The Best Flixel Pics: Coolest 'Living Photos' From Cinemagraph-Inspired iPhone App

Flixel is a new, totally far-out app for the iPhone that allows you to create some pretty freaky moving pictures using nothing but your finger.

Inspired by Cinemagraphs, you take two seconds of video with your iPhone camera, which the Flixel app then turns into a still image that you can manipulate into a partially-animated GIF; you choose which parts of the image you want to animate by rubbing your finger over that section of the photo, and -- voila! -- it moves.

It's easy, it's fun, and it results in some pretty strange, hypnotic Flixels populating the fledgling photo app's feed.

We asked Mark Homza, the co-founder of Flixel -- first released on the App Store just three weeks ago -- to choose his favorite "living photos" created on the app. Here's what he returned: 41 of the most beautiful, hypnotic, and downright weird user-created GIFs you can imagine. Below, check out the best that Flixel has to offer so far; and if you want to try your hand at Flixography, you can download the app for free in iTunes here.

For more photo fun, check out our slideshows of the best photo apps for iPhone and the best Instagram alternatives.

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Comments

[Frank Rich]

08:57 AM on 04/23/2012

This is another example of the resurgence off the much-maligned animated GIF as an art form and a new short form of commuication. If you haven't seen the REAL Cinemagraphs by Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg, go to www.cinemagraph .com and see if you don't find them almost hypnotic at times. There's also an app to create Cinegifs on the iTunes store, which is NOT free, but results in up to 20 seconds of high-frame-rate video in a .gif file that can be directly embedded in a text message, where it opens and plays instantly - worth checking out!

[jonny dipstick]

10:26 AM on 04/16/2012

Super cool and super creepy. The coding one weirded me out. I'm going home sick now.

[StephenJK]

02:22 PM on 04/15/2012

TOTALLLLYYYYY!!!

Consider my mind, NOT, blown!!

[anthonytaurus]

02:02 PM on 04/15/2012

WOW... animated gifs...

[umwaitwhat]

09:48 AM on 04/15/2012

It works well on the iPad.

[CptKendrick]

05:26 PM on 04/14/2012

Kind of interesting, but I'd rather see another funny animated gif.

[TomCinIllinois]

04:58 PM on 04/14/2012

My Windows 7 laptop crashed while the computer coding geeks were on the screen.

[ponyloco]

03:28 PM on 04/14/2012

Looks like Facebook just spend a billion on the wrong photo app...

[zorro869]

05:41 PM on 04/14/2012

No because we still want to use this one.

[Katie Tippelt]

03:28 PM on 04/14/2012

This will be a whole new art form! But it kind of reminds me of the moving pictures from the Harry Pottery movies - especially in the newspapers. LOL!

[CastleDawn]

04:16 PM on 04/14/2012

Exactly! Kinda fun.

[joenp3]

02:31 PM on 04/14/2012

I was ready for a sarcastic comment, but that was very nice stuff.

[TaxpayingVoter]

02:25 PM on 04/14/2012

Some of these are really pretty awesome. I find the concept intriguing.

[plepgeat]

01:44 PM on 04/14/2012

This is better than/different from video how?

[zorro869]

05:43 PM on 04/14/2012

Video is boring. This is allowing you to artistically focus on movement or change, creating a comment or view on the subject while "freezing" or ignoring other aspects of the frame.

I can't really explain art, but this app allows more "art creation" than a standard video clip.

[weekendpartier]

05:34 AM on 04/15/2012

NERDS, dweebs, geeks - all this instagram crapola is "FUN" to them... it's "art" to them, like porn is being in a relationship to them!!

[RedBirdy]

01:17 PM on 04/14/2012

we should really redefine ''mind blowing''. for real.

[Jim8]

12:51 PM on 04/14/2012

Is hiding behind the couch really magic?

[zorro869]

05:43 PM on 04/14/2012

Are you like 90 years old or something?

[StephenJK]

02:19 PM on 04/15/2012

They just want a book deal! LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!!!

/sarcasm

[cuoi]

10:23 AM on 04/14/2012

User reviews on the App store say the concept is good but is slow and essentially does not work satisfactorily on iPhone.

[zorro869]

05:44 PM on 04/14/2012

It works fine. Those reviews are from reviewers who are "slow" and "don't work satisfactorily" on reading instructions.