What are stop motion portraits, and how can you use them in your business?
In the ever-changing world of branding and marketing, small businesses are continuously on the lookout for fresh new ways to engage and connect with their ideal customers.
One technique that’s starting to grow in popularity is the use of stop motion portraits.
Combining the timeless charm of stop motion animation with the personal touch of portrait photography, this creative medium offers a unique way to tell your brand’s story and connect with your customers.
But what exactly are stop motion portraits, and how can you effectively use them in your business?
Let's get started.
What are stop motion portraits?
Stop motion portraits are animated portraits created by taking a series of still photographs of a person in slightly different positions. When the photographs are played back in sequence, it creates the illusion of movement.
Why are Stop motion portraits great for small businesses?
1. Personality:
Adding movement to portraits can convey more personality and emotion than a static image. This can help you feel more comfortable sharing an image of yourself, plus it can help your audience connect with your personality.
I love seeing what expressions people during my brand shoots and turning these ideocratic moments into little animations. It helps to capture the essence of the person, and I’m a big fan of including them in my photoshoots.
2. Creativity:
Stop motion can bring a unique flair to your content, and through it you create all kinds of magic not possible in the real world
- you can appear and disappear in the blink of an eye
- inanimate objects can feel like they have life, as they wiggle and float of their own accord.
…the creative possibilities are endless!!!
3. Engagement:
Stop motion portraits are eye-catching and fun.
Their playful, quirkiness, stand out in a sea of static images and video content, making them more likely to stop the scroll and hold your audience’s attention.
They’re also really useful content that you can use across multiple mediums.
Here’s a little clip of the amazing copywriter Words by Bonnie tapping away in her element.
How can you use stop motion portraits in your business?
There are a number of ways you can use stop motion portraits in your business. Here are a few ideas:
1. Social Media Post:
Social media platforms favour video content, so stop motion portraits perform really well on there
…their unique look can boost engagement rates and shareability.
A stop motion portrait is a great way to introduce yourself / your team
…here’s one of my pup Badger, who is the head of Barketing at FH HQ.
2. Social Media Story:
A stop motion portrait can also be used on your stories and reels.
They’re great to use as a background for some text i.e. to talk about your week, or to advertise that you have availability for new work.
3. Website Design:
Adding stop motion portraits to your website helps to create a dynamic and interesting feel. They are a great feature on your ‘About Us’ page to animate your team’s bios, or as part of your homepage to catch visitors' eyes.
Website design has come a long way in the last couple of years, and most providers now feature easy video uploads. Alternatively, you can also add a stop motion to your website the same way as a regular image if it’s saved as a gif.
…this means you can easily add them to an image gallery, and they will auto play on loop.
Check out the awesome homepage of Nancy and Belle, featuring a little stop motion from our brand photo shoot.
4. Email Marketing:
A stop motion portrait can add a bit of playful personality to newsletters, product announcements, or promotional offers. You can even add it to your email footer to make your brand signoff more memorable.
I love receiving emails from Fliss at Honest Folk, as her footer features a really cool gif from our brand shoot…it always brightens my day to see her smiley face pop out from behind the screen!!!
Tips for creating stop motion portraits:
Use a tripod and a remote trigger.
These will help to ensure that your camera stays in the same position between each photograph. This will create a smoother animation.
Use good lighting.
Good lighting is essential for creating high-quality stop motion portraits.
I find LED studio lights work best, as they offer continuously lighting which makes the images more consistent.
I would avoid shooting using daylight if the weather is changeable, as this will make it harder to control the exposure across the images.
Use a fast shutter speed.
A shutter speed of 1/200> will help to create crisp images of movement
…no one wants the fun movement to be lost in motion blur!
Take a lot of photographs.
The more photographs you take, the smoother your animation will be.
Aim to take at least 12 photographs per second of animation.
Also, I sometimes find, the fun stuff happens when you least expect it, so overshooting is always encouraged!
Get creative with your props and backgrounds.
Stop motion portraits can be used to create all sorts of different effects.
Try using props and backgrounds to add personality and interest to your animations.
Think about your brand colours and your overall vibe, to help guide your creativity.
Experiment with different frame rates.
The frame rate is the number of photographs you take per second of animation.
A higher frame rate will create a smoother animation, but it will also take more time to create.
I love to play with different rhythms when editing a stop motion, not every frame has to have the same timing, so you can have some creative fun here too!
…you also don’t have to use consecutive frames, just see what feels right when it comes to the edit.
Add sound effects and music.
Sound effects and music can add another layer of interest to your stop motion portraits.
I personally prefer to add music directly in each social media platform, so you can find a trending audio that suits the clip.
At the moment, on SquareSpace you can only loop muted video clips, so I probably wouldn’t include sound for animations if you wanted this feature on your website.
Share:
Once your stop motion portrait is complete, don’t forget to share it everywhere, to make the most of it for your business.
- by using it in multiple places, it will help build your brand awareness, give you a feel of consistency, and make the most out of your content.
I never know how to end a blog, but here’s a little summary…
Hopefully after reading this, you’ll see why stop motion portraits are a unique and engaging way for small businesses to connect with their customers.
They can help you to add personality to your brand, boost engagement, and let your creativity shine through.
Why not give stop motion portraits a go, and let me know how you get on.
Interested in finding out more about my brand photography featuring a stop motion portrait.
Go check out my “Behind the Brand” package