technique · 1 recipe
Cinemagraph
One isolated region cycles continuously while the rest of the image is held from a single still.
Selected recipe
Cinemagraph
This is the default recipe for the Cinemagraph family.
Free short AI video prompt
A starter line you can copy. The full timed recipe, still-image and production prompts are on the shot card.
Prompt rule: Hold one exact base frame outside the declared motion mask; loop only the local element without moving the camera or frozen reflections.
Cinemagraph: One isolated region cycles continuously while the rest of the image is held from a single still. Keep the subject readable; motivate camera and light.
Technique guide
- When to use
- Reach for Cinemagraph when you need this effect: One isolated region cycles continuously while the rest of the image is held from a single still.
- How it works
- Hold one exact base frame outside the declared motion mask; loop only the local element without moving the camera or frozen reflections.
- Common mistakes
- If the result does not follow this rule, it is not this technique: Hold one exact base frame outside the declared motion mask; loop only the local element without moving the camera or frozen reflections. Do not change multiple variables at once so the effect becomes unreadable.
How to read this page
Cinemagraph is one technique in Optical Effects. The definition states the single mechanism the frame has to show. The technique guide covers when to use it, the steps, the usual mistakes, how it differs from the neighbors, and what a successful take looks like.
The clip above is one reading, made with a third-party video model. Another model, or the same model on another day, can land on a different frame. It is an example, not a promise that a prompt will match it.
The free short prompt is a starter sentence. The shot card is the timed recipe: scene, start and end frames, action, light, and color. Three sample cards are free on the site. The rest are part of GrokCine Pro. A second name for the same shot keeps its own URL and points back at this definition.
When you write a prompt, keep the one mechanism in the definition, then name the subject, the motion, and why the light is there. Do not stack a neighboring technique into the same sentence. If the name or the example is wrong, send this page's URL from the contact page.
Recipe
8 seconds · single take
A tea house in a Kyoto side street early on a winter morning: the old tea seller in a dark indigo jacket sits perfectly still behind the wooden counter, and only the steam from a small cup on the counter curls upward.
Shot cards
The full recipe for Cinemagraph is a shot card
The full recipe for Cinemagraph is a shot card. The start and end frames, timed action, lighting and color specs, a camera parameter table, copy-ready still-image and video prompts and negatives are open to GrokCine Pro members on the web.
Related families
- Lens Flare
Lens FlareStray light inside the imaging optics creates source-dependent ghosts or veiling glare that changes when the source is blocked. - Double Exposure
Double ExposureTwo image records coexist within the same frame through a controlled blend, instead of trading places as a transition. - Split Screen
Split ScreenTwo separately photographed or generated image fields are visible at the same time within one composed frame.
More in Optical Effects
References
Sources we studied for this technique. External links; we don't embed them.
Articles & definitions
- Wikipedia: Cinemagraph
Wikipedia · Web
A cinemagraph is a still photograph in which a minor, repeated movement occurs; the term was coined by Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg (2011).
Videos
- Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg: "day after day" cinemagraph
@_ko_mon · 2021-10-20 · X
Cinemagraph by Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg, who coined the term: a still photo with one looping motion.
- Ann Street Studio cinemagraph loop
@mariazoe_maria · 2019-03-13 · X
Another cinemagraph loop in the Beck & Burg style.
Images & stills
- Beck & Burg cinemagraph: one element in motion
@Apostrophe99 · 2018-03-14 · X
Cinemagraph example: everything frozen except one moving element.