Pet Challenge - gif it a try!!

August 14th, 2018
I am delighted to have the privilege of hosting the new Pets Challenge. Both Shadow and I thank all who participated and voted for our entry in the last round. And, we have come up with a new theme!

I can hear the groans from here! But, I am here to tell you that if a complete techno nerd like me can figure out how to do a gif, you can too!! It really is very simple. (Would I lie to you?)

Pets make awesome gif subjects. Dogs run, lick, bark, and roll over. Cats bat at toys, groom themselves, and yawn in boredom. Birds chirp, twist their heads, and flap their wings. Even snakes, lizards, and turtles make slow movement and fish continually open and close their mouths. The possibilities are endless!

So, why not put on your thinking cap and gif this a try!

The biggest piece of advice I can give you, is set your camera on continuous (shutter) and just hold the shutter down for at least five images. You can toss the first and last image and use the middle three. You need a minimum of three images to make a decent gif, but I would limit it to seven at the very top end. Most cameras can do this.

Check out some of the how to sites I have looked into for you. Both explain gifs in easy to follow language.

http://www.rookiemag.com/2018/03/how-to-make-a-gif/3/ or
https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-make-gif/

Here are some free gif maker sites to use to make your gif. You can also use Photoshop to make gifs – but I did find gifmaker so easy to use that I did not even check out how to do it with Photoshop.
https://giphy.com/ ,
https://makeagif.com/ ,
and I used http://gifmaker.org/ to make my gifs of Shadow running.

Last but not least, check out some gifs done by our 365 members.
https://365project.org/tags/gif

The tag for this challenge will be pets-gif . Also, why not tag it plain old gif to put on the gif page as well! I will also be checking the tag pet-gif when I choose finalists just in case someone does not make it plural.

Also, since not everyone has a pet, I will allow gifs of horses, rhinos, kangaroos, or any such living creature. Just as long as you can gif this a try!

The challenge starts today and will end on Thursday, August 30th. You can enter as many times as you wish – but gifs must be done within these dates. That will give you two complete weekends to figure out how to do it.

Good luck and have fun!
August 14th, 2018
Wendy your link to previous gifs posted is incorrect should read 'gif' and not 'gig'
August 14th, 2018
your link is going to photos of gigs lol
August 14th, 2018
@salza @kali66
Now fixed - wonder how that happened!
August 14th, 2018
Hi Wendy, I made a gif with gifmaker.org and makeagif.com I tried to upload both but the first one doesn’t move and the second one does not appear at all. What do i do wrong?
August 14th, 2018
@jacqbb
I remember being frustrated with this as well using gifmaker and thinking it did not work. I uploaded it to 365 - and complained bitterly to the lady who challenged me with it, and lo she was able to see it move. I was also able to see it move then as well. It takes time to upload, I think ... it isn't instantaneous like photos.
August 14th, 2018
@farmreporter Thank you for your answer, i’ll upload it again....
August 14th, 2018
Ok, I'll give it a go, but think you may be lying!! Lol xx
August 14th, 2018
@farmreporter Help!!! for my latest try I used a baby elephant and i made it with gifmaker.org. On my computer it will work fine but after uploading......
not a single movement. i hope you can see it move....
August 15th, 2018
Oh, I'll have to try this, now that I know how to do it!
August 15th, 2018
I've done a few gifs on GIMP (my preferred editor). I'll have to see what kind of performance my cat has for me.
August 15th, 2018
@farmreporter oooh fun challenge. Thanks Wendy
August 16th, 2018
@farmreporter @stephomy @homeschoolmom @jacqbb @30pics4jackiesdiamond @salza @kali66 FYI, in the past I used Photoscape very successfully (it's free) to make my gif images. For some reason it was removed so I just downloaded it again and it's been greatly improved and updated with some marvelous features and excellent tutorials for each! My panic that I had "misplaced it" turned to delight when I saw how much more sophisticated it had become! It's now called PhotoScapeX I'll add that I like it because I don't have to leave my gif images in the public forum except for 365 where I want to put it.
August 16th, 2018
@Weezilou thank you. Never heard of gif before this challenge from Wendy!
August 18th, 2018
@farmreporter I need your advice please Wendy. I made a gif with the same programme you used, which was very easy. It also showed the animation in my file. When I uploaded to 365, there was no animation! Do you have any suggestions please ;-)
August 18th, 2018
@ludwigsdiana
Some people said that it did not work if the size of their photos were too big. Try saving the photos in a smaller size, and then redo the gif (which should not take too long) and then upload once again.
Good luck with that!!
August 18th, 2018
@farmreporter Thanks so much Wendy, I did not see the previous comments. You certainly have started a ball rolling here. Could you please give me an example size? I am so new to this that I would not know anything abut sizes :-(
August 18th, 2018
@ludwigsdiana
There should be a number of selections available when you hit save as - choose either a low number or small depending on how your program is set up. I'm not really a techie but I think that is how it should work. Give that a try - and good luck!
August 18th, 2018
@ludwigsdiana
I believe that you have to hit 'save as' rather than 'save' since save as will create a new file but save will just re-save your old file with any changes but not file size.
August 18th, 2018
@farmreporter Many thanks for your input and response, I just got it right, by trial and error!
@jacqbb @30pics4jackiesdiamond
The problem is the size of the file and how many photo's are in it. I used 4 and found that using between 40-50% of the size bar it works. The speed is a different issue, not sure I got it right! I also ticked reduce size of Gif.
August 18th, 2018
@ludwigsdiana Hi Diana, I found that too. If the size is to big I won't work.
And i you want to use more photos in your gif you have to reduce their size.
August 18th, 2018
GIFs don't show on my stoopid phone!! Will give them a try on return to civilisation away from tent.
August 28th, 2018
@Weezilou @farmreporter whoop whoop whoop !!! Success on first ever attempt ( big head of what??!!!) I shell play more with photocapex more Louise.

August 28th, 2018
@Weezilou forgot to type th-ank-yoo-oo above!! So excited!! Xx
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