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Getting started with editing software for charities
09 Jul 2020by Christine Chiu
New to content? We have a beginner’s guide to editing software to help you create great content
Creating great content isn’t just for digital whizzes. We’re all creators now and using video and imagery can motivate digital fundraising efforts, so it is important to make sure content is sharp where possible. With editing software, charity digital professionals can create Instagram worthy photos and professional videos.
Starting with a few digital concepts, we showcase some of the most popular editing software tools available for users of all levels.
What are the key digital elements in photos and videos?
Starting with the basics, digital photos and videos have key elements which for the most part, are editable. Understanding pixels, size, sound, and picture quality impacts the extent to which photos and videos can be edited.
Pixels, in both videos and images, determine the quality and sharpness of the visual. Roughly, a pixel is a very small area of the screen, perhaps the size of a pinprick, which displays colour. Take lots of pixels together, and an image is formed. The resolution of the screen, video or photo tells you how detailed the picture is. At a low resolution and large size, pictures and videos will appear blurry and ‘pixelated’.
Digital sound works in a similar way. The term ‘high-res audio’ is a measure of how good the sound quality is by both the sampling rate and bit depth. Digital Trends online magazine explains that the sampling rate is the number of times sound is capture digitally per second, while the bit depth is the number of bits of information taken per second. Both measures need to be high to have high quality sound.
What elements are editable in photos?
Photos can be relatively easy to edit, particularly as many charity digital staff are already familiar with basic editing features for email marketing and other communications.
When selecting photos, remember that the resolution is important. The raw, unaltered content may ultimately be the deciding factor of how you use a photo because the resolution is very difficult to improve. Realistically, making the image smaller might work, but blowing up the size will dilute the quality of the image.
Basic photo editing software can then help with exposure, colour, contrast, sharpening, and for more experienced editors, layering. Editing software can fix problems of over-exposure, enhance colour, sharpen silhouettes, and add special effects like focus, blurred background, or filters. For more complex images, layers can also be edited – software can change a single layer of a multi-layered image.
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What elements can be enhanced in videos?
More complex than editing photos, videos can be enhanced in a similar way to photos. Basic editing software tools enable charities to edit videos from 360 degrees, add layers or templates, stabilise movements and enhance colours. In addition to the visual elements, audio can also be dropped in. Popular soundtracks, recorded audio, voice over, and subtitles can be added even with basic editing software.
For more advanced charity digital creators, editing software can create a new timeline in your video, add ‘time’ effects, fading, animation, and montages. Many editing software features also include options to export the finished project into shareable formats fit for YouTube, Facebook and other social media. For charities digitising communications, the ability to convert video content automatically is a time saver.
Round-up of the best photo and video editing software
With the basics of what you can do covered, editing software comes in all shapes and sizes for charity digital leaders. Our round-up includes:
- Adobe Photoshop – Known to old-school designers and photo editors, Charity Digital Exchange offers both Photoshop Elements 2020 and Premiere Elements 2020 so photos and videos can be edited. Suitable for basic users, the editing software can crop, retouch, manually adjust colour and lighting for photos. For videos, basic editing is available including cropping, copying and pasting clips, sound additions, and footage editing.
- Autodesk – For charities looking at simulations, freeform, solid, parametric or mesh modelling, Autodesk Fusion 360 can facilitate design videos. For charity digital leaders, Autodesk Fusion 360 is available through the Charity Digital Exchange and includes a 1-year subscription.
- Affinity Photo – For more sophisticated photo editors, Affinity Photo is tailored for Mac computer users. Tapping into the retouching market, Affinity Photo includes features like smooth and retouching skin, blemish removal tools, sculpting features, and a painting tool brush to remove unwanted objects.
- VideoStudio Ultimate – Packaged with built-in creative video features, the VideoStudio Ultimate includes 360° degree video editing, animations, zoom views, and can incorporate multiple camera inputs. The software is free for 30-days.
- Filmora9 – Less sophisticated than VideoStudio, Filmora9 is a good option for simple editing jobs. Users can easily correct video problems like fisheye and shaky camera movements. Advantageous for social media communications, the software can easily convert raw formats into useful media for platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
- Sparkol- Sparkol is great for creating content for presentations, storytelling and educating. Under the Sparkol umbrella there’s VideoScribe and StoryPix.
Christine Chiu
Christine Chiu
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