Capturing Life with Nokia Lumia’s Cinemagraph Feature

When I first received the Nokia Lumia 928 phone [*I am part of the Verizon Wireless Insider Team – full disclosure below],  one feature that stood out as being unique was the Cinemagraph. A Cinemagraph is a static image with moving portions that repeat in a loop. This waterfall is an example, saved as an animated GIF. I haven’t perfected my technique just yet, but it gives you an idea.

Honestly, I spent a lot of time wondering why I would want to create one of these. And then I stumbled across the site designed by the fashion photographers credited with coining the term. You must visit Cinemagraphs.com for inspiration. Their images weren’t created with a phone, of course, but why deal with all of the image processing when your phone does the work for you?

Creating a Cinemagraph is pretty easy. It’s much lake taking a photo, but you have to hold your phone very still. Once the images are captured, you’ll have some options for which parts to animate. And then save it and upload. Voila! Cinemagraph magic. Once you upload it to Nokia’s Memories website, you can then download an animated GIF that’s easily embedded in a website or blog post (ahem).

Now that I’ve had more time to ponder it, there are some cool applications that come to mind: A child kicking a soccer ball while the rest of the field is frozen in time. The reaction of the guest of honor at a surprise party. Someone blowing out birthday candles as others look on. One kid swinging in the middle of a playground. You get the idea.

Making Cinemagraphs could be very addictive. If you don’t want to do the processing yourself, many of the Nokia Lumia phones include everything you need!

Disclosure: I am a member of the Verizon Wireless Insider team. I receive product for review and other opportunities, but receive no additional compensation. The opinions in this post are my own.

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