This simple tutorial will show you how to make a GIF image in Photoshop. Along the way, you will learn how to import photos, set timing, and save your GIF. You’ll be able to produce beautiful animations quickly with the help of this guide.
What’s a GIF image?
A GIF – which is short for Graphics Interchange Format — is an image file. GIFs, unlike other image formats, are frequently animated. GIF images are widely used in social media, email marketing and website content.
Here is a preview of the final outcome of this tutorial:
Step 1
Open Photoshop and create a new file. Go to File > New or use the shortcut key Ctrl + N (Windows) or Command + N (Mac).
Set the dimensions for your GIF image and make sure the Background Contents is set to “Transparent.”
Step 2
We will import the images you want to use in your GIF in this step. Go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack, or use the shortcut key Ctrl + Shift + Alt + O (Windows) or Command + Shift + Option + O (Mac).
Select the images you want to use and click “Open.”
Step 3
Normally you will select the images on your computer, and here is an option you will do just that:
Step 4
You should now have a new layer for each of the images you imported.
The image I selected were cropped to fit the size of the canvas – you might want to do the same but you can always adjust them after your imported them.
Select all of the layers by holding down the Shift key and clicking on the first and last layers.
Step 5
Go to Window > Timeline or use the shortcut key Alt + Shift + Ctrl + T (Windows) or Option + Shift + Command + T (Mac) to open the Timeline panel.
Step 6
In the Timeline panel, click on the “Create Frame Animation” button, which is located to the right of the “Create Video Timeline” button.
Step 7
You should now have a timeline with each of your layers represented as a frame.
You can click and drag the frame to adjust their length:
You can also set the looping options for your GIF.
Step 8
Preview your GIF by clicking the “Play” button in the Timeline panel.
Save your GIF by going to File > Save for Web or use the shortcut key Alt + Shift + Ctrl + S (Windows) or Option + Shift + Command + S (Mac).
In the “Save for Web” dialog box, select “GIF” as the file type and adjust any other settings as needed. Click “Save” to save your GIF.
That’s it, you will have a beautiful GIF image as a result:
