Photos express a lot, but not as much as videos. But creating and sharing videos can be difficult because of the file size involved. GIFs offer the best of both worlds! These playful “mini-videos” make a great addition to your photo options—and you can create them right from your smartphone! Not to mention, it’s a fun and easy way to impress the kids or grandkids with your “tech savvy”!
A GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) is an image format which combines a series of images into a soundless video that will loop continuously and doesn’t require anyone to press play. Android smartphone users can turn items in their camera roll into animated GIF’s by downloading free, and easy to use, apps that will handle the conversion.
The most popular of these apps is GIPHY. In addition to letting you create your own customized GIF’s with just a few simple steps, it also offers a huge selection of pre-made GIF’s for just about any occasion. Want to send a loved one a special birthday greeting? Use GIPHY to create it, or choose one of the many they offer.
If you’re an iPhone user, you can use an app like GIPHY, but you can also create GIF’s without downloading any extra apps or software thanks to the Live Photos option included on your camera.
Live Photos capture a couple seconds of animation on either side of the picture you take. Hold down on them, and you can see it animate. To capture Live Photos, press the concentric circles at the top of the camera app when you’re preparing to take a photo.
You can then turn live photos into GIF’s by opening the Photos app and finding the Live Photo you wish to use. You can find them easily by choosing Albums at the bottom of the app, the scrolling down to the list of Media Types. Live Photos will one of the selections.
Once your live photo is selected, drag it upwards. You’ll see a list of Effects, a map showing where the photo was taken, and related image categories. Select either the Loop or Bounce animation. That’s all you need to do! If you open the Share menu to send the file in an email or text, it will now send as a GIF. Next time you want to spice up a photo to entertain and impress your friends or loved ones, try creating a GIF. They’re easy to create, and big fun for viewers.
just got zmax phone, after one hour was so mad i busted it all up with a hammer. very big and clumsy phone, could not transfer data from my memory card, went to two target stores and no one was there. good thing it was garbage day because that’s where it ended up. called con cell and had my old phone working again with sim card from new phone. terrible time, and as far as target, get your own store like all the others
Hi Leonard, thanks for taking the time to give us that feedback on the phone. I’m glad to hear that you were able to get your previous phone started back up and have passed along your words about the ZTE 559 to the appropriate department for you. Thanks for taking the time to post.