They're here! More Muvipix.com Guides by Steve Grisetti!
The Muvipix.com Guides to Premiere & Photoshop Elements 2024
As well as The Muvipix.com Guide to CyberLink PowerDirector 21
Because there are stories to tell
muvipix.com

Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Specific to Premiere Elements version 13

Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:34 pm

I am resizing my still photos (horizontal) to 16x9 prior to import into PrE 13.
Should I be resizing my vertical photos? 16x9?
Steve
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby Bob » Tue Mar 03, 2015 5:58 pm

It depends on what you will doing with them, Steve. You have different considerations if you want to be able to pan and zoom the image instead of simply displaying the image.

If you want the image to fill the video frame and don't intend to pan or zoom, CROP to 16:9 keeping the portion of the image you want to display and resize to match the video frame. If you don't want to crop the image, you can scale the image to fit within the frame, but it won't fill the frame leaving black bars on either side. These bars are actually transparent. If you place the image on a higher track, you can place a background underneath and the background will show though.

If you want to pan and zoom, you don't necessarily need to crop to the video frame aspect ratio. Resize it so that it's larger than the frame size enough to give you room to pan or zoom. Make sure that when you are zoomed in at the greatest amount in Premiere Elements, the photo's scale factor doesn't exceed 100%.
User avatar
Bob
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 5925
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:49 am
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:50 pm

Thanks Bob. The transparency thing sounds intriguing. Can you pan/ zoom with the photo on a seperate track? I'll have to try these out in the next few days.
Steve

[ Post made via Mobile Device ] Image
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Thu Mar 12, 2015 2:40 pm

I just placed a vertical still on the timeline (in the video 1 line). On the timeline, I see the entire vertical photo, with the black bars on the sides. However, on the screen, the video frame is filled, so that It gives the appearance of being cropped to a 16:9 size. In this instance, I want to see the entire vertical frame. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks.
Steve
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby Bob » Thu Mar 12, 2015 4:17 pm

Nothing's wrong. Your photo is larger in size than the video frame -- effectively, you are zoomed in. You just need to adjust the scale of the photo to show the complete image. Select the photo in the timeline and open the Applied Effects panel. Expand the Motion effect to find the scale property.

Premiere Elements has a video option called "Scale to Frame Size" that will automatically scale the image to fit the video frame. But, if you will be panning or zooming, you definitely don't want to use that. Zooming with "Scale to Frame Size" enabled will result in a degraded image. It sounds like you have set your default properties to not enable that by default. You can turn this property on for an individual clip if you wish. I'm not sure about PrE13, but earlier versions would allow you to right click on the clip in the expert timeline and enable or disable this property in the context menu. If that's not there, you can always select the clip in the Project Assets panel and choose Clip > Video Options and set it there.

The thumbnails you see in the timeline have very little to do with what you see in the monitor. They're there for esthetic reasons and to you give you a crude idea of what's on the clip. But, they don't reflect the actual timing (start or end of scenes) or reflect what actually appears in the monitor. You can turn them off or select another style of thumbnail display if you want.
User avatar
Bob
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 5925
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:49 am
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Thu Mar 12, 2015 4:31 pm

Thanks Bob.
I did have scale to frame size turned off, as I had been advised to do.
Adjusting the photo in Applied Effects worked fine. I will do it that way (manually) for each vertical photo, so that I will be able to apply pan/zoom.
Steve
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:24 pm

I have been adjusting the vertical photos in Applied Effects, and that works fine. I even placed the vertical still on top of a horizontal still, as Bob suggested can be done. I had to use the Applied Effects(Motion>Scale) again for the Horizontal photo, as these were taken from the internet, and were not 16:9 and needed to be enlarged. Again, this seemed to work fine.

My problem arises when I now want to place a 16:9 horizontal still on the time line. The photo appears cropped to a very large size so that only a portion of the photo fits on the screen, and must be manually adjusted in Applied Effects. Here is what I notice in Applied Effects>Motion>Scale: The Scale size seems to default to 100, and has to be scaled down to about 39.2 in order for the entire 16:9 still to fill the frame properly. This did not occur before I started to play with the Applied Effects>Motion. So, I must have some how turned off the default size for 16: 9 to fit the frame. Any ideas on what I did and how to correct it?
Thanks.
Steve
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby Bob » Sat Mar 14, 2015 3:27 am

The Scale size seems to default to 100, and has to be scaled down to about 39.2 in order for the entire 16:9 still to fill the frame properly.


A full high def 16:9 project has a video frame size of 1920x1080 pixels. If you had to scale down the size of your still to 39.2% to have the entire photo fill the video frame, then your still photo has dimensions of about 4898x2755 pixels. I suspect that you cropped your photo to a 16:9 aspect ratio but did not resize it down to more closely match the video frame size.

Given the large size of the still image you imported, what you describe is exactly what PrE 13 should do with Scale to Frame Size turned off. That is, the still image will be imported at 100% and, when you place it on the timeline, will be centered on the video frame full size with only the centered 1920x1080 portion visible. You would have to scale down the photo to see the entire image.

This did not occur before I started to play with the Applied Effects>Motion. So, I must have some how turned off the default size for 16: 9 to fit the frame.


If Scale to Frame Size is turned off, PrE 13 will not automatically rescale any photo to fit the frame. You'll only see the center 1920x1080 pixels. Therefore, the default size for 16:9 to fit the frame is a photo 1920x1080 pixels large. Any size larger and you won't see the entire photo without scaling down.

The only time PrE 13 will automatically rescale the photo to fit the frame is when Scale to Frame Size is turned on. When Scale to Frame Size is on, PrE 13 will pre-scale the photo to fit within the 1920x1080 frame and it is this pre-scaled image that is placed on the timeline. If you subsequently adjust the scale property in Applied Effects>Motion, you will be scaling this smaller image, not the original, which is why Scale to Frame Size is not desirable if you are going to be scanning or panning.

If you were getting your photos to show entirely within the video frame without scaling earlier, you either had to have Scale to Frame Size on or you scaled the photos down in size before you imported them into your project.

Cropping and resizing are two different things. You can crop without resizing and you can resize without cropping. You need to do both. Can you go into more detail as to how you are preparing your photos for use in PrE 13?
User avatar
Bob
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 5925
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:49 am
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Sat Mar 14, 2015 9:29 am

Thanks Bob.
I understand what you are saying, but need a little help in carrying out the mechanics of resizing.
Bob wrote: I suspect that you cropped your photo to a 16:9 aspect ratio but did not resize it down to more closely match the video frame size.

That is exactly correct!

Bob wrote:If Scale to Frame Size is turned off, PrE 13 will not automatically rescale any photo to fit the frame. You'll only see the center 1920x1080 pixels. Therefore, the default size for 16:9 to fit the frame is a photo 1920x1080 pixels large. Any size larger and you won't see the entire photo without scaling down.

Yes! This appears to be the issue. You certainly have a great understanding of PrE 13 and its problems!

Bob wrote:Cropping and resizing are two different things. You can crop without resizing and you can resize without cropping. You need to do both. Can you go into more detail as to how you are preparing your photos for use in PrE 13?

OK, Bob. Here is where I get lost. I think I understand what you are saying, but need help in carrying out the process.

Regarding my preparation of stills for use in PrE 13: These photos happen to be JPEG, but mostly I shoot RAW, so I don't know if that will make a difference. I am importing the photos into LR5, and doing most of the editing in LR5, including cropping the image to 16:9. If the photo needs further post processing, in my opinion, I do additional editing in Topaz (via photoshop CS6), and occasionally in PS6 as well. I then save the photo in LR5, export to Finder, and import to PrE13. At no point here have I resized the photo. I'm not sure how I do that in LR5. Can you explain how to both crop the photo to 16:9 and resize the photo to more closely fit the frame size? (I believe the resized photo should actually be a little larger than 1920x1080 pixels if I plan to pan/zoom). Also, will resizing effect my ability to later print large size photos (12x18, 16x20, etc.)? I am using an Epson 3880. As LR5 is non destructive, I suppose I can "remove" the resizing once I have imported the photos to PrE 13, and wish to print. Although, and this just a comes to mind: If I change the size of the photo before the movie is finished (I won't, but this is just a thought), will the link from PrE 13 to my photos (now stored in a file in finder), see the photo as a different size, and screw up all the resizing work I will have done? Does resizing have to be changed to print large photos? When should it be done?
Thanks.
Steve
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby Bob » Sat Mar 14, 2015 2:01 pm

These photos happen to be JPEG, but mostly I shoot RAW, so I don't know if that will make a difference


In terms of your workflow in LightRoom 5, it won't make a difference. You'll do the same steps.

Can you explain how to both crop the photo to 16:9 and resize the photo to more closely fit the frame size? (I believe the resized photo should actually be a little larger than 1920x1080 pixels if I plan to pan/zoom).


Cropping in LightRoom is done in the develop module using the Crop Overlay tool. The Crop Overlay tool has a keyboard shortcut of "R" (as in cRop). When you activate the Crop Overlay tool, you can adjust the crop boundaries and position of the photo within the crop rectangle. By default, the crop rectangle has the same aspect ratio as the photo. But, you can select one of the standard aspect presets or you can enter a custom aspect ratio. One thing that can be confusing is that if you look at the standard aspect presets, the ones for video ratios also have a pixel dimension listed as well -- for example, 16 x 9 1920 x 1080. That doesn't mean that the photo will be resized to 1920 x 1080 -- it won't. It's just another way of expressing the aspect ratio.

If, at a later time, you want to undo the crop don't use reset. Reset undoes all the corrections and actions you did on the photo. Instead, go back into the Crop Overlay tool and select "original" for the aspect ratio.

Cropping changes the size of a photo by trimming off pixels outside the crop rectangle. But, it does nothing to the pixels within the crop rectangle. If the image is 3000 x 4500 pixels after cropping, that's what you have. For video, that's pretty large. We need to reduce the number of pixels in the image to an appropriate value. That's done by resizing (aka resampling). In LightRoom, that's done in the export module. Select the photos you want to resize, click on Export and specify the export parameters. You want to export to the hard drive, you want to place them in a specific folder, and you want to set the size.

The folder you want to use is your project folder. To control the size, expand the Image Sizing tab in the export dialog. Check the box labeled "Resize to fit" and select "long edge". Finally, enter the size you want the long edge to be: in this case 1920 pixels (larger if you want to scan or pan). When you export the photos to the project folder, the photos will be resized.

will resizing effect my ability to later print large size photos (12x18, 16x20, etc.)?


No. Resizing while exporting does not change the size of the photo in the Lightroom Catalog. The photo you exported for the video project has reduced resolution and should not be used for printing. When you want to print, use the LightRoom Print module and print using the photo in the Catalog.

The aspect ratio of prints is different from the aspect ratio of video. If you cropped the photo for video, you may want to go back and change the crop to a more appropriate ratio for prints. LightRoom has the ability to make virtual copies of photos. A virtual copy is simply an additional entry in the catalog and does not duplicate the photo on the hard drive. The advantage of virtual copies is that each copy can have it's own unique crop and adjustments.

If I change the size of the photo before the movie is finished (I won't, but this is just a thought), will the link from PrE 13 to my photos (now stored in a file in finder), see the photo as a different size, and screw up all the resizing work I will have done?


PrE 13 links back to the physical location and name of the file. If you change the size of the photo and then export it back to the same location with the same name so that the file is overwritten, when PrE 13 opens the project it will use the new file. PrE 13 doesn't know that the image has changed and will use the settings that you previously had set. That could very well screw up things. If you resize a photo, you will need to redo the settings.
User avatar
Bob
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 5925
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:49 am
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Sat Mar 14, 2015 4:15 pm

Thanks again Bob.
Bob wrote: Check the box labeled "Resize to fit" and select "long edge". Finally, enter the size you want the long edge to be: in this case 1920 pixels (larger if you want to scan or pan). When you export the photos to the project folder, the photos will be resized.

I set the long edge to 2000 on a sample photo, exported it to my hard drive, imported it to PrE 13. The photo fit the movie frame perfectly, so I guess it was resized properly. I tried a pan/zoom, and that also worked well. I know I am supposed to import the photo slightly larger if I want to pan/zoom (i.e., 2000 vs 1920 pixels), which I did. I am not sure, however, why a 1920 pixel (long side) photo won't pan/zoom correctly?

Bob wrote:If you change the size of the photo and then export it back to the same location with the same name so that the file is overwritten, when PrE 13 opens the project it will use the new file. PrE 13 doesn't know that the image has changed and will use the settings that you previously had set. That could very well screw up things. If you resize a photo, you will need to redo the settings.


If I understand you correctly, I can make any changes to a photo in LR that has previously been exported to my HD, and imported to PrE 13, as long as I do not export those changes back to the folder on my hard drive where the photos are stored.

Am I better off making a virtual copy, and working with that, if I want to make changes to a photo I have exported to PrE 13, or does it not make a difference as long as the changed photo remains in the LR catalog, and is not exported to the folder on my hard drive holding the exported photos?
Thanks again, Bob. You are a lifesaver!
Steve
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby Bob » Sun Mar 15, 2015 1:44 am

I am not sure, however, why a 1920 pixel (long side) photo won't pan/zoom correctly?


Since a 1920 x 1080 photo is exactly the same size as the video frame there are two issues: 1) Panning will move the photo at least partially out of the frame exposing transparency which will show as black if there is nothing underneath. Most of the time people want to pan within the image and not have it go out of the frame -- that requires a photo that is larger than the video frame. But, if it is your intention to expose transparency around the photo as you pan, there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing that. 2) You can zoom out making the photo smaller and exposing transparency. But, if you zoom in you will be magnifying the photo greater than 100% That will make the image look fuzzy and/or pixilated. The greater the magnification past 100% the worse the image will look. By making the image larger and scaling down to fit the video frame, you can zoom in by scaling up to 100% and maintain your image quality.

If I understand you correctly, I can make any changes to a photo in LR that has previously been exported to my HD, and imported to PrE 13, as long as I do not export those changes back to the folder on my hard drive where the photos are stored.


Yes, that's correct. LR does not monitor what you do with your exported photos. You can make as many changes as you like to the photo in LR and LR will not attempt to update or replace the previously exported file. You would need to deliberately export the file again and overwrite the older file if you wanted to do that.

Am I better off making a virtual copy, and working with that, if I want to make changes to a photo I have exported to PrE 13, or does it not make a difference as long as the changed photo remains in the LR catalog, and is not exported to the folder on my hard drive holding the exported photos?


Use Virtual copies when you want to have two or more versions of the same photo. Differences can be as basic as a different crop or a complex set of adjustments. LR treats them like separate photos but, because they are based upon the same base photo, they only take up a small amount of space in the catalog. They can be very handy. But, they are completely optional. If you want to keep a version that matches one that you exported so you can export it again if need be, that's certainly reasonable.
User avatar
Bob
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 5925
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:49 am
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: Resizing Vertical Stills for PrE 13

Postby StevenG » Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:30 am

Thanks Bob. Great answer! :-D
I have learned a lot from your replies, especially a little of how things work, rather than just what to do.
All I need to do now is retain all this stuff! Not so easy as my brain ages. :ha:
Steve
MacBook Pro. OSX Yosemite, Version 10.10.2. Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. Memory 8 GB. Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 512 MB.
StevenG
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:51 pm


Return to PRE Version 13 


Similar topics


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests