Winter is coming. Pretty soon we will be “watching the night” for gentle snowfall and sharpening our ice skates. There’s also always that surprise winter storm that makes us ask the question, “Arya kidding me?”. Shovelling the snow can get very “Tywin”.

Leaving the Game of Thrones puns aside, winter is one of the most beautiful times of the year. With a natural backdrop of white, the possibilities of creating jaw-dropping cinemagraphs are endless.

Cinemagraph by Johnny On The Run

We’ve got a fun contest going on, and I want you to enter! Create a holiday-inspired cinemagraph that shows us how you are going to make it a December to Remember. All you have to do is upload it to your Instagram account, and hashtag #FlixelCheer. Read more.

To help you get started on your entry, here are few tips on how to create stunning cinemagraphs this winter:

1. BYOC: Bring Your Own Color

With the gorgeous whites surrounding your frame, bringing in a bit of color will make your subject pop. Be it bright or bold, colors will provide a beautiful contrast which will result in thumb-stopping cinemagraphs.

 Cinemagraph by Andy Kämpf

2. Create Perspective with Your Subject

Adding subjects to your frame, ideally people, will give your viewer a dynamic perspective of the setting. Creating perspective and scale by adding people will give you more room to include natural elements from your setting, which will also provide more options for choosing the moving element of your cinemagraph.

Cinemagraph by Michel Molder

3. Sun’s out, cameras out!

Keep your eyes peeled on your weather app to see when sunlight will grace the winter wonderland. Shooting the white blankets of snow with the golden hour light glistening through will result in a cinemagraph to behold!

Cinemagraph by Mark Deff

4. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Snowfall and cinemagraphs are meant for each other. Having gentle snowfall as the moving element of your cinemagraph will instill a sense of serenity and calmness for the viewer. I’ve seen that this works incredibly well in creating mesmerizing portrait cinemagraphs.

Pro-tip: Shooting in a higher frame will slow down the movement of snowfall.

Cinemagraph by EnglishC

5. Get creative!

Winter is the perfect time to get creative (and a tad bit extreme) with the abundance of snow and technology. Think outside of the box to get that extra dose of creativity for your cinemagraph. For example: Flixel Wizard Rocky Montez-Carr strapped a GoPro to his helmet, used his head as tripod and created this masterpiece below!

Cinemagraph by Rocky Montez-Carr

6. Stay Indoors

Yes, you heard it right! One of the best things about winter is staying indoors while Jack Frost hangs outside. No better time to whip out your camera and shoot warm, cozy cinemagraphs of your family and some delish hot chocolate!

 Cinemagraph by Travel Alberta

Now grab a pair of gloves and a tripod, and start creating some gorgeous winter cinemagraphs!