Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Chapter 20. Photoshop and Video

Everybody’s shooting video these days, whether it’s with a smart phone, video camera, point-and-shoot camera, or fancy digital SLR. You might not realize it, but Photoshop has been able to edit videos since CS3, though only in the more expensive Extended version (which doesn’t exist anymore). This is great news because, since you already know how to use Photoshop, you don’t have to learn another program just to edit videos.

Now, while you can create an extensive video project in Photoshop complete with a title sequence, closing credits, and dancing flamingos, other tools are much better suited for that, such as Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, Apple’s Final Cut Pro, Sony’s Vegas Pro, and Avid’s Media Composer. Instead, you’ll want to use Photoshop for creating small- to medium-sized video projects that contain only a handful of clips, or for cleaning up clips for use in those other programs. That said, Photoshop is ideal for creating promotional pieces, portfolio-based slideshows, and sellable add-ons to your photography business (imagine a combo of stills and video clips from a romantic wedding or family portrait sitting!).

Here’s a more detailed list of what you can do with video in Photoshop:

• Trim and split clips, as well as add a nice array of transitions between ’em.

• Clean up unwanted objects or blemishes, frame by frame.

• Correct the color and lighting in a clip, as well as sharpen clips.

• Add a layer mask to a clip to give it a creative edge. ...