The new Magnetic Mask in Final Cut Pro 11 is a powerful tool to separate the foreground from background – without a green screen key – so you can alter the look of each layer independently. In this short video, Larry Jordan illustrates how to create a mask that includes multiple subjects.
There are two principal ways to create moves on stills for a video: the “Ken Burns Effect,” and keyframes. Both have benefits, both have weaknesses and both are used every day. Watch as Larry Jordan shows how to use each technique to create effective moves on a still image.
All three NLEs – Final Cut, Premiere and Resolve – provide AI-powered audio tools to remove background noise. DaVinci Resolve 20 provides tools in both the free and Studio versions. Here’s how they work.
All three NLEs – Final Cut, Premiere and Resolve – provide AI-powered audio tools to remove background noise. Here’s how to use Enhance Speech in Adobe Premiere Pro 2025.
All three NLEs – Final Cut, Premiere and Resolve – provide AI-powered audio tools to remove background noise. Final Cut Pro 11 offers three different options. Here’s how they work.
The Channel EQ effect (filter) replaces the Fat EQ effect in Final Cut Pro. You use this to shape your audio, warm voices and make them easier to understand. Here’s how this effect (filter) works for men and women.
All NLEs today can convert speech to text, then generate captions for video. However, following in the steps of CapCut, which popularized this feature, DaVinci Resolve now animates subtitles in a variety of ways. Here’s how this works.
The Magnetic Mask in Apple Final Cut Pro provides fascinating ways to separate foreground from background, then manipulate each separately. In this tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use the Magnetic Mask to isolate the foreground, change the background, adjust color and add text effects.
Slow motion is as much a trick of the eye and brain, as it is a trick of technology. Nothing in a video actually moves, it’s our brain that adds the movement. Here’s what you need to know to make your slomo look as good as it can.
Sometimes, in spite of our best efforts during production, something gets into the shot that we just don’t notice until it is too late. DaVinci Resolve has two effects that can quickly remove elements from a shot: Patch Replacer and Object Remover. Here’s a tutorial on how they work.
Recently, I contacted Blackmagic Design to learn which features in DaVinci Resolve 20 were powered by AI. Here’s what I learned, along with a video demo at the end of this article.
Far too often, you need to change color settings in the middle of a clip so that the colors change during playback. While you can simply dissolve between two clips, using keyframes gives you more control – allowing you to change settings multiple times during a clip. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create color keyframes and change settings to convert a clip from daylight to indoor lighting.
All recent versions of DaVinci Resolve provide an outstanding motion tracker. In this short video, Larry Jordan shows how to configure a Power Window (mask) for tracking, then, seconds later, apply a secondary color correction effect. The whole process takes less than a minute and can be used with any Power Window!
The free version of DaVinci Resolve 20 is amazing. But the Studio version will blow your mind! In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan showcases four color effects only available in the Studio version of Resolve that will alter your view of reality and leave your jaw on the floor!
The Color page in DaVinci Resolve 20 is jam-packed with features to adjust color. Because of this, the page is totally overwhelming. To overcome this, Larry Jordan shows how to use four automatic features in Resolve – Auto Color, Auto White Balance, Auto White Level, and Auto Black Level – to fix common color problems without requiring learning how the rest of the Color page works.
DaVinci Resolve is an industry-legend as color grading software. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to transfer projects from Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro into Resolve, then how to transfer them back.
Adobe Premiere Pro has two ways to change the amount of color in a video clip: Saturation and Vibrance. In this short video, Larry Jordan illustrates the difference between them and explains which one to use when you are adjusting color in a clip. Surprisingly, the choice is not obvious.
Adobe Premiere Pro has vastly improved matching colors between shots – especially when you use Comparison View. In this short video, Larry Jordan shows how to display Comparison View, how to match colors between shots, then how to make manual adjustment if needed after the match.
One the harder color effects to create in Adobe Premiere Pro is a color change in the middle of a clip. But, it can be done! In this short video, Larry Jordan shows how this feature works, as well as how to color match different sections of the same clip.
Generative AI is commanding all the fear and attention in media today. But, there are a wealth of AI-assisted tools in Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve that are enabling editors to do more, rather than replacing them en masse. In this presentation to the Los Angeles Creative Pro User Group, Larry Jordan highlights nearly two dozen AI-assisted tools across all three of these applications.
Comparison view quickly allows comparing the look of any timeline clip to the clips preceding and following it. Even better, it supports building a collection of “looks” you can use to compare any timeline clip to up to 30 timeline images. Larry Jordan shows how this feature works.
All the hype surrounding AI presents software developers making tools for creatives with a dilemma. How do they find the right balance between creating features that improve their tools versus replacing the editor?
One of the tasks editors are increasingly asked to do today is convert a horizontal timeline to vertical to post to social media. Premiere makes this process easy using Auto Reframe. Here’s how this works.
One of the tasks editors are increasingly asked to do today is convert a horizontal timeline to vertical to post to social media. Apple Final Cut makes it easy using Smart Conform. Here’s how.
I spent this last week immersed in editing in DaVinci Resolve Studio 19. Here’s how it compares to Final Cut and Premiere, along with features that drive me nuts.
Larry Jordan and Arie Stavchancky discuss how Dataclay tools connect databases with After Effects to automatically create customized versions of the same A.E. comp. Think of it as “mail merge for After Effects.”
At the recent the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas, I sat down with Blackmagic’s audio gurus to learn more about the Fairlight page. What I learned made a big difference in the sound of my projects. Here are three secrets that I’m now using in every project.
I want to add watermarks to the videos I edit in DaVinci Resolve – but I couldn’t find a “watermark” option. Then, I discovered “Data Burn-in.” Here’s how it works, how to create presets and where to use them.
Apple released the latest version of Final Cut Pro (11.1) last week, with several helpful new features Here are the details on what they are and how they work.
(Even if you don’t read the tutorial, watch the movie at the end.) Here’s how to create an animated flashlight beam that changes shape as you move it around an image, using Apple Motion.
Aiarty Image Matting is an AI-powered image background remover for natural blending with new backgrounds. It excels at matting complex images with hair, fur, semi-transparency, indistinct edges, or low light. Here’s Larry Jordan’s review.
Richard needs to change the size of his images, but is worried about them getting blurry. In this tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to safely scale images in both Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, without losing image quality.
Alain asked how to create an animated flashlight beam in Apple Motion. So I showed him; afterward I realized I was wrong. Here’s both what I showed Alain, then an even better way to create a flashlight effect.
This video showcases how to improve a gray, washed-out image using the color wheels in Final Cut, as well as applying different LUTs.
There are two principle ways to create titles in Premiere: Manually or using After Effects templates. Let’s take a look at both in this illustrated tutorial.
Last week, I demoed how to create a magnetic mask to remove a background. Later, I exported a still frame from FCP to promote the webinar. At which point, the weirdness started. Still frame exports don’t come close to matching Final Cut. Here are the details. NOTE: Fixed in FCP 11.1.1.
Editing may tell stories, but visual effects make those stories eye-catching. In this short video, Larry Jordan what visual generators are in Final Cut, how to modify them and ways to use them.
Twelve years ago I wrote a detailed article on how to use blend modes in Final Cut Pro. But there is more we can do now and, in this tutorial, I want to showcase four different ways to use blend …
Apple changed how adjustment layers for Final Cut are created in Motion with FCP 11. An adjustment layer in Final Cut Pro is a special clip to which you can apply effects that affect all layers or clips below it. The only problem is that it doesn’t exist. Here’s how to create it.
The Ken Burns effect provides automated image animation and it works for both horizontal and vertical projects. But there are several cases where keyframes work better. Larry Jordan illustrates both in this short video.
Drop zones are areas in a Final Cut Pro effect into which you can insert an image or video. But, there’s a key “gotcha” that you need to know to use them effectively. Larry Jordan explains.
Feathering converts a hard edge to a soft fade. Feathering an image out is easy. Feathering an image in, though, is much harder. Here’s what you need to know, as Larry Jordan explains.
There are four menu options to scale images in Premiere Pro. One is a really bad choice, while two aren’t bad. But one is clearly the best choice when you also want to animate image scaling. Larry Jordan explains.
Here’s a very fast technique that can reduce (or emphasize) wrinkles in an actor’s face – without resorting to plug-ins. Watch as Larry Jordan illustrates how this adjustment works – improving how an actor looks instantly!
The new Magnetic Mask is nothing short of amazing. Whether you want to remove a background, improve a color grade, or apply an effect to only a portion of the clip, the Magnetic mask is your new tool of choice. This video shows how it works.
Here’s an illustrated, step-by-step tutorial to Apple’s Magnetic Mask, new with Final Cut Pro 11. This can create amazing results quickly – once you know how it works.
Recently, FxFactory updated their flagship product, FxFactory Pro, to version 6. To learn more about this update, I emailed Niclas Bahn, head of Business Development at FxFactory.
Today, Apple updated Final Cut Pro – Mac to version 11, along with updates to Final Cut Camera, Final Cut Pro – iPad and Logic. Here are the details and more links.
One of the highlight features in the latest version of Adobe Premiere Pro is the Properties panel. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how it works.
In this interview, Larry and Costa discuss how the Telos Alliance got its name, its view of the marketplace and why their tagline is “Love what you hear” and how they make audio better.
