How to Remove Haze and Make a Sharp Video with Premiere Elements

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Shooting videos outdoors puts a lot of challenges in front of a videographer, but the biggest challenge is to produce perfectly sharp images even in the worst weather conditions. Imagine how great it would be if you didn't have to worry about thick layers of fog in your landscape shots or smog if you are filming a scene on a street of a large city. Atmospheric factors such as these can ruin a perfectly captured shot, but luckily, video editing software can help you reduce haziness in your videos without reducing the picture quality.

In this article, we will show you how to apply 'Haze Removal' effect with Adobe's Premier Elements and create razor-sharp images that take the viewer's breath away.

How to Remove Haze and Make a Sharp Video in Premiere Elements

There are very few things in the cinematography world that are as frustrating as blurry and hazy videos because often there is nothing a cinematographer can do about it. Premiere Elements 15 offers a neat solution for haziness caused by atmospheric conditions in the form of the 'Haze Removal' effect. The process of applying this effect to your video is nearly the same in Quick View and Expert modes.

In order to use the 'Haze Removal' effect, you must first place the video you want to edit onto the timeline. If you are editing the video from the Quick View mode, click on the Effects tab and select the 'Video Effects' option, and if you are working in the Expert mode, click on the Effects tab and then select the 'Advanced Adjustments' feature. Regardless of the mode you are using, you will be able to see a panel that contains the effects like Channel Mixer, Image Control or Shadow Mixer, proceed to select the 'Haze Removal' effect, then drag it and drop it onto the video clip placed on the timeline.

Once you've added the effect to the video clip, the effect will be applied automatically because of the 'Auto Haze Removal' feature that calculates the amount of Haze Reduction that needs to be applied depending on the amount of haze in the video. However, if you are not pleased with the achieved results, you need to go to 'Applied Effects' panel and select the 'Haze Removal' effect.

Unchecking the 'Auto Haze Removal' checkbox will enable you to adjust 'Sensitivity' and 'Haze Reduction' sliders manually. Adjusting these sliders will improve the contrast value in your video and it will make the colors in your video appear more vivid. Setting the values for 'Sensitivity' and 'Haze Reduction' too high may cause the colors in your video to appear over-saturated, and for that reason, it is important to pay close attention to how the colors in the video behave when you are changing the values on the slider.

Once you've found the perfect 'Sensitivity' and 'Haze Reduction' ratio you will notice that your video is much sharper and more pleasant to watch. Save the changes you made and export your video.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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