Creating Videos in ZPS X: Part 1

In this two-part article, I’ll be showing you several ways to use the video editor in Zoner Photo Studio for your video projects. You’ll find this editor in ZPS X in the Create module. In this first part, I’ll be using an example to show you how to put together a good-looking video from your travels and add interesting effects to it.

Before you start adding content to your video project, make sure its basic settings are what you want. Check the resolution and frames per second (FPS) and change them if needed. Because once you’ve added some content, the FPS will be unchangeable. For the example here I’ll be using the default FullHD 1080p resolution and 25 FPS. To learn about video settings and more, check out our article on how to turn your photos into an HD video.

As your next step, pick and add just the right music for your video. It should fit the video’s atmosphere, and so this choice is a very important one you should make right at the start. Try a musical piece that’s typical for the place you’re showing off, or maybe an “anthem” you and your friends were listening to again and again on the trip.

Creating Videos in ZPS X - sound — Add music to your video.

To add music files, drag them from the Filmstrip at the bottom into the Audio Track. Or click three dots next to the words “Audio track” and use Add Audio File….

Watch out for Aspect Ratios

Often the various photos and videos that you want to put into your video will have differing aspect ratios. In our example here the videos are in FullHD resolution (1920x1080px) and thus have an aspect ratio of 16:9. Photos normally get taken with a ratio of 4:3. So with a 16:9 ratio for the video overall, the videos added to the project will sit perfectly in the frame, but the photos will not—by default, the background color (or any video that’s playing) will be shown around their sides.

The difference between the Fit and Fill modes.

For each picture you add, ZPS X offers two settings here for how it will handle this:

The photo will be cropped, but it will take up the whole frame—the Fill Frame mode.
The photo will fill up the frame vertically or horizontally (whichever shrinks it the least), and the background color or video track will be visible everywhere else—the Fit Frame mode.

Which mode you decide for is up to you. I personally prefer Fill Frame mode, because it makes the final video feel more “unified” overall. This is the default mode. But if your photos end up getting cropped in a way that you don’t like, now you know how to fix that.

In the following paragraphs, I’ll show you three simple ways to liven up the photos you’ve added and turn the experiences you’ve recorded into a creative video.

Use Pan&Zoom

Use the Pan&Zoom effect to keep the photos in your video from feeling static and out-of-place. You can also use this effect to spice up a time-lapse video. Just mark the photo (or the time-lapse) and use one of the Pan&Zoom options in the Side Panel on the right. Pan&Zoom is in the Effects section. Use the Strength setting to set this effect’s strength. I’d recommend a value towards the middle rather than the extremes (0% or 100%).

Creating Videos in ZPS X - pan and zoom — You can use the Pan&Zoom effect to spice up your content in several different ways.

Use Photos as a Foundation for Video Titles

Another way to integrate photos into your video is to use them to support any titles you’ve added. For example: you’re creating a video of your vacation, and you’ve visited an interesting spot that you’d like to show off and introduce by name with a title.

Here are the steps:

Create two video tracks.
In the top track, add text that describes the place you’ll be showing off in the next part of the video.
In the bottom track, add a photo and apply the Pan&Zoom effect to it.

An example of text over a photo that introduces a video’s upcoming scene.

Adding a “Shutter Snap” to a Video

Here you’ll learn how to use simple transitions and add a “shutter snap” sound effect. This can really add life to your video.

Here are the steps:

Add several photos in a row to your video and give them the display lengths you want. A length of about one second is usually ideal. You don’t want it to be too long. Your audience could get tired of that.
Now choose a transition effect between the pictures. Click Add Transition Effect in the Side Panel and choose an effect. Then drag that effect and drop it between two photo items on the timeline. These two photo clips have to tie into each other within a single track; otherwise you won’t be able to add the transition effect. In this example I’ll be using Dip to white (the ideal length here is three picture-lengths, so assuming you’ve gone with one second, set a length of 0:00:00:03).
Now add a shutter-snap sound to the soundtrack. I’ve included a download link for that sound below.

Creating Videos in ZPS X - shutter effect — How the project’s timeline looks with the shutter-snap effect.

The final result might look like this:

The final video with the shutter snap effect.

The sky’s the limit. Got some creative ideas of your own on how to nicely combine photos and video? We’ll be glad if you share them with us and the rest of our readers in the comments below this article.