Photo panning

[Steve Clodfelter]

There is software for the Mac called Photo to Movie for zooming and panning on still photos. Does anyone know if there is something similar for Windows XP?

Or is there a way to do that in Premiere 6.5?

Thanks.

[Jacob Walker]

I use Premiere 6.5 (or versions down to 5, I think) do this by right clicking on a video clip (or the still shot you want to zoom in on) in the timeline and go to video options, motion. It's pretty easy from there if your used to premiere, if not just experiment and you'll get the hang of it. Adobes site also has so tutorials. I Think.

[Jami Jokinen]

Premiere doesn't internally handle stills larger than video resolution. Zooming reduces picture quality quite rapidly.

On the PC side you have at least two options to use high resolution stills: StageTools Moving Picture (www.stagetools.com) and Canopus Imaginate (www.canopus.com).

Both of these have a standalone application and a Premiere plugin.

[Jacob Walker]

That is true premiere can not resize images to the correct size, but if you have a photo editing program such as Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, or Photoimpact (or lots of other programs) you can size the picture into the normal video resolution.

Also if your wanting high res you can just double the size (720x480) to 1440x960 or as high as you want. And premiere will not distort it.

[Paul Tauger]

Premiere doesn't internally handle stills larger than video resolution.

Sorry, but that's completely wrong. Premiere 6.5 (and 6.0) most definitely DOES handle stills larger than video resolution without reducing picture quality.

I use Premiere 6.5 (or versions down to 5, I think) do this by right clicking on a video clip (or the still shot you want to zoom in on) in the timeline and go to video options, motion.

Do not use the Motion tool, which does not work with the still's original resolution but, instead, uses only video resolution and will degrade images when zoomed.

Instead, use the Image Pan filter (Click on Video - Transform to find it). It accepts stills up to a maximum resolution of 4,000 by 4,000 pixels, permits zooming without ANY loss of resolution (up to the limits of the size of the still, i.e. a 4,000 x 4,000 pixel still can be zoomed by a factor of approximately 5 times before there will be any image degradation). Using the Image Pan filter, I can produce perfect "Ken Burns" style pans and zooms of still photographs.

To constrain the aspect ratio, i.e. keep the original proportions of the still, hold down the ALT key, while clicking on the sizing window.

I've found that, for the smoothest results, it is better to resize and imported stills to the Premiere's maximum resolution, i.e. the longest dimension of a rectangular still should be resized (in Photoshop or other image manipulation program) to 4,000 pixels. I also find that TIFF files work better than BMP files, and either works better than JPEG.

[Steve Clodfelter]

Thanks to all of you!

I love this forum!

[Imran Zaidi]

Isn't there a FAQ around here somewhere for which this excellent tidbit from Paul would be a great addition?

[Ken Tanaka]

Good question, Imran. We actually are working on an "FAQ" facility for many of the forums that will point toward various threads. This will be established as "Notices" posted at the top of forums. Look for it soon.

[Jami Jokinen]

<<<-- Originally posted by Paul Tauger : Sorry, but that's completely wrong. Premiere 6.5 (and 6.0) most definitely DOES handle stills larger than video resolution without reducing picture quality. -->>>

Isn't it funny how you think you know something but the next day you find out that actually you have only scratched the surface.

Thank you for this little but valuable piece of info. I had no idea that the Image Pan works in another way than the motion tool.

[David Hurdon]

I keep a shortcut to a notepad file on my desktop. When I come across something like Paul's excellent advice on using the image pan effect I open the file and paste it in. I've found it very convenient for URLs and content. I guess it's a FAQ-in-progress.

[Nathan Gifford]

Cinestream does pan & zoom too and its available for Macs. I'd be very surprised to find out that this feature was not incorporated on most of the better NLEs.

[Phil Reams]

I know it's been said in other threads, but I strongly feel like this needs repeating:

THIS FORUM ROCKS!

I have been struggling with Avid Xpress DV (via the plug-in) trying to do panning and zooming of stills for a couple of months now.

Avid is great, but the learning curve is like a 90-degree angle brick wall. (IMHO)

I was able to finish a project in two hours with Premier last night using the recommendations here.

Like another poster said: I thought I knew Premier pretty well, but I'm now finding out that I have just scratched the surface.

Just wanted to say "thanks" to everyone!

-Phil

I like to use After Effects for this.
I like to cut out principals and properties and scale them differently... not unlike the intro to 'Life of a Married Man'. You can add blur to only parts or effects to others. Fun stuff.

grin