How To Edit Stunning Videos on iPhone Photos App

In this lesson, we're diving into color and exposure adjustments using your iPhone's Photos app. A key aspect of video editing that can dramatically enhance your visual narrative. Unlike still photography, where color and lighting choices impact a single frame, video editing involves a dynamic series of images, each contributing to a flowing narrative. Adjusting colors and white balance in videos can set the mood and bring consistency to your story across various scenes and lighting conditions.

Let's jump into how these adjustments can transform your videos, giving them a professional and emotive appeal. We'll start with the auto adjustment feature. Auto adjustments analyze your footage and automatically tweak various settings like brightness, contrast, and color balance to improve overall quality. This can be a great time saver for quick edits, but it's not always perfect. And now let me show you how auto adjustments work. For example, we select a random clip, let's say, this one, I c

an go into Edit, and then I can go into Adjust. Here, the first icon that I see is auto. I just need to click on it, and the iPhone will automatically adjust this clip based on some internal calculations. But to be fair, I'm not sure if it did enough. Maybe I wanna do something more. And that's where manual adjustments come in. Now that I clicked on auto adjustments, we can see that we have already a few of the sliders moved around. For example, we have some decreased highlights, and we have som

e increased shadows. But for example, I want to decrease the shadows because I want a more punchy look for this clip. So I can just go in shadows, and then I'm gonna drag the slider towards the right to decrease the shadows. And I can see that the number is going down. Now it's -25 for example. Then we can tap on the clip to see the original and wait a couple of seconds to see again the edited version. So now we have a little bit more shadows. They're a little bit darker in the clip, but maybe I

wanna decrease them even more. So I'm just gonna decrease again the shadows, probably like so, -75. And this is the before, and this is the after. There is way more contrast already in the clip. And for me, it looks way better. Before it was a bit dull. And just to make sure that these adjustments work on the overall video, I can drag this slider left to right to preview different parts of the video. And because this is quite a static video, I'm not moving much, I'm pretty sure that the adjustm

ents that we made are okay for the overall video. Then if I want, I can go and try to maybe decrease the brightness a tiny bit, so it'll probably go like -15. And I think that looks good me, then I'm gonna go into contrast, and then I'm gonna drag this slider towards the left to increase the contrast. And we are probably gonna bring it to +10. And I think this looks pretty good. Let's see the before and after. This is the before, and this is the after. I think we brought this clip to life right

now. Obviously, this is very subjective, but to me, this one looks more dramatic than the original footage. Then I wanna also show you that if you tap on any icon, you'll be able to see the clip without that adjustment. If we increase the contrast, to 100, which is too much, I don't really like it, but then if you click on that icon for the contrast again, we can see that we have the clip, but without that adjustment. Then if we click on contrast again, we'll be able to see the added 100 contras

t to our clip. Now, let's bring it back to 10. Now, we just built on top of the auto adjustments that we add from our iPhone, but remember that you can start from scratch. So if you have already a clear vision, you just go ahead with all the manual tools and doing all the adjustments that you want to do without having to click the auto adjust tool. And if you want to save the adjustments that you made, you're just gonna click on Done on the top right corner of the screen. Now I wanna show you a

different clip and in this new one, we're gonna try to focus a little bit more on the colors. And as we shift our focus to color, remember that it's not just about accuracy. It's about expression. Adjusting white balance is crucial for natural looking colors, especially under varying lighting conditions. A well balanced white setup ensures realistic color representation. Beyond mere correction, playing with the color settings allows you to set a specific mood or style for your video. Whether aim

ing for a warm inviting atmosphere or cool, melancholic tone, these adjustments are your tools for creative storytelling. So let me show you by using this clip. Once again, we click on Edit, and then we'll be able to click on Adjust. Here, we just need to scroll towards the left until we see the color parts, which starts with saturation. But the first thing that I wanna do is actually adjusting the white balance because this clip is a bit too blue to me. So we're gonna go into warmth. And then i

f we drag the slider towards the right, we'll be able to add more blue, to make it cooler. But if you drag the slider towards the left, we're gonna make it warmer. So we are basically eliminating the cool colors and adding a bit of warmth inside the video. And that's it. I think this looks already much better than before. And while I'm happier right now, I still think we can adjust the other part of the white balance, which is green and magenta. And to do this, I'm just gonna go into tint. Same

as before, if I drag the slider towards the right, I'm gonna add greens in the clip. If I drag towards the left, I'm gonna add some magenta. And because it was sunrise, I wanna try add a little bit of magenta because this clip right now, it's a bit too green for me. So I'm gonna drag the slider towards the left. I'm gonna add some magenta and I think +20 looks good to me. We're just gonna see the original and then the after. Yes. This looks way better to me, but probably looks still a bit too du

ll. So if I wanna bring back the color, we're gonna try to add a little bit of saturation. So we are gonna go into saturation. And in here, we can add or remove by dragging the slider left or right. So we're gonna move it towards the left so that we can add some saturation. And I think around 20 is, like this one, looks really good. Then if you want, you can also add a bit of vibrancy. The difference between saturation and vibrancy is that saturation increases the intensity of every single color

inside the clip, whereas vibrancy only affects those that are less saturated. So in this case, we're just gonna drag the slider again towards the left and probably go around 10. But then I can see that this still looks a little bit dull, especially in the shadows. And maybe we can try to add some contrast like we saw before. So we're gonna drag the menu towards the right, and then we're gonna go into contrast and drag the slider towards the left to add a bit of contrast. And I think we can try

+30. I'm very happy with this. One last thing that I wanna do to this clip is adding a bit of vignette. And to do this, I'm just gonna drag the menu towards the left until I reach the last adjustment which is vignette. So here I'm gonna drag the slider towards the left to darker the corners of this clip so that we can focus more on the waterfall, which is the subject of our clip. I'm probably gonna leave it at 45 We're just gonna see the before and after. Before and after. And I think we really

brought back to life this clip that was way too dull before. As you can see, all the adjustments that you could do on a photo can also be applied to any clip, just using the Photos app in your iPhone. So now I just wanna double check that the overall clip is okay with the adjustments that I made. So I'm just gonna scroll with the preview right here. And yes, everything is alright. Now, I wanna show you one very, very cool feature that the Photos app in the iPhone offers, and this is copying and

pasting all the edits that you made. So let's say you have two different clips, very similar in color that maybe you shot in the same location. Well you don't have to do manual adjustments in both of them because you can simply do it once and then copy this edit and paste them in the following clip. So let's try to do that. We're gonna go in the three dots right here, then we're gonna click on Copy Edits. Now, we're gonna click on Done to save these adjustments on this clip. And then you select

the new clip, you're gonna click on the three dots, then you click on Paste Edits. And boom, just like magic, we have applied all the different edits that we did on the previous clip to this one. Then if you go on Edit again, click on Adjust, and then if we scroll on the menu, we can see that all the adjustments are here. So the warmth is there. The tint is there. So on so forth. And this is amazing because you just need to edit basically once, and then you'll be able to copy and paste the edit

in all the other clips that you wanna edit with the same adjustments. And we're gonna click on Done. Finally, let's have some fun with the iPhone's native filters. When it comes to filters, it's important to understand that they are essentially a series of edits and corrections applied all at once. However, they don't always work for every image or video. To truly leverage the power of filters, it's recommended to start with a good foundation. This means adjusting your video to be as neutral as

possible. A well balanced correctly exposed video serves as the perfect canvas for applying filters. By starting with the neutral base, you ensure that the filter enhances rather than detracts from your video. It allows the filter to complement your footage, creating a more cohesive and striking visual. Remember, filters can be a powerful tool, but their effectiveness greatly depends on the quality and preparation of the original footage. So let's pick this clip, for example, if I want to apply

a filter, I just need to go on Edit, and then we're gonna go into Filters. This clip looks already very neutral and balanced, and that's why we can apply already filters on top of it. So we are just gonna go and scroll through them and decide which one we like the most. This is the original one. Then we got Vivid, which enhances color. Then we got Vivid Warm, we got Vivid Cool, we got Dramatic, Dramatic Warm, Dramatic Cool, and three options for black and white: Mono, Silvertone, and Noir. Now,

my favorite is Dramatic. I actually use this filter quite a bit, whenever I don't have time to manually edit every single clip. Then with the slider below, we can decrease the intensity of the filter. By default, it starts at 100. But if you drag the slider towards the right, we can decrease the intensity of the filter. So for example, we can go to 50 if you don't like to have it 100. Then if you go again towards the 0, you're basically bringing back the original footage. But I really like this

filter, so I'm gonna leave it at 100. Then whenever you're ready, you just need to click on Done. And that's it. I'm happy with the result. That's a wrap on color and exposure adjustments in the Photos app. Remember, these skills are essential, not just for editing individual clips, but also for later when we start combining clips into sequences. These adjustments will help ensure your videos are visually cohesive and engaging. Keep practicing with these tools, and I'll see you in the next lesso

n where we'll tackle cropping and perspective adjustments. Happy editing.