Ever hear of a cinemagraph or a "Living Photo"? I didn't until I learned about Flixel.

I don’t normally cover apps. But Flixel is something quite different. I show a demo of it at the Photo Plus Expo and it was really eye catching. Flixel calls them Living Photos. Here’s how it works. Using Flixel you take a very short video and then freeze it. Then you select just a tiny portion of the video that you want to re-animate. For example you shoot a picture in a park where’s there a waving flag. You can freeze all the action in the park, and then running your finger over the flag image, make the flag wave while everything else is motionless. Here’s how the company describes it for commercial use: “Historically, agencies & brands have had two visual media types to choose from: photo & video. Cinemagraphs combine the best of both worlds; the timeless quality of photography, and the captivating aspect of video. Flixel can transform the way brands promote their products through creative storytelling. With Flixel, a hint of motion brings breakfast to life as bacon sizzles away and steam endlessly rises from a cup of coffee.” And now back to me. It’s for the iPad only at this point, with Android in the works. I don’t have an iPad, but Myra does. So she did some playing around with Flixel and said the free app is very limited and offers no instructions what-so-ever. But she figured out how to use it on her own, and I’ve linked to a couple of Living Pictures she was able to create with the free version. I think the candle image she did is great; the candle flickers, but not the reflection. There’s a free version, but the Pro version is only $10.

Here are the links to Myra’s videos: 

First is water being poured into a bowl:

http://flixel.com/flixel/37xmr9a2fzq65l5q60hb/ 

Here's one of a candle. You can see the reflection of the candle is not moving.

http://flixel.com/flixel/cpdtz6eyjqqiy1jsfbc4/ 

Company website: www.flixel.com

See or hear this show: www.twit.tv/giz1440