How to turn a photo into a video

Steps

1. 1

   Open Image to Video

   Go to the Image to Video tool page. The studio there is set up to animate one image. You can set everything up before you sign in.

2. 2

   Upload a start frame

   Under Start frame, add one image. It becomes the first frame of the video, so the look stays as it is. If you are not signed in, a sign-in box opens when you upload: create an account with an email and password, or continue with Google.

3. 3

   Describe the motion

   In Describe the motion, write what moves and how the camera moves, for example "She turns to the camera and smiles as wind moves her hair, slow push-in". This field is required.

4. 4

   Choose a model

   Kling 3.0 Standard is selected by default. The menu also has Kling 3.0 Pro, Seedance 2.0 Fast, Seedance 2.0, MiniMax Hailuo 2.3, Veo 3.1 Lite, Veo 3.1 Fast, Wan 2.7 and Grok Imagine Video.

5. 5

   Match the aspect ratio to your image

   The aspect ratio starts at 16:9. For a vertical photo, pick 9:16; for a square one, 1:1 where the model offers it. MiniMax Hailuo 2.3 only makes 16:9.

6. 6

   Pick a length

   Kling, Seedance, Wan and Grok Imagine make 5 or 10 second clips, Veo 4, 6 or 8 seconds, and MiniMax Hailuo 2.3 6 or 10 seconds. Video is priced per second, so longer clips cost more.

7. 7

   Press Generate and download

   The button shows the credit price for the model and length first. The clip appears in the results panel when it is ready; download the MP4 or share it to the public gallery.

Tips

• Describe motion, not appearance. The image already sets the look.
• Small, natural movements look most realistic. One action and one camera move per clip is plenty.
• Make the still with an image model first, for example in the AI Image Generator, then animate it here.
• Try the cheapest model at the shortest length first, then rerun the version you like on a stronger model.

Troubleshooting

Black bars around a Veo video

Veo 3.1 Lite letterboxes a start frame whose shape differs from the output. Pick the aspect ratio that matches your image, or crop the image to 16:9 or 9:16 before uploading.

The message starts with "This request was blocked"

Our own check found something in the motion text that breaks the content policy. No credits were used. The link in the message explains the rule.

The message says "The model's safety filter rejected this request"

The model provider refused the image or the prompt. Credits are refunded up to a daily limit. Some models refuse more real-person photos than others; Kling 3.0 Standard is the default for photos of people.

A Seedance 2.0 Fast video fails with a photo of a real person

Seedance 2.0 Fast rejects start frames with realistic faces. The failed job is refunded; use Kling 3.0 Standard for photos of people.

The upload says "File is too large" or "Unsupported file type"

Use a PNG, JPEG or WebP under the size limit shown in the message.

The generation failed

The credits are refunded automatically and the result card says so. Try again or pick another model.

Questions