After returning from a trip, you have a lot of photos, some shaky video clips, and one really good sunset video clip. It’s a natural desire to use it all. The shorter the story the better, such as a walk to a viewpoint, a morning in a market.
Use video enhancement to enhance existing clips. It does not convert photos into video nor does it create new scenes. Here’s how to select your material, determine what you want to improve, and create a travel story that is sincere about the location.
Choose a story and select your material
Begin with a basic sequence. Imagine you are in a seaside town and get on the train, and then you go down the main street and take a seat at a point overlooking the sea. This is a hypothetical example to illustrate the shape and not an actual trip.
Limit the number of locations. A tale about one town or one trail keeps it together and one that goes across a whole trip loses people.
For a short video, typically 3-4 clips and pictures are sufficient. More than that and you’re putting the people through your entire camera roll.
Review your footage and select what will make the sequence: an arrival shot, a handful of shots of the street, one wide shot. Select photographs and clips to illustrate the area and to keep the discussion going. Drop near-duplicates, shots blocked by an object or shots that are out of place.
Clips can be accompanied by photos in the final video. In a separate editor you can hold a still on the timeline for a few seconds without any AI animation. The combination of both is okay if they both display the actual location.
Mix up the shot sizes. A broad shot, a medium shot and a close-up that shows a doorway, or a plate of food, helps prevent monotony.
Decide which clips need enhancement
View each piece at full size and select the ones that should be processed. Phone clips are good if they are usable, but soft and grainy, or compressed, such as a street at dusk or through a window.
Examine the quality of the file as well. You may have been saving a video in a messaging app and it may have lost a bit of detail; if you can, use the original video from your phone.
Additionally, light plays a role in deciding. Golden hour clips will typically have lots of contrast and noise-rich clips will typically be taken in a dim café.
There are some issues that will not be solved by enhancement: camera shake, not focused, or a clip that does not fit your story. A stronger clip is usually a better choice. If you have three angles of the viewpoint, then use the most regular one rather than “save” the worst one. Evaluate each clip based on the content.
It’s easy to hang on to a clip when the moment was important to you. Fair but a viewer who was not “there” only sees the picture.
Improve selected footage using Vmake
Pick a clip you recorded yourself and open Vmake. In the Video Enhancer, upload it, choose one of the enhancement options in the interface and start processing. Check the result when it finishes.
This is where you can improve video quality on a clip that’s close to good. Look at what matters in travel footage: texture on buildings and paths, the sky, distant details and signs.
Figure 1: The source travel clip in the Vmake interface.
The improved travel clip displays significantly better definition in the coastal buildings, railway tracks and landscape. The sea and sky look clearer and more defined, while the grain and softness are minimized. The improvement does not alter the location or composition, and provides the benefit of improving the separation of architectural details and distant scenery. Enhancement, however, cannot compensate for camera shake, out-of-focus images, or information that has been lost in the original recording.
Figure 2: The enhanced result for the same clip.
Process for a few seconds initially. Just a short length of the street clip will show you how the tool performs with signs and brickwork before you run the longer clip. Consider the result as a single test. Other clips will react differently in the light, distance and compression.
Give your files meaningful names, such as market_original, market_enhanced. It helps to avoid confusion if you do the editing at a later date.
Keep the destination believable
Compare buildings, sign and landscape texture and colour on matching frames before and after, and play both. Are the signs still the same? Are stone, water and leaves the same thing? Is there anything that seems too smooth like plastic?
Use memory to compare colors; compare colors with other pictures taken at the same location. If the water was grey that morning, a bright turquoise colour is a reminder to return to the original water.
People can change, too. Be sure that faces in the background do not appear warped or peculiar as these can be overlooked.
However, the good result should still reflect the location honestly. A street that looks nicer than it is can let somebody down who goes there based on your video. If a change in sky colour or wall texture is noticeable, select another setting or original. Do not do this if you want to create new scenes or if you want to animate photos. Enhancing footage is just enhancing what you have recorded.
Assemble and share your travel story
Put pictures and clips in a readable sequence in a separate editor and open with the strongest, clearest shot. Include location captions, and correct spelling of place names. Allow the speed to match the story and provide the viewpoint for a few seconds. Also include some normal footage after a while, such as people walking or a quiet corner – this will make the viewer feel the time and place. Choose the aspect ratio based on the channel where you will post, since the shape will vary depending on the channel. But don’t expect a specific number of reaches or engagements.
Conclusion
Move on to one short travel story. Choose suitable material, enhance it where it will be useful and ensure it reflects the location accurately, share it.
