Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the most powerful and versatile video editing apps on the market today. And if you're a video editor, knowing how to sharpen a video in Premiere Pro is a key skill.
Let’s face it: we’ve all found ourselves working with footage that isn’t as crisp as we might like. Perhaps the conditions at the shoot weren’t optimal. Or maybe, you caught video in the moment with your phone, or even an older camera.
While not every clip is fixable, you might be amazed by how much you can do for your footage. Let's learn how to fix blurry video in Premiere Pro in this tutorial.
How to fix blurry video in Premiere Pro step by step
Learning how to sharpen video in Premiere Pro is very easy. When you master this skill, you’ll be able to use more of the footage that you capture. And you’ll even be able to create cool effects using those same settings.
This works with default Premiere Pro features, so you won’t need any add-ons or external apps to do it. And remember: even perfectly sharp clips can benefit from these edits. They’re a good way to add a unique aesthetic to footage that isn’t actually blurred.
We’ll explore these effects using a premium stock video clip from Envato. The millions of clips available right now on the Envato library are the perfect companions for all of your Premiere Pro video projects.
Let's go ahead and learn how to fix a blurry video!
1. Select your footage
To learn how to sharpen a video, begin by opening the clip. Now, get familiar with the key menus and features that we’ll be using to remove the blurred effect in Premiere Pro.
In the lower center of your screen is the Timeline menu. There, you’ll see the video clip, which looks like a light purple bar. This controls where your clip fits into your overall project; where it stops, starts, and more.
We'll now jump to the part where we learn how to fix a blurry video. Click into it on the Timeline and press the Up arrow. This moves the playhead to the first frame in the clip.
Above the timeline is the Program Monitor. This one is easy to spot, because it’s where you’ll see the video preview. Any edits and changes that you make will appear there in real time, and thus in the finished clip.
2. Open Effect Controls
Now, you’ll want to open two critical panels. The first is Effects.
What the Effects panel does is let you add an array of different effects, animations, and styles to a video clip.
Second, you’ll want to launch the Effect Controls panel. This can be done by going to Window > Effect Controls. Think of Effect Controls as the nerve center of edits that you make to effects in Premiere Pro.
You’ll add an effect from the Effects menu. And you’ll manipulate it using the Effect Controls. This menu shows on the left side of the Program Monitor with your video preview inside.
If you play through the video, you can see that it’s a night capture of a city street in a rainstorm. Of course, these are extremely challenging conditions, even for the best cameras! So let's go sharpen the video and remove the blurred effect in Premiere Pro.
3. Use the Unsharp Mask
With the clip still selected in the timeline, navigate to the Effects panel on the right side of your screen. You’ll see several folders listed there. These contain a vast array of effects that you can add and edit to your clips.
Here, go ahead and click on the Video Effects dropdown. Then, from the list of options, find the last one listed: Unsharp Mask.
This is the ultimate way to sharpen a video in Premiere Pro. It’s a powerful and useful effect if you're learning how to unblur a video. Now, go ahead and add it to the clip that you want to sharpen.
To do that, click and drag on the effect, Unsharp Mask. With it selected, move your cursor over the video clip in the Timeline. Drop the effect into place, and it will automatically apply to the clip.
What you'll see is that Unsharp Mask appears as a listed effect on the left side of your screen. It’s now listed in the Effect Controls panel.
Remember how I said this is the nerve center for edits? Go ahead and move to Effect Controls, and let’s get to work in the next step.
4. Modify the Effect Controls
Under Unsharp Mask in the Effect Controls menu, you’ll see three items listed. They’re labeled Amount, Radius, and Threshold. Each one forms an integral part of how to fix blurry video in Premiere Pro.
What you’re really doing when you "sharpen a video" is increasing the contrast between the individual pixels in the clip. In blurry footage, pixels tend to merge together.
In other words, one pixel tends to blend in with other pixels. Of course, on an individual level this is completely invisible. But spread this effect across an entire video frame, and you’re left with a blurry scene.
The Unsharp Mask works to increase the contrast between pixels. Again, individually you won’t notice this. Yet, on a full video frame, you’ll see blurry images get much sharper. In essence, that’s because each pixel is crisper.
The three Unsharp Mask effects do the following:
- Amount. Setting this higher increases the level of contrast between each pixel. It’s the core edit responsible for most of the work when you sharpen a video in Premiere Pro.
- Radius. This controls the size of each individual pixel. It should be used sparingly, since even a tiny change can wildly distort the look and feel of your video. But it’s useful if you’re trying to salvage extremely blurry or hazy footage.
- Threshold. Think of this one as controlling the power of the other effects. It specifies the level of change happening in and between pixels in your video.
Leveraging these three controls is the key to learning how to unblur a video in Premiere Pro. The Amount slider is your main workspace here. For example, in this video, let’s set the amount to 200, from the default value of 50.
When you do, watch what happens to the video in the Program Monitor. It gets noticeably crisper and less blurry. But it’s also not artificial, nor does it appear distorted.
A slight change to the radius, up to 1.1, unlocks even more details. However, notice that if you go to a higher value, the video takes on a wild, almost watercolor look. While it can be a fun effect in some cases, it’s best to avoid a high Radius value when you sharpen a video.
Finally, you can adjust the Threshold. In many cases, it’s not necessary. But it can preserve a bit of stylistic blur while retaining the higher level of detail.
Remember the key idea: focus on the Amount first, and adjust the Radius if you need to go farther with pixel edits. And don’t hesitate to try out higher and lower values. You can use the Program Monitor to preview your finished edits in real time.
Just like that, you now know how to fix a blurry video in Premiere Pro! The amazing Unsharp Mask effect is a fast and easy way to sharpen video footage.
Explore More Resources for Premiere Pro
You just learned how to unblur videos in Premiere Pro. It's an important technique to help you use more of your footage.
And if what you recorded isn't just enough, explore the Envato offer! For a monthly fee, download millions of digital assets like Premiere Pro video templates, stock videos, music, and more.
We also have a huge library of tutorials that can help you level up your Premiere knowledge. Add to your new skills of how to sharpen a video with more tutorials below:
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