GIFs are a great way to bring a string of images or illustrations to life.

Graphics Interchange Format, known as GIF, was developed before the age of the Internet as a way to display simple images and animations on a computer. Like many technologies that the internet gets its hands on, it has since been commandeered for reaction memes and cat videos. Creating your own GIF is as easy as knowing what media you want to use for it, and this guide will show you how to turn your still images into an animated GIF using Photoshop.

When to use Photoshop to create a GIF

Many pieces of software can create GIFs, so when should you use Photoshop?

Photoshop is primarily used to work with image files, but its ability to output in a variety of file types makes it great for applications like GIF creation. GIF files can also be created from images within video editing workspaces such as Premier Pro, however, those applications are better suited to working with media in a video format. The integrated animation and GIF creation tools in Photoshop are a quick way to bring a string of images or illustrations to life without the need for video editing software.

Creating your GIF from still images

1. Create a new project in Photoshop with the size and resolution that matches your images. For this step, I’m using the preset for the iPhone that closely fits my phone camera.
2. Be sure to select Transparent for your Background Contents using the dropdown menu. This is to ensure there’s no whitespace if your images happen to be different sizes.
3. Import your media as individual layers by going to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack. Select your desired images and hit OK.
   • If your Photoshop freezes, don’t panic! Just give it a moment to finish importing your files. ​​​​​​
4. Once your photos have finished importing, you should now see that each image has been loaded into its own layer. We’re now going to load these into a timeline and loop them. Open the Timeline panel by navigating to Window > Timeline. Click the “Create Video Timeline” button in the newly opened panel.
5. A timeline using your imported photos has been created. Click and drag the ends of the layers in the timeline to adjust their duration.
   • At the top of the timeline, you’ll note that it’s measured in frames, along with notation for whole seconds. Use this to gauge how long you want each frame of your GIF to be. I’ve made my frames all of equal length, lasting a second for each frame.
6. Once you’ve finished adjusting the duration of each frame, you can preview your GIF by clicking the Play button. Once satisfied with your creation, go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy).
   • We’re not using “Export As” in this instance because doing so would remove the animation, leaving you with a still image.
7. In the Save for Web window, ensure that GIF is selected in the dropdown of file formats. In the bottom left of the preview window, you’ll notice that the length as well as estimated file size is displayed.
8. GIFs can be bulky files, so if the estimated file size is too large for your use case, Photoshop has presets that can help mitigate that. They can be found under the Presets dropdown. Once everything is set to your liking, click Save and save the file in your desired location.

Well done, you've created a GIF file using Photoshop!

Your GIF is now ready to be uploaded and shared wherever you desire. Don’t be afraid to play with the presets and export them in full to see how they look, as higher file sizes may be a pain to share for some applications. This process has remained relatively unchanged for many years. One way to unlock even more opportunities with your GIF endeavors may be to combine it with Adobe’s Generative Fill, and apply it to each of the layers individually. The possibilities are endless.