I was asked about making GIFs in photoshop, so I made this tutorial. Enjoy!

Pictures first:

Open your first image (edit the size, color, anything you want).

It will say that this layer is the “Background.”

Right click that and convert it to a Smart Object.

Now instead of Background, it should say “Layer 0”

Open up your second picture (edit so that it’s the same size and then do any other edits you want). Click on the picture, Select All, Copy it, and then Paste it on top of your original picture.

You now have two layers, 0 and 1.

Repeat the same steps you did with the second picture for as many extra pictures you want in you GIF.

Now go to Window and select Animation.

You will now have a window open like this:

Manipulate the green bars to where you want each layer to show up.

Then edit the end markers to determine how long your GIF will be.

Press the play button to preview it.

Then go to File and “Save for Web & Devices.”

This window will pop up:

Now there’s a few things you need to focus on here…

First, in the red, make sure that your GIF is 500K or under, otherwise tumblr won’t be able to upload it.

There are a few ways you can work on this…

In the orange, you can change the size.

In the blue, you can change the colors. Usually bringing the colors down to 32 from 64 make the file significantly smaller.

In the green, experiment with these options to see what works best for you and what makes the file small enough.

Once your file is the right size, make sure you change the looping from once, to forever (in the purple).

Then you can preview the file, save it, and upload it!

Videos:

Now making GIFs from videos is almost the same process, but here are some pointers to make sure your GIFs work properly.

I’m gonna use a video of myself (SURPRISE).

Now I’m not sure of all the file formats you can use, but .mov works in photoshop for GIFs.

(**You may want to shoot your video in black & white, as it will make the file smaller when editing in photoshop.**)

So open your .mov file. 

You will probaby end up having to resize you video, so go to Image, the Image Size.

Once you choose the size, this window will pop up:

Click convert.

Now get your Animation window open again and instead of messing with the green bars, just move the end markers to mark the clip of your video you want to use as your GIF.

Remember, the smaller the clip you choose, the smaller the file.

Once you are finished, go to Save for Web & Devices again.

Mess with everything to make sure it’s at or under 500K, try all the suggestions I showed you for the picture GIF instructions.

Once you’re finished, save and upload!

Any other questions, feel free to ask!