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Watch the tutorial
Step 1: Apply Warp Stabilizer to your shaky clip
Select the shaky clip on your timeline. Open the Effects panel, type Warp Stabilizer into the search box and drag Video Effects > Distort > Warp Stabilizer onto your clip.
Faster with BetterFX: skip the Effects panel. Press your BetterFX shortcut, type the first letters of Warp Stabilizer and press Enter to apply it to the selected clip. Get BetterFX
Step 2: Wait for the analysis
As soon as you apply the effect, Premiere Pro starts analyzing your footage. A blue bar appears over the Program Monitor with the text Analyzing in background (step 1 of 2), and in Effect Controls you can see the progress, for example the frame number it is working on. Let it finish both steps. You can keep working in the meantime, and you can press Cancel if you picked the wrong clip.
Step 3: Use Smooth Motion for a natural look
When the analysis is done, the shot is already steadier. Look at the Stabilization settings in Effect Controls. The default Result is Smooth Motion, with Smoothness at 50% and Method set to Subspace Warp. This keeps the camera movement but removes the jitter, which is ideal for walking shots, pans and drone footage. Raise Smoothness for a floatier result, or lower it to keep more of the original movement.
Step 4: Switch to No Motion for a locked-off shot
If you want the shot to look like it was filmed on a tripod, change Result to No Motion. Premiere Pro now tries to hold the frame completely still. The Smoothness slider is greyed out in this mode. The trade-off is that the picture has to move more to compensate, so you will see more cropping.
Step 5: Check the borders and scale
To fill the frame after stabilizing, Premiere Pro zooms in. Under Borders, Framing is set to Stabilize, Crop, Auto-scale, and the Auto-scale value tells you how much it has zoomed, for example around 117% in Smooth Motion and about 135% in No Motion. If the zoom looks too big, try a lower Smoothness or switch back to Smooth Motion. Then play the whole clip and compare it with the original by turning the effect off and on.
Tips
- Shoot a little wider. Stabilizing crops into the picture, so leave some room around your subject.
- Avoid heavy motion blur. Blurry frames from fast movement cannot be fixed by stabilizing.
- Keep Smooth Motion for moving shots. Use No Motion only when the camera is meant to stay still.
FAQ
Why does Warp Stabilizer zoom in on my video?
It needs to hide the moving edges of the frame, so it scales the clip up. The Auto-scale value shows how much. Lower smoothness means less zoom.
How long does the analysis take?
It depends on the length and resolution of your clip. It runs in the background, so you can keep editing while it finishes.
Can I stabilize a clip that is already cut?
Yes, apply it to any clip on the timeline. If the clip has speed changes, consider nesting it first so the stabilizer sees the final speed.
Want to apply effects like Warp Stabilizer faster? See our Premiere Pro plugins.
