The crop tool basically just involves removing a section of the video by adjusting its frame. It is deceptively simple in that way, and many beginners are often unaware of how powerful it is.
Want to make the perfect video crop?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the perfect video crop will vary depending on the specific video and the desired outcome. However, there are a few general tips that can help you create a good crop:
- Consider the aspect ratio of your video. Most videos are either 16:9 or 4:3, so it’s important to crop your video to match the correct aspect ratio. If you crop your video to the wrong aspect ratio, it will look distorted.
- Focus on the subject of your video. When you’re cropping your video, make sure that the subject is the focal point. You can do this by centering the subject in the frame or by using the rule of thirds.
- Leave some negative space. Negative space is the empty space around the subject of your video. It can be used to create a sense of balance and to draw attention to the subject.
- Don’t crop too much. It’s important to be careful not to crop too much of your video. If you crop too much, you could lose important information or make your video look cluttered.
Here are some additional tips that you can follow:
- Use a video editing software. There are many different video editing software programs available, so you can choose one that fits your needs and budget.
- Experiment with different crops. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different crops until you find one that you like.
- Get feedback from others. Once you’ve cropped your video, ask others for feedback. They may be able to point out things that you missed.
By following these tips, you can create a good video crop that will improve the look and feel of your video. The fact of the matter is that there are actually numerous ways that you can improve your videos by cropping them. To start with, you can try the following:
Adjust the aspect ratio of the video
If you want to change the aspect ratio of your video and you were to just resize it, the video would look stretched or you’d have to place black bars on its sides to compensate. However if you crop the video based on the new aspect ratio, you won’t have either of those issues.
Essentially you can crop your video to reframe it and adjust the aspect ratio in the process. The only downside is that some parts of the video will have to be removed, but in most cases you’ll find that removing areas around the edges doesn’t affect the video that much.
Just make sure that you don’t crop out too much, or you may end up with a video that has a much lower resolution.
Improve the composition
Because the crop tool allows you to reframe your video, you can use it to improve the composition of the video as well. To do this you’ll want to carefully position the subject and other elements when you reframe the video.
One of the easiest ways to improve the composition when you crop your videos is by enabling the grid and using the rule of thirds. It will help you to balance out your composition, and place the subject off-center to the left or right to make them stand out more.
Remove any unnecessary distractions
In some videos you may want to use the crop tool to directly remove unnecessary distractions that are drawing focus away from the subject. By cropping them out of the video, it will be as if they were never there.
The one caveat of this option is that the element you want to remove needs to be isolated from the rest of the video – and preferably located near the frame. If it is then cropping it out should be fairly easy.
The best way to see how you can crop videos and improve them in the ways listed above is to give it a try. If you’d rather not launch your video editor (or don’t have one), you can crop video online instead. For example you may want to try the crop video web app.
Make no mistake these are just some of the ways that you can improve your videos by cropping them. If you want to really take advantage of being able to crop videos however, you should make it a point to record at a higher resolution so that you can crop your video more flexibly without having to worry about its quality.
