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Lightroom 4 Beta - working with video
Posted by Mark Wilson,
in
Lightroom
07 February 2012
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647 views
lightroom 4 beta video
Adobe Lightroom 4 Beta includes many new features, as we discussed in the overview article. One of the interesting things for people dabbling with the video features of their cameras is the ability to perform basic edits easily from within Lightroom 4. Lets be clear from the start, this feature is not designed nor intended to replace Final Cut Pro or Adobe's own Premier product but aimed at people wanting to quickly trim video and update basic colour, exposure etc.
Before continuing, remember that Lightroom 4 Beta is not intended for real world use and you should be using copies of your original photos and video files.
To get started, you need to import some videos into your catalog. This is the same process as with Lightroom 3 and the same as importing your photos using the Import Dialog. Once loaded, you can add keywords, flags, colours, place in collections etc. as you would for your photos.
You will notice that there is a grey block on the video thumbnails that tells you the length of the video in hours and minutes. You can pass your mouse left and right over the video thumbnail to 'scrub' back and forward, allowing you to get a preview of the content without opening in the Loupe view. This is a great way to find the exact video you want if you have several similar files side by side in the grid.
Pressing the spacebar or 'E' will open the selected video in loupe view. It is worth mentioning at this point that videos are not currently supported directly in the Develop module.
You will notice the obvious controls at the bottom of the screen. The video timeline can be switched on and off using the cog icon in the bottom right.
The timer indicator has a second function - you can click and drag left or right to zoom back and forward through the video, setting the marker accordingly.
The centre three controls are step back one frame, play and step forward one frame.
The rectangular icon gives access to a menu, allowing you to use the current frame as the thumbnail of the image and a second option to create a JPEG of the current frame.
There is a marker at either end of the timeline that can be dragged to set the trim start or trim end points - i.e. it allows you to trim off unwanted footage at the start and end of the video clip. The keyboard shortcuts SHIFT+I and SHIFT+O set the start and finish accordingly.
Although you can't modify the video using develop directly, you can use the Quick Develop panel to make simple tone and colour adjustments. You can also apply presets to your video files...which opens up the ability to fine tune the look of your video further. There are limitations to the settings that can be applied through a preset and Lightroom 4 Beta is quick to tell you about them:
There is a simple way to make content specific adjustments to your video using the develop module, simply find a good representative frame of the video clip and save it as a JPEG (using Capture Frame). This JPEG will be stacked with the video and you can open that in Develop and then make adjustments to improve the colour balance, tones etc.
Once you have the look you want, create a preset using these settings. Press the '+' icon in the Preset panel on the left side of develop and save this with a suitable name - I would use something that relates it to the source video.
Once saved, you can go back to the video in the Library module and apply the preset using the quick develop module.
This is a great way to fine tune your videos and also get a constant look to different video clips, for example when you have video of the same scene from different cameras. It also allows you to apply specific looks - desaturate one colour or apply a gritty punchy look.
Whilst it is not a replacement for dedicated software, the video functionality gives the basic tools you need to edit those short films from your phone or camera within the same environment as your photos. In fact, I haven't opened Premiere Elements since I started using the Beta.
Before continuing, remember that Lightroom 4 Beta is not intended for real world use and you should be using copies of your original photos and video files.
To get started, you need to import some videos into your catalog. This is the same process as with Lightroom 3 and the same as importing your photos using the Import Dialog. Once loaded, you can add keywords, flags, colours, place in collections etc. as you would for your photos.
You will notice that there is a grey block on the video thumbnails that tells you the length of the video in hours and minutes. You can pass your mouse left and right over the video thumbnail to 'scrub' back and forward, allowing you to get a preview of the content without opening in the Loupe view. This is a great way to find the exact video you want if you have several similar files side by side in the grid.
Pressing the spacebar or 'E' will open the selected video in loupe view. It is worth mentioning at this point that videos are not currently supported directly in the Develop module.
You will notice the obvious controls at the bottom of the screen. The video timeline can be switched on and off using the cog icon in the bottom right.
The timer indicator has a second function - you can click and drag left or right to zoom back and forward through the video, setting the marker accordingly.
The centre three controls are step back one frame, play and step forward one frame.
The rectangular icon gives access to a menu, allowing you to use the current frame as the thumbnail of the image and a second option to create a JPEG of the current frame.
There is a marker at either end of the timeline that can be dragged to set the trim start or trim end points - i.e. it allows you to trim off unwanted footage at the start and end of the video clip. The keyboard shortcuts SHIFT+I and SHIFT+O set the start and finish accordingly.
Although you can't modify the video using develop directly, you can use the Quick Develop panel to make simple tone and colour adjustments. You can also apply presets to your video files...which opens up the ability to fine tune the look of your video further. There are limitations to the settings that can be applied through a preset and Lightroom 4 Beta is quick to tell you about them:
There is a simple way to make content specific adjustments to your video using the develop module, simply find a good representative frame of the video clip and save it as a JPEG (using Capture Frame). This JPEG will be stacked with the video and you can open that in Develop and then make adjustments to improve the colour balance, tones etc.
Once you have the look you want, create a preset using these settings. Press the '+' icon in the Preset panel on the left side of develop and save this with a suitable name - I would use something that relates it to the source video.
Once saved, you can go back to the video in the Library module and apply the preset using the quick develop module.
This is a great way to fine tune your videos and also get a constant look to different video clips, for example when you have video of the same scene from different cameras. It also allows you to apply specific looks - desaturate one colour or apply a gritty punchy look.
Whilst it is not a replacement for dedicated software, the video functionality gives the basic tools you need to edit those short films from your phone or camera within the same environment as your photos. In fact, I haven't opened Premiere Elements since I started using the Beta.
