This question comes in from Facebook user Scott W Leslie.; "I didn't know you could edit video in Photoshop." We'll Scott let me show you how that is done.

Yes you can edit video in Photoshop CC. Now I will state that the video editing tools aren't all that advanced, but still they are quite good and intuitive. What's more important here is the fact that Photoshop's tools are quite well suited to creating Cinemagraphs. For those wondering a Cinemagraph is a very short looping video, sort of a still image with motion. In this first of two articles I'll show you how to do the basic edits, import audio and color correct and grade your footage. In part two we'll create a Cinemagraph and discuss some of the additional tools you have in Photoshop CC to edit video. Now this tutorial will assume that you have a passing familiarity with Adobe Photoshop CC, especially the idea of using Layers and of course things like Curves and Levels etc al.

Let's start off with the main Photoshop window. If you notice there is a Timeline window at the bottom of the screen. It works much like the Layer Tab and can be minimized when not in use. To access the Timeline Window select it from the Window Menu as shown below. The Timeline Window will also automatically appear when you import a video.

Once you import the video you'll note the first difference between using Photoshop and say DaVinci Resolve or another editor. Photoshop places all media on the timeline, there is no separate media pool. While this allows for greater speed since the application isn't importing data, it does make editing and assembly of the footage somewhat harder as you cannot scrub through and set in and out points for the footage so you can place it on the timeline. One other thing you'll notice is that Photoshop will do is that it creates a new Layer Group for your footage. 

This is actually a very powerful tool as it allows you to do local adjustments and effects to that specific group while allowing for global adjustments using other layers based on their order in the Layer Window. Basically the Timeline Window is an adapted Layer Window giving you the basic tools such as transitions, cutting etc. The actual positions of the tracks is controlled by the Layer Window. Now please note that when you add additional footage you can add it to the current Video Group (or Layer) or create another layer for use. It's important to note that when creating new adjustment layer to edit and color correct globally you must create it outside of all the other groups you are going to correct. Local corrections are done within the Video Group Layer. 

As you can see above this allows for a lot of control over the footage and images. You can easily do things like Picture In Picture as well as a slew of other effects quickly and precisely using Photoshop CC. The biggest issue is of course the lack of a media drawer that will let you more readily set things on the timeline making the editing of larger projects (say anything longer than about ten minutes) a tedious chore. That said however, it is quite the powerful editor and quite quick and easy to use especially if you have little familiarity with video editing. This is why Photoshop CC is so well suited for the creation of Cinemagraphs which we will discuss in the next part. In the meantime watch the video below for a full walk through of the items we've discussed above as well as how to export and save your finished videos.


Finally if you have a question that you'd like answered about anything photographic please feel free to comment below or contact me via email or Twitter.