GIF Master Tutorial

A couple of people have been wondering how I find/use GIFs so masterfully on my blog and on Twitter. Friends, I can tell you that I learned at the feet of the master. But I'm ready to pass on some of my hard-earned knowledge to you, and BONUS, Sara is going to share some tips for finding GIFs on her blog. Make sure to head over to Bryce Don't Play to get some answers to important GIF queries such as, 'where do they FIND this stuff?!'

First, the nitty gritty. Basically a '.gif' is just another type of file extension, like .doc or .jpeg but a GIF appears as a short animation without sound.

Most people say it with a hard "G" sound, but tech nerds swear that's wrong and that it's a soft "G" sound as in Jif Peanut Butter. Personally, I try to avoid saying it altogether, but your mileage may vary.

Here’s what Sara says about using GIFs:

When you search for a GIF you saw before on Google, you can click on the images at a PC and click a button that says “View Image”. That will give you the link info you need to embed the image into a blog post or to post as a link for someone to view. If you find it on a tumblr blog and are not reblogging, you can right-click on the image and go to “Open Image in New Tab” and it should give you the address you need in the top bar. Then you can just treat it like any other image. (Okay that might be my new favorite GIF. Eh, top 5 at least)

           


For more info on using GIFs this way, read this article for more info on GIFs, sourcing, and fair use (TL;DR version is GIFs are nearly impossible to source and likely fall under fair use though that hasn’t been tested. But read that article, it’s good. --Anna). 
 
I have a Mac, so it's slightly more complicated for me. If you're on a Mac, find a GIF you want to use, and hit the control button while clicking on the image with your mouse and you'll get this menu. Choose "View Image" to get a unique link for the GIF like this http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/self_high_five.gif

If I want to embed the image on my blog, I choose "Save Image As" and treat it just the same as I would a regular photo on my blog.

Occasionally, due to the nature of Tumblr, I will get a different menu that doesn't have the option to 'View Image.' When that happens, choose to 'Open Link..." and from there you should be able to 'control + click' to get the 'View Image' menu option.

So that's what to to once you've found your GIFs. Now head over to Bryce Don't Play for tips on finding hilarious GIFs in the first place.