Animoto Celebrates Mother's Day with New Style for Creating Unique, Personalized Video Gifts to Delight Mom

NEW YORK, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As Mother's Day quickly approaches, sons and daughters of all ages are contemplating how to honor their moms. Animoto, the online video creation service that empowers anyone to create and share extraordinary videos, today announced the launch of its new Mother's Day style, Antique Bouquet, to help people create personalized gifts for the moms in their lives. This new style joins previous themes created to celebrate moms, The Winding Vine and Watercolor Seashore, which in total have been used to create more than one million videos.

"Animoto videos are the perfect, personalized gift for mom this Mother's Day—a treat she'll be able to 'open' over and over again," said Brad Jefferson, CEO and co-founder of Animoto. "Combining your favorite home video clips with personal photos and words in an Animoto video is a thoughtful alternative to flowers and chocolates. Give mom something she will cherish while remembering and celebrating all those great family memories in a way that only video can capture."

Making an Animoto video is easy and free. Users simply upload their pictures and video clips, choose a video style, and add words and music. With the click of a button, Animoto's Cinematic Technology brings family photos and videos to life in a beautifully-orchestrated video production.

Before getting started with video creation, people will want to capture their memories to delight mom. Tamara Lackey—professional photographer, Animoto fan and author of The Art of Children's Portrait Photography and Tamara Lackey's Capturing Life Through (Better) Photography—shares her own tips for making sure family photos come out "picture perfect" every time:

• Give the children a little control: As a parent photographing your own children, it can be hard to step away from the "Mom" or "Dad" role. Use this time to play the role of photographer; give kids a little latitude to be in charge and get their creative juices flowing!
  
  
• Focus on expression and interaction: Aim for a combination of control and spontaneity to capture the authentic feel of a child
  
  
• Use simple things from home: Even something as ordinary as a white sheet can reflect light or be used as a background to enhance a shot
  
  
• Minimize distractions: Examine the foreground and background of your subject and unclutter your space; the more you remove, the more attention is focused on the subject and the more impactful the photo will be
  
  
• Look for your light source: Find the natural source of light and turn your subject toward it; this will help to illuminate them and fill any unintended, or unflattering shadows
  
  
• Many smartphones offer touch-screen exposure management: Next time you're about to take a photo, touch the darkest part of the image on your screen—it will lighten before you click to capture the shot. You can also darken the image by pressing on the lightest part of the image

• Think about positioning: Stay away from center composition; vary how your subject is placed throughout the photograph

• Beware of distortion: Take time to consider the angles you're using to photograph your subject; sometimes being up close isn't as flattering as using zoom
  
  
• Consider shooting in black and white and color: If you're working with bold colors and distracting patterns, use black and white to minimize distractions
  
  
• Mix it up: When taking photos to include in video, vary shots from close up to mid-range to atmospheric; this will help video flow and be more engaging to viewers
  
  
• Finally, don't aim for perfection: Focus more on a child's expression and character, and you'll get a much better shot, one that will truly capture a sense of their spirit

Availability:

Animoto's Mother's Day styles are available now for free. Try them out here: http://animoto.com/create

About Animoto:
Animoto is an online video creation service that empowers people to create and share extraordinary videos using their own pictures, video clips, words and music. The company's patented Cinematic Technology makes it easy to preserve your memories or promote your business through the power of video in just minutes from a computer or mobile device. Founded in 2006, Animoto is based in New York City with offices in San Francisco. For more information or a free membership, visit http://animoto.com to sign up online or download the Android app or iPhone app.

Animoto and Cinematic Technology are registered trademarks of Animoto Inc. 

SOURCE Animoto