How to animate specific areas of image for animated GIF?

[piblondin]

I'm wondering how to make images like this one: http://fromme-toyou.tumblr.com/post/3585673078/her-job-is-fashion

It appears that she shot a video and then took one frame as the static image and then used other frames to create an animation of particular elements. But I'm really not sure. It seems like only the outer layers of hair move in this image, while everything underneath stays static. There are several other similar examples on the blog. What software do I need to make something like this? And what's the rough process for doing so? Thanks!

 

[KeithPratt]

Cut out the region you want to remain static in Photoshop, and paste that on top of each frame, et voila: still face, moving hair.

 

[piblondin]

Thanks! I'll give his a try. Seems like it will require a tripod, yeah?

 

[piblondin]

Actually, would there be a way to stabilize and crop the image, if I shot it handheld?