today, i will be using photoshop cc 2019 to combine this picture and this gif overlay which i found here.

first things first, open photoshop and use ctrl + o (or file > open) to select an image from your files. it will then go to something like this.

you will need to see layers and timeline for this tutorial, so select window at the very top, and it will display a list of windows which you can choose to open. select layers and timeline. on timeline, click create video timeline and press the three small squares in the bottom left corner. your page will now look something like this.

next thing to do is to open the gif in a separate window. 

go to the end of the timeline to see how many frames it is. you will need to make this amount of frames in the main picture. also, something to note - in the gif i use, the time does not matter. however, if the bottom says 0.9 or something like that, please put that in your picture. this can be done by pressing the arrow done and applying the appropriate time. in here, i use 0.00 seconds. the default is 5 seconds, so please make sure you change it if you want a smooth gif.

anyway, to make the right amount of frames in the main picture, click the three horizontal lines on the top right hand side which will come up with a few options for paste frames. please select paste after selection, and do not select link added layers. 

you will now have two frames. you can keep doing this until you have fifty frames, or you can press the three horizontal lines again and select select all then copy frames. normally what i do is make ten frames from groups of two, then replicate those ten frames to fit the number of frames required.

when you have the amount of frames required, go to the gif overlay tab, click the three horizontal lines, select all and copy frames. once you have copied them, go back to the main pictures, click the three horizontal lines and select all frames. make sure you select all frames before pasting them!! 

after you have selected all frames, select paste frames and then change it to paste over selection. your photoshop will look something like this.

as you can see, there are two problems here. firstly, the gif is way too small. secondly, as it is black, you cannot see the background behind it. this will all be fixed in due time, but let’s fix the first problem first.

firstly, to make it all just a lot easier for you, group the layers now. this can be done using ctrl + g or layer > group layers. 

secondly, to make the gif bigger use ctrl + t to free transform the gif. drag it out to enlargen it and adjust it how you like. do not worry if it is pixelated as it will be clearer when you let go of the free transform.

as you can see, it is now big enough to fit the entire picture. unfortunately, you can no longer see the picture now. do not worry! this is easily fixed. just go to the layers tab and go to the very top where it says pass through. you can change it to lighten or screen to see the gif by selecting it.

and voila! you have overlayed a gif!!

although you are technically done, i would recommend colouring the gif to make the gif really jump out. you can do this by going to windows > adjustments.

i thought about doing a colouring tutorial, but you know what? it is so much better exploring all the adjustments on photoshop by yourself, without a tutorial. when learning how to colour a gif, i went through so many colouring tutorials and i didn’t get anything from them. in the end, really, the best person to make all the adjustments is you. in terms of what to use, i would recommend adjusting brightness, curves, vibrance, levels, colour balance and selective colour but honestly? just play around with it. some pictures are better vibrant. sometimes, having more toned down colours is the best. in all honesty, when i’m adjusting colours, i have no idea what the hell i’m doing - i’m just dragging the controls back and forth and seeing how that looks on the picture. trust me, it’s a lot more fun this way than copying the controls of someone on tumblr. that can get incredibly tiresome and boring, and it probably wouldn’t look as good as the example provided as you are using a completely different image with different colours. if you want me to share the colours i used for the gif i will, but i would not recommend copying it.

to save your gif, go to file > export > save for web (legacy). these are the adjustments i use. 

and after that, you’re done! here is my completed image -

don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t look as good as you hoped for! just have fun, and keep doing what you’re doing!!