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Watch the tutorial
Step 1: Create your text
Use the Type tool to add your title to the Program Monitor, then pick a bold font and a bright fill color in the Properties panel under Appearance. Orange, yellow, blue and pink all work well on a dark background. A clean black background makes the shine stand out most.
Step 2: Add Brightness & Contrast
Select the text clip on the timeline. In the Effects panel, search for brightness and find Brightness & Contrast under Video Effects > Color Correction. Drag it onto the text clip. You will use this effect to create the shine, but only inside a mask, so leave the values alone for the moment.
Faster with BetterFX: skip the Effects panel. Press your BetterFX shortcut, type the first letters of Brightness & Contrast and press Enter to apply it to the selected clip. Get BetterFX
Step 3: Draw a slanted mask over the text
In the toolbar, press and hold the mask tool and choose Pen Mask Tool. The same list also offers the Object Mask, Ellipse Mask and Rectangle Mask tools.
Click four points in the Program Monitor to draw a thin, slanted band across part of your text, then close the shape. The slant is what makes it look like a light streak. In Effect Controls the mask now sits under Brightness & Contrast, so the effect only applies inside the band.
Step 4: Soften the band and raise the brightness
Raise Mask Feather a lot so the edges of the band fade out softly, and use Mask Expansion to make the band a little wider. Then increase the Brightness value of the effect. The text inside the band now glows lighter than the rest, like a streak of light sliding over the letters. Tweak all three values until it looks right to your eye.
Step 5: Add a second mask for more shine
For a richer highlight, add another mask to the same effect. Draw a second band, either with the Pen Mask Tool again or by duplicating the first mask and moving it. Give it the same feather and expansion. Two streaks of different widths look more like real light than a single band.
To make the shine travel, click the stopwatch next to Path in the mask settings, then move the mask from one side of the text to the other over time.
Smoother with EaseFlow: select the keyframes and apply a real easing curve in one click, so the shine starts and ends gently. See EaseFlow
Step 6: Duplicate the text and add a glow
To finish the look, hold Alt (Option on a Mac) and drag the text clip up one track to duplicate it. On the copy, add a blur such as Gaussian Blur from Video Effects > Blur & Sharpen. The blurry copy sits behind the sharp text and creates a soft glow around the letters. You can also change the fill color of the blurred copy in the Color Picker to get a two-color gradient glow.
Tips
- Keep the background dark. Glows and shines look strongest on black or very dark footage.
- Use big, bold fonts. Thin letters do not have enough surface to show the shine.
- Do not overdo the brightness. If the shine blows out the letters, lower the Brightness value or widen the feather.
FAQ
How do I make text shine in Premiere Pro?
Add Brightness & Contrast to the text, draw a slanted feathered mask over it and increase Brightness. The masked streak looks like light across the letters.
How do I make the text glow?
Duplicate the text on a track above, add a blur like Gaussian Blur to one copy and place it behind the sharp text. The blur becomes the glow.
Can I animate the shine?
Yes. Keyframe the mask path so the band moves across the text, and ease the keyframes to make the movement feel natural. For a simpler text reveal, see our text fade guide.
Want a head start on glows? The free glow presets drop the look onto any clip. Get the free glow presets
