How to Stabilize Footage Without Using Premiere's Warp Stabilizer

After getting into the video world, you quickly realize that being able to stabilize your footage when needed can make a significant impact on the result and quality of your video. While you can buy an expensive gimbal or rely on a not always so practical Steadicam, there is also the possibility of improving the stabilization in post-production. The tools included in most video editing apps aren’t exactly perfect as it will give you a weird effect and make you feel sick. What if I told you there is another way that works better than the warp stabilizer VFX filter and gives your footage a cool effect?

In the tutorial above, Matti Haapoja from Travel Feels shows you how you can rely on Adobe After Effect to stabilize your footage. But don’t close your browser just yet because you don’t know how to use this compositing app. Haapoja made a straightforward and comprehensive tutorial that is easy to understand, even for people that have never opened it before.

The technique is based on object tracking. Basically, you’ll make After Effect track a part of your subject – his eye like in the example above – and then the camera will move accordingly. While it won’t make your footage smooth like a gimbal, it will make the movement part of the video and add more depth to it.

[via TravelFeels]