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Category: video

April 19, 2026

How to Turn Your Photo into a Cinematic Video Clip Using GenAI

I recently snapped the photo on the top. I then went home and used generative AI to modify it to create the photo on the bottom. But I didn’t stop there. I continued to evolve it into a short video. The fascinating result is below.

Have you ever encountered a visual moment that you immediately felt compelled to capture with a photo? It happens to me all the time. Taking a walk on the street… hiking in the forest… or commuting to work. I just see it and say to myself, “Wow, that would be a great picture.” 

I imagine you’ve experienced this too.

One Frame is All You Need

And whether you happen to be carrying your camera or can quickly pull out your smartphone, it’s often possible to capture the moment. But the visual opportunity usually lasts for just a few seconds, right? You might get off a couple shots, but then the opportunity has passed.

If you’re also attracted to the motion of the moment and you want to shoot a little video clip, that’s usually a much harder task, because there simply isn’t enough time.

That’s where GenAI video creation tools can really help. No, they can’t turn back or slow down time, allowing you the freedom to shoot that perfect video. 

But GenAI can take your photo and then magically generate a few seconds of realistic action from your freeze frame. 

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

This faux reality is clearly not the same as recording the real deal.

But if you consider the potential of this amazing and disruptive AI video creation process as an art form, you can sidestep (for the moment) the ethical debate surrounding fake video use.

Today, we’re simply talking about using your very real photos as the creative foundation to generate video art. Think of it as a realistic-looking digital painting in motion.

And instead of having to start from scratch with just words and a series of complex prompts, your photo can instantly provide a ton of art direction for your scene. From there, you can focus more on creating the action in it.

Here’s an example of how I do this…

Start with One of Your Photos

Upload your photo to the GenAI platform of your choice. For today’s demonstration, I’m using Google Veo. I snapped this photo of a man flying a kite on the beach on a cool spring afternoon. 


Animate your Photo

Then I asked Veo to bring it life.


Change the Person in your Photo

Next, I asked Nano Banana to change the man into a woman.


Create a Cinematic Video

Finally, I had Veo create a video from that new photo and add a tracking dolly move to the shot.

This cinematic motion added to the scene was especially impressive, because that would have otherwise required a video crew for the day with expensive gear to pull off.

I generated this video clip in about 30 seconds.

Impressive. Most impressive.

AI Video Creation Tip:
Use a Start and End Image

Often, it’s easier to get what you’re looking for if you first upload what the first and last frame of your new video should look like (using two of your photos). 

That will provide the guardrails for your Gen AI platform to appropriately fill in the middle. Otherwise, it might do anything it wants, creating entirely unwanted action. Even uploading the same photo as the first and last shot can help stabilize the output.

Perfect results are not guaranteed, but I’ve found it captivating to explore this process. Here are a few more examples based on my own photos.

Woman Sits on Church Steps in Barcelona

My original photo
GenAI video


Man and his Dog Walk to Waterfall

My original photo
GenAI video


This is Serious

So yes, this is really cool. But what’s my practical application for all this beyond showing off a parlor trick of sorts?

Well, clearly, this is all about the future of video creation. And GenAI video will only continue to become more realistic. Again, beyond the ethical questions surrounding this topic, there are massive implications that are already rewriting the rulebook for the entire video production industry.

And as video production sits at the center of my career, I’ve been paying close attention to this revolution.

It’s easy to play in this sandbox in the name of art or personal photography. But there’s a much larger arena that’s already being impacted.

Soon, playtime will be over.

It’s time to skill up. 

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March 1, 2026

My Ode to the Fading Winter

There is an upside to this year’s brutal, wicked-cold winter. Simply that it’s coming to an end. And now it’s time to start looking for spring.

Yes, there are colder places on this planet with more extreme winter conditions right now. But let me just say as I don my weatherman’s hat from the greater New York City area… it’s been a brutal winter. 

Blizzard. Ice. Single-digit temperatures. Yeah, lots of fun.

I like to say it’s been “wicked cold.”

That line harkens back to a past life when I lived up in the Boston area and just about every winter was brutal. “Wicked cold” was simply… winter. 

But I’ve softened considerably across years of experiencing coastal Connecticut’s gentler winters. And now, it’s been something of a rude (re)awakening.

I will say, however, that shoveling all the snow hasn’t been quite as difficult. Why is that? Well, we’ve got the power of a high school sophomore on our team. And that’s made a huge difference. #TeamLester #grateful.

Power Up

I’m also grateful that we haven’t lost power across these winter storms. Sure, I charge everything up, including my portable power banks. But… as we all know, without a full generator back-up system, portable power banks will only cover you for so long.

Plus, I know we’ve got an exit strategy. #thankstofriends

Wicked Fun

But here’s the really good news. Wicked cold doesn’t necessarily have to mean wicked bad. Winter can be wicked fun.

  • Plus, I’ll always take the bite of brisk over summer humidity.
  • A fire in the winter fireplace is always a special experience.
  • And I’ve got admit, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes with surviving a certain amount of adversity.

And suddenly, spring is right around the corner.

Hello Spring?

Yes, it’s early, but I hope we’re close to that tipping point. Not to predict, but I see early signs beneath the retreating snow line.

And to celebrate this pending seasonal shift, I present to you yet another
Barrett poem.*

Ode to the Fading Winter

My weatherman’s hat is placed on my head, 
To report on single digits I dread. 
From cold New Yorks streets to the Norwalk shore, 
It’s wicked cold, like Boston days of yore. 
Though I’ve softened in the years in between, 
This brutal frost is a rude, chilly scene.

The shovel goes fast, I’m happy to say, 
With my high schooler’s strength to lead the way. 
Go #TeamLester! We have strength in the snow, 
Using three shovels and stacked in a row.
With an exit plan and friends close at hand, 
We’re weathering storms across frozen land.

But wicked cold days can be wicked fun, 
More than humidity and summer sun. 
Fire in the hearth and pride in the soul, 
When you’ve survived the freeze and reached your goal. 
The struggle stings, but the win is so sweet, 
As we clear ice and the slush on the street.

Now snow retreats and the sun starts to climb, 
We’ve reached the tipping point, it’s about time! 
The signs of the green are starting to show, 
Peeking from patches of melting white snow. 
Goodbye to the ice and winter’s sharp sting, 
I’m ready to say a “Hello” to spring.

*Editor’s note: I prompted the videos and structure of this poem into existence using a little GenAI assistance via Google Gemini and Flow. Thank you!
(My ice photos are still the real deal.)

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January 25, 2026

How Real Is This AI Video If I Created It Using My Own Photos?

This sunrise over Delray Beach is AI generated by Google Veo, but it’s inspired by my own experience on that beach. I also prompted Veo to follow the creative direction from the photos I took. So, is this AI video clip moment real or not? 

Technology has chipped away at the definition of reality. Digital photography and photo editing software provide almost endless adjustment opportunities for creative expression. But now, with AI-powered tools, you can literally reconstruct an entire photo. You can remove distractions and even people. So, what’s real anymore?

For the past few years, I’ve been fighting a certain sense of guilt as I’ve learned to ‘improve’ my photography using AI-fueled enhancements. Sure, my resulting photos are better, but I sometimes worry that they’re no longer the pictures I captured. But I’ve been careful, and I’ve worked hard to keep it real.

Today, I happily use all the AI-powered photo editing tools in Adobe Lightroom, because I make sure my modified pictures are still faithful to the core images. This is essence of my rule book, and I follow it without angst. 

Next comes video.

AI Can Turn Your Photo into a Video
Text-to-video prompting and photo-to-video magic is today’s big creative disruptor. And I know I must face this revolution head on, as it changes everything about the work I’ve been doing for decades.

I’m particularly interested in the generative AI power to to turn a real photo into a video that looks shockingly similar. AI can replicate and then extend the creative elements in your photos into full motion video. Remarkable. (The results are not always perfect, but they’re improving.)

So, I embarked on a little creative exercise. I chose a few silhouette photos I snapped during a sunrise over Delray Beach on our recent Florida vacation and ran them through Google Veo. This process generated 8-second video clips that almost exactly followed the visual elements from my photos. The only exception was Veo created alternate, though similar, people on the beach. (And that’s fine.)

Then I edited the AI video clips together to create this sequence representing my own sunrise experience on that beach.

AI Video Generated from My Photos

As Real as Art Can Be
So, what exactly is this? What have I created here? Well, it’s simultaneously real and not real.

My photos provided enough creative direction for Veo to effectively clone each photo and then extend each moment.

So sure, then it’s easy to call this sequence ‘fake’ as Veo has invented 8 seconds from each frame I gave it.

But these individual scenes faithfully reflect the reality I saw.  They do express the essence of my experience.

So perhaps this entire AI-enabled creative process should fall under the category of art. Yes, maybe that’s what I’m doing here.

No Professional Video Crew Required
I also found it wildly fun that I’m able to generate video clips that would otherwise require me to hire a professional video crew for the day.

In my AI video, the opening shot of the two people walking on the beach… yes, I might be able to capture that with my DJI Osmo 3 gimbal. 

But that closing tracking shot of the paddleboard man surfing? That’s a clear step beyond Barrett’s personal filmmaking chops (for now).

The Limits When Recording Real B-Roll
Of course, I don’t need AI to create video for me. Here’s some actual b-roll I recorded on Delray Beach that same morning with my Osmo.

Real Barrett B-Roll

But while I also like this ‘real’ b-roll, these are necessarily wider shots, limited by the realities I encountered in those moments on the beach. (Shooting b-roll can be an intrusive process. And I didn’t want to mess with people’s sunrise Zen.)

Snapping a photo is quick and usually less invasive. As a result, I think my original silhouette shots had additional visual impact.

Real Barrett Photos

But now, I can also use my new AI tools to express my creative interpretation of these same images into longer scenes. I can build on these moments, magically extending my stills into the video realm. That’s so cool!

But what does this all mean moving forward? Well, I’m not exactly sure. 

A Digital Painting in Motion
I don’t truly understand my little Frankenstein video. Yes, I made it, but what is it? 

  • It’s alive… and yet not 
  • Fabricated, but very close to reality
  • Hard to exactly define, other than an artist’s interpretation

Perhaps I’ll simply call it my digital painting in motion. 

Of course, there are any number of unanswered questions regarding the broader topic of AI-generated video for our society. But I’ll leave that for another day.

For now, I’m pleased that I was able to simply share with you the flow and true ‘spirit’ of my beautiful sunrise experience with a little artistic help from AI. 

And I hope you liked the paintbrush I chose to use.

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