Video Editor Recommendations for Photographer...

[svjobeth]

Hi everyone - apologies if there's a thread on this already. If there is, I overlooked it.

I'm a very experienced, former professional photographer. I've been published, represented by galleries, etc. I got my start in the darkroom with film back in the mid-70's and am now all digital. I know my way around Adobe products - Photoshop and Lightroom - pretty well.

My wife and I are cruising sailors and live on our sailboat full time. I'm flying a P4P+. My end goal is not necessarily commercial, but I want to produce quality, 'cinematic' videos for our sailing blog and (future) website. We also use GoPro cameras quite a bit.

Video editing is whole new ballgame for me. I have iMovie on my MacBook Pro and plan to start with that, unless I hear some better suggestions. For a 'full service' editor, I'm looking at going to either Lightworks or Final Cut Pro X once I'm more comfortable. I would stick with Adobe; however, the cloud subscription for Premier is more than I'm willing to spend.

Thanks in advance for any and all constructive input!

 

[Oso]

Hi everyone - apologies if there's a thread on this already. If there is, I overlooked it.

I'm a very experienced, former professional photographer. I've been published, represented by galleries, etc. I got my start in the darkroom with film back in the mid-70's and am now all digital. I know my way around Adobe products - Photoshop and Lightroom - pretty well.

My wife and I are cruising sailors and live on our sailboat full time. I'm flying a P4P+. My end goal is not necessarily commercial, but I want to produce quality, 'cinematic' videos for our sailing blog and (future) website. We also use GoPro cameras quite a bit.

Video editing is whole new ballgame for me. I have iMovie on my MacBook Pro and plan to start with that, unless I hear some better suggestions. For a 'full service' editor, I'm looking at going to either Lightworks or Final Cut Pro X once I'm more comfortable. I would stick with Adobe; however, the cloud subscription for Premier is more than I'm willing to spend.

Thanks in advance for any and all constructive input!

Check out these search results for a couple of hundred related posts with some terrific suggestions.

Also, msinger keeps a list of editors recommended here on the site.

 

[svjobeth]

Ah - think the word "photographer" threw off the search results...

Lots of info - thanks!

 

[ravedog]

Since your on a Mac I’d stick to Final Cut Pro x. And it’s not hard to grok it’s methodology if coming from iMovie.

 

[diverdave]

I am also a retried pro. Started in the field in the late 60's Been using Photoshop since v1. Shot video for about 7 years. I have used FinalCut express and it does great things but the learning curve is huge. You can't just figure it out on your own. I ended up taking an online course to figure it out. iMove is fairly sophisticated, you already have it, and it is a fairly simple learning curve. Look at a couple of online tutorials and you will be good.

I did get my 107 so that I can do commercial work. That also is complicated. I have a background in aerial photography and would have never passed the test without a class.

Best of luck.

 

[ravedog]

Final cut express is no longer made. Will not work on new hardware. The thing about FCE and pro and premiere and avid, the all use the exact same NLE methods in how to cut things together. It’s more or less a standard. iMovie and FCP X break from that but imho are much more logical once you get it

 

[svjobeth]

I am also a retried pro. Started in the field in the late 60's Been using Photoshop since v1. Shot video for about 7 years. I have used FinalCut express and it does great things but the learning curve is huge. You can't just figure it out on your own. I ended up taking an online course to figure it out. iMove is fairly sophisticated, you already have it, and it is a fairly simple learning curve. Look at a couple of online tutorials and you will be good.

I did get my 107 so that I can do commercial work. That also is complicated. I have a background in aerial photography and would have never passed the test without a class.

Best of luck.

Nice! I resisted Photoshop until I was forced to let the darkroom go - around '06 or so. I think PS was in version 5 or 6 by then. Ah well. The good old days. I miss the feel of heavyweight fiber paper in my hand, wet like suede, and fingers slick with Dektol...or Rodinal...and the stink of fix. Good times!

Thanks much for the input. That's a similar path I'm considering, starting with iMovie and then online courses and study manuals both for Final Cut Pro X and 107.

 

[Raptorman0909]

Another photog here and with years of experience using PS I went with Premiere Pro. I found the learning curve to not be bad at all and although PP is perhaps not the absolute best at some things I'd argue its about as good as it gets as a scene cutter. I'm not a huge fan of the fragmented approach Adobe has taken to get you to buy more of there suite but I can live pretty well with just PP. After Effects is good if you find effects work is something you do with some frequency and Audition is also good if you want to be more professional with audio, but if that's beyond your ambitions then PP by itself should suffice.

There are free alternatives such as the free version of Da Vinci Resolve and by many accounts it's actually quite good. They do make a really high end systems with custom keyboards and controls but that's more for the pro editors doing that full time with someone else's budget.


Brian

 

[African wildlife]

Svjobeth: We share some similarities in background (although I'm only 61 ), so I'm guessing I understand the standard you're aiming to achieve. We're also using a P4P+ - as a work tool. Although I'm a Windows user, my recommendation covers Mac users as well.

Look no further than BlackMagic's DaVinci Resolve 14. It was once just a leading professional colour correction package, but then changed to a full editing option over the past few years. The free version is amazing. The Studio version isn't too expensive, but I doubt you would bother. Like anything, it will take a few hours for you to get used to it. But there are plenty of helpful YouTube videos out there which are easy to follow. Here are a couple of links for a whole series of tutorials that I found useful:

DaVinci Resolve 12 and 12.5 Tutorials - YouTube

Sadly, we had to turn elsewhere (to Vegas Pro 15) because of a glitch between a Windows 10 update, our high-spec Dell laptop's two graphic cards, and DaVinci Resolve 14. And Adobe's pricing structure for leasing Premiere Pro is understandably losing them customers; it's sadly not the best option when value for money is considered.

Finally, here's a link for downloading the free version of DaVinci Resolve 14 (although it may differ depending upon location):
DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design

 

[Green Phantom]

i have to put Final Cup Pro X forward. I love this program.

Here are some videos i made.

Andy

 

[svjobeth]

Thanks everyone - I keep hearing good things about DaVinci Resolve - and I haven't given it too much consideration thus far - so I'll investigate that a bit further.

All good information - thanks!