

Congratulations to Danielle and Drew - and I can’t wait until I can photograph this pumpkin!

What do you think - is there something you would like to show off in a cinemagraph?