<Steps up to Lurkers Soapbox>
taps microphone
<loud whistle hiss>
ummm yeah.... As a creator of gifs, I have a bias towards them.

But as Tofu could attest, I used to be on the other side of this fence, (not liking the gif's, nor would I vote for them). Until one fine day I decided to take on the challenge of creating a gif. I had no clue how much effort has to go into making them. (or at least making them good) And while I tend to agree, sometimes a 'not so good quality' gif will beat out a beautiful/thought out static image, most times the gif's entered in the contests are pretty well done IMPO.

lets look at it in a different way...
Its kinda like a terrible band with some sort of hook that makes them popular, (for me insert ICP or Marilyn Manson here) so long as you listen or give them air time, or bitch that you hate them so... they will always be around, the minute everyone stops. They go away.

So in other words or to put it into PSC perspective, if you don't like the gif's, here's an idea, don't vote for them... If enough people don't vote for them, they will stop because of a lack of interest and focus their efforts on static images again.

my 2¢

<steps down off soapbox>
thank you bluelurker for the use of the soapbox

one of my favorites that I've done
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/102918/make-a-wish-gif.html

plenty more in the port, they are all (.gif) in the entry names

Of course you do! So do I

There aren't enough gif submissions to make it worthwhile to have separate contests. If this were to be done then I'd demand the following separations as well:

1) Entries which appropriate another artist's work
2) Entries based on movies
3) Entries with text
4) Illustrated entries, whether done in Photoshop or not
5) All source entries

The list goes on and on. Then we could top it off by having a grand prize contest for all categories.

Gif animations which do well are the ones that capture the spirit of the source. Same for static. I appreciate seeing both in the same contest.

The cream rises to the top whether it's animated or not.

Ugh! If anyone isn't going to vote for a GIF simply because they don't think it belongs in the contest, would you please let me know who you are so I can exercise my right to not vote/comment on your hard work because you don't like GIFs.

I so agree tad.

A good giff (real good giff) needs a lot of work.
And each frame you work on, is a singol chop. So , everytime a good chopper makes about 20/25 chops in one too reach a nice effect.
And it is sure that it is a work comp'letely done with Adobe photoshop. I personally do not use any other program.

http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/117897/from-my-web-cam-gif.html

This one took me about 20 hours work.

And to talk honestly i felt that it's not right giff may not work in H2H.
Why?
Pheraps photoshop can't save files in giff's format?
Is not giffing art a practice to chop an image?
Giffing can give on a still image life, action, a story. Giff can give you the same and more sensation you feel looking at an still image.

I personally don't vote for gifs, i've seen some awesome gifs throughout the years but i think they are in a totally diferent category. I guess because my purpose for coming to this site is to improve my photoshop and creative abilities in photo manipulation. Gifs are more animation. Although i would love to see a gif contest on this site, but i would definately seperate the two. IMO

That's funny. Most of the good gifs, which capture the source, seem to be done by people with similar goals as yourself.

Don't get me wrong i really like gifs, personally i think they belong in a different category. For a gif to be effective it requires a bunch of images. I think a good chop should tell it all with one image.

while I get where you're coming from photo, SOZE has it right, all frames that most of us giffers do are made in photoshop. sometimes I have 20 frames/layers to contend with, then to make it fit within the frame work of the rules here.... its not like I can just pop this into an animation program and viola it does the work for me.... it takes a lot of creativity, patience and know how to envision and make a good gif entry. You pretty much have to be able to see all aspects before you even begin. Its a lot harder than people make it out to be.

another one of my favorites.
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/103229/evolved-gif.html
I mean other than the fly here, that is all photoshop work. the fly was the only outside source... but still, its all photoshop.

The photomanipulation you are talking about is in every frame of the giff.
So a giffer has to manipulate the same picture more and more times in front of only 1 still image

I understand where your coming from when you say they should be serperatedvbecause (from personal experience) sometimes some of my entries get undervoted because you can't really directly compare them with everything else in the contest but personally I like the thrill of the contests and i enjoy the feedback I get on the images. I guess this is the same for gif artists...

I say include everything, the diversity of the contests on this site is what makes me want to come back

I sure hope that gifs don't open the door for Flash files.

No Shit!

jokes

Some of my most recent gifs...

1. Lizard Diving
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/117464/lizard-diving-gif.html
2. Extreme Makeover.
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/102975/extreme-makeover-gif.html
3. Rainy Day
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/85492/rainy-day-activities.html