I explained the process of using only a photograph on the previous blog post here, it required some skill in photoshop and after effects to be able to get the desired effect. So on this blog post I will be discussing the other two processes and evaluating at the end to decide which one I shall use overall. 

This was an interesting way of creating a Cinemagraph, it required taking a still from a piece of footage and editing the two together to create the moving part. The following are the steps I took to create the final Cinemagraph.

1. Export a still from a piece of footage using Premiere Pro - this required finding a decent piece of footage in which I could separate certain elements, this was the final still I used:

I used this footage and still because I thought having the fog and light being active and moving would create a nice contrast from the darkness. 

2. Separate the elements - For this I masked around the person and placed them on a separate layer, I then took a piece of the footage from later on without the person in it as the background. 

4. Exporting the final piece - this took no effort at all as I followed the guidelines provided to export the Cinemagraph in the correct way.

This version was definitely a challenge, mainly because I couldn't figure out if I could take a photograph at the same time as filming on my camera. I tried to stick with a basic image so that I could join the elements up in the end. 

1. Bringing the elements into After Effects - this required bringing both the photograph and the piece of footage in After Effects and getting them lined up correctly, this took me a while because they were both different sizes and aspects meaning that I had to fiddle about with everything. They were also different contrasts meaning I had to edit the photograph a little to get them to work together. 

2. Masking out the footage - then I had to choose which part of the photograph I wanted to have moving, for this I focused on the foreground and the river and masked them so that they were overlaying the photograph.

3. Getting the imagery to work together - there was also an issue here with the camera shaking a little bit, so I had to stabilise the footage which at one points gives the river a shaky look, but you can only really see it on close inspection.

With both of these techniques I felt like I was cheating a bit, or being rather lazy, only because it was so simple to do with editing in the footage. Although I do believe it is rather difficult to get the elements to work together at times, this is because you would have to have a tripod set up and have everything lined up correctly to be able to make it work. But it was just a case of masking out a certain part and editing in the rest, and although it may create a more realistic feel it just looks like a piece of footage stopped in a certain place instead of a section of a photograph moving. 

I will definitely be sticking with using only a photograph for my Cinemagraphs, this is because it allows me freedom at times to do what I like with the photographs and possibly create bizarre scenarios. Also because I'm working from a photograph initially it gives a surreal frozen in time feel, and it means I can work on smaller aspects of the photograph giving a simpler feel and for me I feel that is move effective overall.