HOW TO
Bring your still photos to life
Motionleap by Lightricks
Photo Editing/Animation/AI Art
Static photos are great. But there have been times, looking back on our favourite shots, that we wish we had captured a video instead. Or had enabled Live Photos.
Fortunately, acting without foresight doesn’t mean your images have to stay static. With Motionleap you can add real-world drama back into your shots and bring your still photos to life. And it’s far easier than you might expect.
Select a suitable shot
Certain stills will work better in Motionleap than others. Images where you’ve captured natural movement – such as flowing water, passing clouds or billowing fabric – are prime candidates.
To select your shot, tap the image icon from the app’s top menu bar.
Choose New Project from the pop-up window before tapping your desired Camera Roll shot. If you need a suitable practice picture, the app features an extensive repository of stock images.
Add animations
Image selected, it’s time to add movement. Where you add it will depend very much on the image you’re using, but the process always remains the same.
By tapping Animate > Path you can draw free-form lines on to the areas you want to animate – such as a rippling sea or crackling fire – as well as the direction you want the movement to follow.
You can add as few or as many motion lines as you want. In the image below we’ve added separate action paths to the sky and subject’s hair to create natural, independent areas of movement.
To check your work, press the Play button to see the effects of added paths.
Become land locked
Movement is great, but only if it stays confined to where you want it. Having added your animations, you’ll soon see areas of your image you want to remain static warping before your eyes. But that’s OK, this is a quick fix.
With your paths set, you can create boundaries for the movement, ensuring objects that shouldn’t be moving (such as land or people) don’t become distorted.
To do this, tap Animate > Anchor. Then, on the image, tap where you want to create your border of locked elements. And don’t forget to pinch to zoom in order to make more precise path placements.
Fine-tune your photo
To finish, tap Animate > Speed to alter the tempo of your newly applied effects and find a balance that best suits your image.
To up the natural effect, tap Sky and add more clouds.
Tap your chosen Sky effect again and you can adjust the opacity and ambient light for a more realistic overlay.
Want to add more drama? You can introduce any of the app’s pre-existing effects, such as falling confetti or passing butterflies, and tap Overlay to add weather effects that range from realistic rain to shooting stars. All that remains is to upload your image to your Photos and get sharing. Your friends won’t believe it wasn’t a video to start with.