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Stabilize video footage with Shake Stabilizer

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Premiere Elements

Premiere Elements

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  1. Adobe Premiere Elements User Guide
  2. Introduction to Adobe Premiere Elements
    1. What's new in Premiere Elements
    2. System requirements | Adobe Premiere Elements
    3. Workspace basics
    4. Guided mode
    5. Use pan and zoom to create video-like effect
    6. GPU accelerated rendering
  3. Workspace and workflow
    1. Get to know the Home screen
    2. View and share auto-created collages, slideshows, and more
    3. Workspace basics
    4. Preferences
    5. Tools
    6. Keyboard shortcuts
    7. Audio View
    8. Undoing changes
    9. Customizing shortcuts
    10. Working with scratch disks
  4. Working with projects
    1. Creating a project
    2. Adjust project settings and presets
    3. Save and back up projects
    4. Previewing movies
    5. Creating video collage
    6. Creating Highlight Reel
    7. Create a video story
    8. Creating Instant Movies
    9. Viewing clip properties
    10. Viewing a project's files
    11. Archiving projects
    12. GPU accelerated rendering
  5. Importing and adding media
    1. Add media
    2. Guidelines for adding files
    3. Set duration for imported still images
    4. 5.1 audio import
    5. Working with offline files
    6. Sharing files between Adobe Premiere Elements and Adobe Photoshop Elements
    7. Creating specialty clips
    8. Work with aspect ratios and field options
  6. Arranging clips
    1. Arrange clips in the Expert view timeline
    2. Group, link, and disable clips
    3. Arranging clips in the Quick view timeline
    4. Working with clip and timeline markers
  7. Editing clips
    1. Reduce noise
    2. Select object
    3. Candid Moments
    4. Color Match
    5. Smart Trim
    6. Change clip speed and duration
    7. Split clips
    8. Freeze and hold frames
    9. Adjusting Brightness, Contrast, and Color - Guided Edit
    10. Stabilize video footage with Shake Stabilizer
    11. Replace footage
    12. Working with source clips
    13. Trimming Unwanted Frames - Guided Edit
    14. Trim clips
    15. Editing frames with Auto Smart Tone
    16. Artistic effects
  8. Applying transitions
    1. Applying transitions to clips
    2. Transition basics
    3. Adjusting transitions
    4. Adding Transitions between video clips - Guided Edit
    5. Create special transitions
    6. Create a Luma Fade Transition effect - Guided Edit
  9. Special effects basics
    1. Effects reference
    2. Applying and removing effects
    3. Create a black and white video with a color pop - Guided Edit
    4. Time remapping - Guided edit
    5. Effects basics
    6. Working with effect presets
    7. Finding and organizing effects
    8. Editing frames with Auto Smart Tone
    9. Fill Frame - Guided edit
    10. Create a time-lapse - Guided edit
    11. Best practices to create a time-lapse video
  10. Applying special effects
    1. Use pan and zoom to create video-like effect
    2. Transparency and superimposing
    3. Reposition, scale, or rotate clips with the Motion effect
    4. Apply an Effects Mask to your video
    5. Adjust temperature and tint
    6. Create a Glass Pane effect - Guided Edit
    7. Create a picture-in-picture overlay
    8. Applying effects using Adjustment layers
    9. Adding Title to your movie
    10. Removing haze
    11. Creating a Picture in Picture - Guided Edit
    12. Create a Vignetting effect
    13. Add a Split Tone Effect
    14. Add FilmLooks effects
    15. Add an HSL Tuner effect
    16. Fill Frame - Guided edit
    17. Create a time-lapse - Guided edit
    18. Animated Sky - Guided edit
    19. Select object
    20. Animated Mattes - Guided Edit
    21. Double exposure- Guided Edit
  11. Special audio effects
    1. Mix audio and adjust volume with Adobe Premiere Elements
    2. Audio effects
    3. Adding sound effects to a video
    4. Adding music to video clips
    5. Create narrations
    6. Using soundtracks
    7. Music Remix
    8. Adding Narration to your movie - Guided Edit
    9. Adding Scores to your movie - Guided edit
  12. Movie titles
    1. Creating titles
    2. Adding shapes and images to titles
    3. Adding color and shadows to titles
    4. Editing and formatting text
    5. Motion Titles
    6. Exporting and importing titles
    7. Arranging objects in titles
    8. Designing titles for TV
    9. Applying styles to text and graphics
    10. Adding a video in the title
  13. Disc menus
    1. Creating disc menus
    2. Working with menu markers
    3. Types of discs and menu options
    4. Previewing menus
  14. Sharing and exporting your movies
    1. Export and share your videos
    2. Sharing for PC playback
    3. Compression and data-rate basics
    4. Common settings for sharing

You can stabilize shaky video footage using the Shake Stabilizer option. Shake Stabilizer removes the jitter caused by camera movements, transforming shaky, handheld footage into steady, smooth shots.

Shake Stabilizer is available in both Quick and Expert views. However, for best results, use Shake Stabilizer from the Expert view. The Expert view offers advanced options that help fine-tune the results you achieve with Shake Stabilizer.

It is recommended that you take small sections of the clip that has unwanted shake and then apply Shake Stabilizer. You can trim or split a clip to break it into smaller sections.

For information about how to trim a clip, see Trimming clips. For information about how to split a clip, see Split clips.

Apply Shake Stabilizer from the Quick view

  1. Click Quick to switch to the Quick view. From the timeline, select the video clip on which you want to run Shake Stabilizer.  

  2. Click Adjust to open the Adjust panel. Click Shake Stabilizer.

    Shake Stabilizer option in the Adjust panel

  3. Based on your requirements, select a mode to run Shake Stabilizer:

    • Quick: Select this mode if you want to quickly analyze a clip and stabilize the shakes. This mode is optimized for performance as it analyzes alternate frames. It takes less time, but the results might not be optimized.
    • Detailed: Select this mode to analyze each frame and achieve better results. The Detailed mode takes more time.
    Quick and Detailed modes

  4. The Applied Effects panel is opened, and Shake Stabilizer is added as one of the effects.

    Shake stabilization in progress - time remaining

    While stabilizer is processing the frames, you can continue working on the project.

  5. You can click Cancel to stop processing the frames. Click Stabilize to start processing again.

Apply Shake Stabilizer from the Expert view

The Expert view is the recommended view for performing shake stabilization on a video clip. You can configure the advanced options available in this view to enhance the shake removal from the clip.

  1. Click the Expert tab to switch to the Expert view. To stabilize motion in a particular video clip, select the clip in the timeline.

  2. Click Adjust to open the Adjust panel. Click Shake Stabilizer.

    Shake Stabilizer option in the Adjust panel

  3. Click Quick or Detailed to select the mode for running Shake Stabilizer. Refer to the Applying Shake Stabilizer in the Quick mode section for more information about the modes.

    Quick and Detailed modes

  4. The Applied Effects panel is opened and Shake Stabilizer is added as one of the effects.

    Shake stabilization in progress - time remaining

    While Shake Stabilizer is processing the frames, you can continue working on the project.  

  5. Click Advanced to view the available advanced options. You can select options to avoid extreme cropping or to adjust other parameters.

    Advanced options - Shake Stabilizer

    The options available in the Advanced tab are displayed. You can configure these options to fine-tune the Shake Stabilizer effect applied on your video clips.

    1. Motion: Controls the intended result for the footage. Smooth Motion retains the original camera movement but makes it smoother. When selected, smoothness is enabled to control how smooth the camera movement becomes. The No Motion option attempts to remove all camera motion from the shot. This setting is used for footage where at least a portion of the main subject remains within the frame for the entire range being stabilized.
    2. Smoothness: Use the slider to increase or decrease smoothness in the video clip. Lower values are closer to the camera’s original motion while higher values are smoother. Values above 100 require more cropping of the image. Enabled when the Result is set to Smooth Motion.
    3. Video Frame: Defines how the video frames should be stablilized. See Video Frame settings for more information.
    4. Boost Stabilization: When selected, Shake Stabilizer starts again to find elements to track. When you select this option, an analyze and fix workflow on the clip is initiated. The analysis is slow but produces the best results.
    5. Rolling Shutter Ripple: The stabilizer automatically corrects the rippling associated with stabilized rolling shutter footage. Automatic Reduction is the default. Use Enhanced Reduction if the footage contains larger ripples.
    6. Crop Vs Smooth: When cropping, this option controls the trade-off between smoothness and scaling of the cropping rectangle as it moves over the stabilized image. Lower values are smooth, however, more of the image is viewed. At 100%, the result is the same as the Stabilize Only option with manual cropping. See Defining Video Frame for information about the Stabilize Only option.
    7. Synthesis Edge Feather: Selects the amount of feather for the synthesized pieces. It is enabled only when using Video Frame to Stabilize, Synthesize Edges. It is enabled only when using the Stabilize, Synthesize Edges framing. Use the feather control to smooth over edges where the synthesized pixels join up with the original frame. See Defining Video Frame for information about the Stabilize, Synthesize Edges option.

    You can click Cancel to cancel the effect from being applied on the clip. Click Stabilize to again start stabilizing the clip.

Video Frame settings

The Video Frame option controls how the edge appears in a stabilizing result. This can be set to one of the following:

  • Stabilize Only: Displays the entire frame, including the moving edges. Stabilize Only shows how much work is being done to stabilize the image and these are clearly visible around the edges.
  • Stabilize, Crop: Crops the moving edges without scaling.
  • Stabilize, Crop, Auto-scale (default): Crops the moving edges and scales up the image to refill the frame.
  • Stabilize, Synthesize Edges: Fills in the blank space created by the moving edges with content from frames earlier and later in time.

Recommendations for using Shake Stabilizer

  • Shake Stabilizer is a memory-intensive and time-consuming operation. While it lets you use the application during processing, it makes the application slow. Once Shake Stabilizer completes the stabilizing stage, the application returns to the normal state. It is recommended to first identify the shaky portion of the footage and then split to extract those portions and run Shake Stabilizer only on those extracted clips.
  • If you are applying Shake Stabilizer from the Expert view, try the Quick mode first. The Quick mode is faster but might introduce some unwanted crop in the output. If you are not satisfied with the results, try the Detailed mode. For better results, enable Boost Stabilization under the Advanced section while using the Detailed mode.
  • Make sure that project settings and clip settings always match.
    • In some cases, the clip mismatches with the current project but matches with one of the application's project settings preset. In this case, Shake Stabilizer requires clip dimensions to match project settings. Create a new project to solve this problem.
    • Another possibility is that the clip mismatches with the current project and also does not match with any of the application's project settings preset. To fix this issue, export the clip to one of the standard formats and then create new project using that clip.

 Adobe

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