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Applying effects using Adjustment layers

  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. Source Monitor and Program Monitor
    5. Preferences
    6. Tools
    7. Keyboard shortcuts
    8. Audio View
    9. Undoing changes
    10. Customizing shortcuts
    11. 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
    5. Sequence settings
  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. Color Correction and Grading
    1. Color Correction and Grading (LUTs)
    2. Color Correction Panel
    3. Color Correction Settings
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. Movie titles
    1. Creating titles
    2. Adding shapes and images to titles
    3. Adding color and shadows to titles
    4. Apply Gradients
    5. Create Titles and MOGRTs
    6. Add responsive design
    7. Editing and formatting text
    8. Align and transform objects
    9. Motion Titles
    10. Appearance of text and shapes
    11. Exporting and importing titles
    12. Arranging objects in titles
    13. Designing titles for TV
    14. Applying styles to text and graphics
    15. Adding a video in the title
  14. Disc menus
    1. Creating disc menus
    2. Working with menu markers
    3. Types of discs and menu options
    4. Previewing menus
  15. Sharing and exporting your movies
    1. Export and share your videos
    2. Export settings
    3. Sharing for PC playback
    4. Compression and data-rate basics
    5. Common settings for sharing

Explore the benefits of using adjustment layers in Premiere Elements. You can apply effects or opacity changes to multiple clips simultaneously.

In Premiere Elements, you can use an adjustment layer to apply the same effect on multiple clips on the Timeline. Effects applied to an adjustment layer affect all layers below it in the layer stacking order.

You can use combinations of effects on a single adjustment layer. You can also use multiple adjustment layers to control more effects.

Create an adjustment layer in Advanced view

You can apply a combination of effects by applying different adjustment layers in Advanced view. To create an adjustment layer in Advanced view, follow these steps:

  1. Select the New Item   icon in the Project Assets panel and click on Adjustment Layer.

  2. Click Effects on action bar.

  3. Click to select an effect. There are various effects available to enhance your video clips. Click on the drop-down list to choose the available effects under various categories.

  4. You can further edit the effect setting from the Effects control panel.

  5. Select the entire Adjustment layer to edit it from the Adjustments panel:

    • Auto: Click Smart Fix to automatically fix your video footage. Smart Fix analyses and fixes your video footage to make it look better.
    • Color/Lighting/Other effects: You can adjust these attributes of the adjustment layer. For example, click on Color to adjust the Lightness, Saturation, and Vibrance. 

    Click More to adjust the sliders to increase or decrease the intensity of a particular effect attribute.

  6. Click on the Effect Controls to view the effects that have been applied. Click on an effect to view the effect's proportions you can edit.

    For example, click on the arrow icon beside Motion or click on Motion to expand the effect. You can move the sliders to adjust the scale, rotation, position, etc.

    Note:

    To remove a particular effect in an adjustment layer. Click Applied Effects and click on the trash icon to remove a particular effect.

Resize an adjustment layer

You can resize the duration of an adjustment layer. To resize an adjustment layer:

  1. Click the adjustment layer in the Advanced View Timeline display area

  2. Drag the anchor point in the center of the screen to reposition the adjustment layer, and then drag the edge of the clip to scale it down.

Using blending modes

You can select how Premiere Elements blends or superimposes a clip on a track in a Timeline with the clip or clips on track

  1. In a Timeline, place a clip on a track higher than a track where another clip is located. Premiere Elements superimposes, or blends, the clip in the higher track over the clip in the lower track.
  2. Select the clip in the higher track and select the Effect Controls panel.
  3. In the Effect Controls panel, click the arrow next to Opacity to view the available options to configure the opacity.
  4. Drag the Opacity value to the left to set the opacity to less than 100%.
  5. Click the arrow in the Blend Mode menu.
  6. Select a blend mode from the list of blend modes.
Blend Mode Adjustment Layer
Blend Mode

Blending mode descriptions

In the following descriptions, these terms are used:

  • The source color is the color of the layer to which the blend mode is applied.

  • The underlying color is the color of the composited layers below the source layer in the Timeline panel.

  • The result color is the output of the blending operation; the color of the composite.

Normal

The result color is the source color. This mode ignores the underlying color. Normal is the default mode.

Dissolve

The result color for each pixel is either the source color or the underlying color. The probability that the result color is the source color depends on the opacity of the source. If opacity of the source is 100%, then the result color is the source color. If opacity of the source is 0%, then the result color is the underlying color.

Multiply

For each color channel, multiplies source color channel value with underlying color channel value and divides by maximum value for 8-bpc, 16-bpc, or 32-bpc pixels, depending on the color depth of the project. The result color is never brighter than the original. If either input color is black, the result color is black. If either input color is white, the result color is the other input color. This blend mode simulates drawing with multiple marking pens on paper or placing multiple gels in front of a light. When blending with a color other than black or white, each layer or paint stroke with this blend mode results in a darker color.

Color Burn

The result color is a darkening of the source color to reflect the underlying layer color by increasing the contrast. Pure white in the original layer does not change the underlying color.

Linear Burn

The result color is a darkening of the source color to reflect the underlying color. Pure white produces no change.

Darker Color

Each result pixel is the color of darker of the source color value and the corresponding underlying color value. Darker Color is similar to Darken, but Darker Color does not operate on individual color channels.

Linear Dodge (Add)

Each result color channel value is the sum of the corresponding color channel values of the source color and underlying color. The result color is never darker than either input color.

Lighten

Each result color channel value is the higher (lighter) of the source color channel value and the corresponding underlying color channel value.

Screen

Multiplies the complements of the channel values, and then takes the complement of the result. The result color is never darker than either input color. Using the Screen mode is similar to projecting multiple photographic slides simultaneously onto a single screen.

Color Dodge

The result color is a lightening of the source color to reflect the underlying layer color by decreasing the contrast. If the source color is pure black, the result color is the underlying color.

Linear Dodge (Add)

The result color is a lightening of the source color to reflect the underlying color by increasing the brightness. If the source color is pure black, the result color is the underlying color.

Lighter Color

Each result pixel is the color of lighter of the source color value and the corresponding underlying color value. Lighter Color is similar to Lighten, but Lighter Color does not operate on individual color channels.

Overlay

Multiplies or screens the input color channel values, depending on whether or not the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray. The result preserves highlights and shadows in the underlying layer.

Soft Light

Darkens or lightens the color channel values of the underlying layer, depending on the source color. The result is similar to shining a diffused spotlight on the underlying layer. For each color channel value, if the source color is lighter than 50% gray, the result color is lighter than the underlying color, as if dodged. If the source color is darker than 50% gray, the result color is darker than the underlying color, as if burned. A layer with pure black or white becomes markedly darker or lighter, but does not become pure black or white.

Hard Light

Multiplies or screens the input color channel value, depending on the original source color. The result is similar to shining a harsh spotlight on the layer. For each color channel value, if the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, the layer lightens as if it were screened. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, the layer darkens as if it were multiplied. This mode is useful for creating the appearance of shadows on a layer.

Linear Light

Burns or dodges the colors by decreasing or increasing the brightness, depending on the underlying color. If the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, the layer is lightened because the brightness is increased. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, the layer is darkened because the brightness is decreased.

Vivid Light

Burns or dodges the colors by increasing or decreasing the contrast, depending on the underlying color. If the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, the layer is lightened because the contrast is decreased. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, the layer is darkened because the contrast is increased.

Pin Light

Replaces the colors, depending on the underlying color. If the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, pixels darker than the underlying color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the underlying color do not change. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, pixels lighter than the underlying color are replaced, and pixels darker than the underlying color do not change.

Hard Mix

Enhances the contrast of the underlying layer that is visible beneath a mask on the source layer. The mask size determines the contrasted area; the inverted source layer determines the center of the contrasted area.

Difference

For each color channel, subtracts the darker of the input values from the lighter. Painting with white inverts the backdrop color; painting with black produces no change.

Subtract

Subtracts the source file from the underlying color. If the source color is black, the result color is the underlying color. Result color values can be less than 0 in 32-bpc projects

Exclusion

Creates a result similar to but lower in contrast than the Difference mode. If the source color is white, the result color is the complement of the underlying color. If the source color is black, the result color is the underlying color.

Divide

Divides underlying color by source color. If the source color is white, the result color is the underlying color. Result color values can be greater than 1.0 in 32-bpc projects.

Saturation

Result color has luminosity and hue of the underlying color, and the saturation of the source color.

Hue

Result color has luminosity and saturation of the underlying color, and the hue of the source color.

Color

Result color has luminosity of the underlying color, and hue and saturation of the source color. This blend mode preserves the gray levels in the underlying color. This blend mode is useful for coloring grayscale images and for tinting color images.

Luminosity

Result color has hue and saturation of the underlying color, and luminosity of the source color. This mode is the opposite of the Color mode.

Note:

If you have two layers with an identical visual element that you want to align, place one layer on top of the other and set the blend mode of the top layer to Difference. Then, you can move one layer or the other until the pixels of the visual element that you want to line up are all black—meaning that the differences between the pixels are zero and therefore the elements are stacked exactly on top of one another.

In Adobe Premiere Elements, you can use an adjustment layer to apply the same effect on multiple clips on the Timeline. Effects applied to an adjustment layer affect all layers below it in the layer stacking order.

You can use combinations of effects on a single adjustment layer. You can also use multiple adjustment layers to control more effects.

Create an adjustment layer

You can create an adjustment layer in either Quick or Advanced view. The procedure varies a bit in both the views.

Create an adjustment layer in Quick view

To create an adjustment layer in quick view, follow these steps:

  1. Click Effects on action bar.

  2. Click to select an effect. There are various effects available to enhance your video clips. Click the drop-down list to choose the effects available under Video Effects or FilmLooks.

  3. Drag-and-drop the effect on the source monitor to create an adjustment layer for the effect. Click Yes to apply it to the entire movie (all the video clips currently on the timeline). Click No to apply it to the current video clip which is currently selected.

  4. You can further edit or enhance the adjustment layer from the Effects control panel.

  5. Click Adjust on the Adjust panel. In the Adjust panel, click Entire Movie to edit the adjustment layers applied on the entire clip.

    • Smart Fix: Click Smart Fix to automatically fix your video footage. Smart Fix analyzes and fixes your video footage to make it look better.
    • Auto Smart Tone: Click Entire movie. Click Apply to automatically correct the clip using Auto Smart Tone.
    • Color/Lighting/Other effects: You can adjust these attributes of the adjustment layer. For example, click Color to adjust the Hue, Lightness, Saturation, and Vibrance. Click any effect under Color > Hue to experiment with various types of hues available.

    Click More to adjust the sliders to increase or decrease the intensity of a particular effect attribute.

  6. Click Applied Effects on the Adjust panel to view the effects that have been applied. Click an effect to view and edit the effect's properties.

    For example, click the triangle besides Motion or click Motion to expand the effect. You can move the sliders to adjust the scale, rotation, and so on.

Create an adjustment layer in Advanced view

You can apply a combination of effects by applying different adjustment layers, in Advanced view. To create an adjustment layer in Advanced view, follow these steps:

  1. Click Effects on action bar.

  2. Click to select an effect. There are various effects available to enhance your video clips. Click on the drop-down list to choose the effects available under various effects categories.

  3. Drag-and-drop the effect on the source monitor to create an adjustment layer for the effect. Click Yes to apply it to the entire movie (all the video clips currently on the timeline). Click No to apply it to the current video clip which is currently selected.

    The adjustment layer is visible as a layer on the timeline.

  4. You can further edit the effect setting from the Effects control panel.

  5. Click Adjust on the Adjust panel. In the Adjust panel, click Entire Movie to edit the adjustment layer applied on the entire clip.

    • Smart Fix: Click Smart Fix to automatically fix your video footage. Smart Fix analyses and fixes you video footage to make it look better.
    • Color/Lighting/Other effects: You can adjust these attributes of the adjustment layer. For example, click on Color to adjust the Hue, Lightness, Saturation, and Vibrance. Click on any effect under Color > Hue to experiment with various types of hues available.

    Click More to adjust the sliders to increase or decrease the intensity of a particular effect attribute.

  6. Click Applied Effects on the Adjust panel to view the effects that have been applied. Click on an effect to view the effect's proportions you can edit.

    For example, click on the triangle besides Motion or click on Motion to expand the effect. You can move the sliders to adjust the scale, rotation, and so on.

    Note:

    To remove a particular effect in an adjustment layer. Click Applied Effects and click on the trash icon to remove a particular effect.

Resize an adjustment layer

  1. Click the adjustment layer in the Timeline display area

  2. Drag the anchor point in the center of the screen to reposition the adjustment layer, and then drag the edge of the clip to scale it down.

You can resize the duration of an adjustment layer. To resize an adjustment layer:

Using blending modes

You can select the way in which Premiere Elements blends, or superimposes, a clip on a track in a Timeline with the clip or clips on lower tracks.

  1. In a Timeline, place a clip on a track higher than a track where another clip is located. Premiere Elements superimposes, or blends, the clip in the higher track over the clip in the lower track.

  2. Select the clip in the higher track, and select the Applied Effects panel.

  3. In the Effect Controls panel, click the triangle next to Opacity to view the available options to configure the opacity.

  4. Drag the Opacity value to the left to set the opacity to less than 100%.

  5. Click the triangle in the Blend Mode menu.

  6. Select a blend mode from the list of blend modes.

Blend Mode

Blend mode reference

For in-depth information about the concepts and algorithms behind these blend modes as implemented in several Adobe applications, see the PDF reference material on the Adobe website.

The Blend Mode menu is subdivided into six categories based on similarities between the results of the blend modes. The category names do not appear in the interface; the categories are simply separated by dividing lines in the menu.

Normal category

Normal, Dissolve. The result color of a pixel is not affected by the color of the underlying pixel unless Opacity is less than 100% for the source layer. The Dissolve blend modes turn some of the pixels of the source layer transparent.

Subtractive category

Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Darker Color. These blend modes tend to darken colors, some by mixing colors in much the same way as mixing colored pigments in paint.

Additive category

Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge (Add), Lighter Color. These blend modes tend to lighten colors, some by mixing colors in much the same way as mixing projected light.

Complex category

Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix. These blend modes perform different operations on the source and underlying colors depending on whether one of the colors is lighter than 50% gray.

Difference category

Difference, Exclusion, Subtract, Divide. These blend modes create colors based on the differences between the values of the source color and the underlying color.

HSL category

Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity. These blend modes transfer one or more of the components of the HSL representation of color (hue, saturation, and luminosity) from the underlying color to the result color.

Blending mode descriptions

In the following descriptions, these terms are used:

  • The source color is the color of the layer to which the blend mode is applied.

  • The underlying color is the color of the composited layers below the source layer in the Timeline panel.

  • The result color is the output of the blending operation; the color of the composite.

Normal

The result color is the source color. This mode ignores the underlying color. Normal is the default mode.

Dissolve

The result color for each pixel is either the source color or the underlying color. The probability that the result color is the source color depends on the opacity of the source. If opacity of the source is 100%, then the result color is the source color. If opacity of the source is 0%, then the result color is the underlying color.

Darken

Each result color channel value is the lower (darker) of the source color channel value and the corresponding underlying color channel value.

Multiply

For each color channel, multiplies source color channel value with underlying color channel value and divides by maximum value for 8-bpc, 16-bpc, or 32-bpc pixels, depending on the color depth of the project. The result color is never brighter than the original. If either input color is black, the result color is black. If either input color is white, the result color is the other input color. This blend mode simulates drawing with multiple marking pens on paper or placing multiple gels in front of a light. When blending with a color other than black or white, each layer or paint stroke with this blend mode results in a darker color.

Color Burn

The result color is a darkening of the source color to reflect the underlying layer color by increasing the contrast. Pure white in the original layer does not change the underlying color.

Linear Burn

The result color is a darkening of the source color to reflect the underlying color. Pure white produces no change.

Darker Color

Each result pixel is the color of darker of the source color value and the corresponding underlying color value. Darker Color is similar to Darken, but Darker Color does not operate on individual color channels.

Linear Dodge (Add)

Each result color channel value is the sum of the corresponding color channel values of the source color and underlying color. The result color is never darker than either input color.

Lighten

Each result color channel value is the higher (lighter) of the source color channel value and the corresponding underlying color channel value.

Screen

Multiplies the complements of the channel values, and then takes the complement of the result. The result color is never darker than either input color. Using the Screen mode is similar to projecting multiple photographic slides simultaneously onto a single screen.

Color Dodge

The result color is a lightening of the source color to reflect the underlying layer color by decreasing the contrast. If the source color is pure black, the result color is the underlying color.

Linear Dodge (Add)

The result color is a lightening of the source color to reflect the underlying color by increasing the brightness. If the source color is pure black, the result color is the underlying color.

Lighter Color

Each result pixel is the color of lighter of the source color value and the corresponding underlying color value. Lighter Color is similar to Lighten, but Lighter Color does not operate on individual color channels.

Overlay

Multiplies or screens the input color channel values, depending on whether or not the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray. The result preserves highlights and shadows in the underlying layer.

Soft Light

Darkens or lightens the color channel values of the underlying layer, depending on the source color. The result is similar to shining a diffused spotlight on the underlying layer. For each color channel value, if the source color is lighter than 50% gray, the result color is lighter than the underlying color, as if dodged. If the source color is darker than 50% gray, the result color is darker than the underlying color, as if burned. A layer with pure black or white becomes markedly darker or lighter, but does not become pure black or white.

Hard Light

Multiplies or screens the input color channel value, depending on the original source color. The result is similar to shining a harsh spotlight on the layer. For each color channel value, if the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, the layer lightens as if it were screened. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, the layer darkens as if it were multiplied. This mode is useful for creating the appearance of shadows on a layer.

Vivid Light

Burns or dodges the colors by increasing or decreasing the contrast, depending on the underlying color. If the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, the layer is lightened because the contrast is decreased. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, the layer is darkened because the contrast is increased.

Linear Light

Burns or dodges the colors by decreasing or increasing the brightness, depending on the underlying color. If the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, the layer is lightened because the brightness is increased. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, the layer is darkened because the brightness is decreased.

Pin Light

Replaces the colors, depending on the underlying color. If the underlying color is lighter than 50% gray, pixels darker than the underlying color are replaced, and pixels lighter than the underlying color do not change. If the underlying color is darker than 50% gray, pixels lighter than the underlying color are replaced, and pixels darker than the underlying color do not change.

Hard Mix

Enhances the contrast of the underlying layer that is visible beneath a mask on the source layer. The mask size determines the contrasted area; the inverted source layer determines the center of the contrasted area.

Difference

For each color channel, subtracts the darker of the input values from the lighter. Painting with white inverts the backdrop color; painting with black produces no change.

Subtract

Subtracts the source file from the underlying color. If the source color is black, the result color is the underlying color. Result color values can be less than 0 in 32-bpc projects

Exclusion

Creates a result similar to but lower in contrast than the Difference mode. If the source color is white, the result color is the complement of the underlying color. If the source color is black, the result color is the underlying color.

Divide

Divides underlying color by source color. If the source color is white, the result color is the underlying color. Result color values can be greater than 1.0 in 32-bpc projects.

Saturation

Result color has luminosity and hue of the underlying color, and the saturation of the source color.

Hue

Result color has luminosity and saturation of the underlying color, and the hue of the source color.

Color

Result color has luminosity of the underlying color, and hue and saturation of the source color. This blend mode preserves the gray levels in the underlying color. This blend mode is useful for coloring grayscale images and for tinting color images.

Luminosity

Result color has hue and saturation of the underlying color, and luminosity of the source color. This mode is the opposite of the Color mode.

Note:

If you have two layers with an identical visual element that you want to align, place one layer on top of the other and set the blend mode of the top layer to Difference. Then, you can move one layer or the other until the pixels of the visual element that you want to line up are all black—meaning that the differences between the pixels are zero and therefore the elements are stacked exactly on top of one another.

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