Back to Basics – Part 5E: Still Photos vs Video in Lightroom
Back to Basics – Part 5E: Still Photos vs Video in Lightroom
What Carries Over and What Doesn’t
If you’ve been following the Back to Basics series up to this point, you already have a solid understanding of how Lightroom works for still photographs. You’re familiar with the order of operations, how White Balance sets the foundation, how exposure and tone influence light, and how presence and detail tools can either enhance an image or quietly ruin it.
Then you try to edit a video.
Suddenly, many of the tools you rely on are missing. Sliders behave differently. Advanced features you depend on for still photos simply aren’t available. For many Oceanic Explorers, this is where frustration begins to creep in.
This part exists to prevent that frustration.
Part 5E isn’t about turning you into a professional video editor. Instead, it’s about helping you understand why Lightroom treats video differently, which skills transfer smoothly from still photography and which do not, and how to work within those boundaries to create natural, believable underwater footage.
Why Lightroom Feels the Same, but Behaves Differently
At first glance, video editing in Adobe Lightroom feels familiar. The interface closely resembles what you already know from photo editing. The Light, Color, and Effects panels are still there, presets appear ready to apply, and you can trim clips and export finished files just as you would expect.
Beneath the surface, however, Lightroom is doing something fundamentally different with video.
A still photo captures a single moment in time. Lightroom can analyze that image deeply, pixel by pixel, and apply localized or AI-based adjustments without concern for what comes before or after.
Video is motion across hundreds or thousands of frames. Every adjustment must remain consistent from frame to frame to ensure smooth playback and visual continuity. Because of this, Lightroom prioritizes stability, consistency, and predictable output. Many advanced tools designed for still photography simply do not translate well to moving footage.
This is a deliberate design choice. It keeps video workflows usable, stable, and fast, even when working with longer or more complex clips.
One Ecosystem, Three Very Different Roles
Lightroom is not a single application. It is an ecosystem, and each version plays a different role in video.
Lightroom Classic
Lightroom Classic continues to serve as the organizational backbone for many underwater photographers. While its strengths lie firmly in photo management, its video capabilities are intentionally limited.
Classic excels at importing footage, building catalogs, trimming clips, setting poster frames, and keeping video organized alongside still images from the same dive. It also allows basic global adjustments through Quick Develop and can export short, simple clips.
What Classic does not do is open video in the Develop module. There is no masking, no curves, no HSL adjustments, and no advanced AI tools applied directly to video. Classic treats video as a guest in a still-photography-focused environment.
This makes Lightroom Classic ideal for organizing and managing video files, but not for detailed video color correction or cinematic editing.
Lightroom (Cloud Desktop)
For many underwater photographers, this is the sweet spot.
Lightroom Cloud allows true video color correction using the same global adjustment panels used for still photos. You can adjust exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, white balance, vibrance, saturation, and basic effects. Presets and profiles can also be applied for consistency.
All of these adjustments are global. They affect the entire frame throughout the clip. There are no local masks or frame-specific corrections.
For underwater footage, this limitation is often beneficial. It encourages subtle, realistic corrections and helps preserve the scene's natural look.
Lightroom Mobile
Lightroom Mobile often gets overlooked, but it can be incredibly effective.
One major advantage of editing video on a phone or tablet right after a dive is that your memory of the reef’s colors is still fresh. Many underwater photographers find their most natural-looking video edits happen on mobile for exactly this reason.
The toolset closely mirrors Lightroom Cloud, with global adjustments that allow fast, intuitive edits. For quick turnaround, social sharing, or memory-driven color correction, Lightroom Mobile works extremely well.
The Lightroom name stays the same, but each version has a different set of responsibilities.
Skills That Carry Over from Still Editing
Here’s the good news.
Most of what you’ve learned so far in Part 5 still applies to video.
Exposure discipline carries over directly. If your still photos look better when exposure is controlled rather than pushed, the same holds true for video.
Highlight control becomes even more important. Sunballs, surface shimmer, and reflective sand can blow out quickly in motion.
Shadow recovery still matters, especially for wreck interiors, swim-throughs, and reef overhangs. Just be aware that pushing shadows too far in video can introduce visible noise faster than in still photos.
White balance remains critical, not for perfection, but for believability.
Vibrance restraint is essential. Video exaggerates color mistakes far more than still images.
A simple rule applies: if an adjustment makes your still photo look more realistic, it will likely improve your video as well.
Tools That Do Not Carry Over, and Why
This is where expectations need to be reset.
When editing video in Lightroom, AI masking is not available. There is no subject selection, no water mask, and no background separation. Point Color is unavailable. Channel curves cannot be accessed. AI Denoise does not apply. Local adjustments using brushes or gradients are not an option.
This is not Lightroom holding back features.
Video is processed as a continuous stream. Tools that analyze individual pixels or isolate subjects frame by frame would introduce flicker, inconsistency, and performance issues.
Lightroom prioritizes stability and reliability over complexity, which makes video editing faster and more predictable, even if it feels limited compared to still photography.
The Underwater Video Mindset Shift
Editing underwater video requires a different mindset.
With still photos, you often rescue a moment. With video, you shape an experience.
Subtlety beats drama. Motion hides fine detail but amplifies color mistakes. Over-editing becomes far more obvious when images move.
If the reef didn’t glow underwater, it shouldn’t glow in post-processing.
Too much warmth, oversaturation, crushed blacks, or overly cinematic looks often disconnect footage from the real dive experience. The goal is not to impress with effects, but to convey what it actually felt like to be there.
A Simple, Repeatable Underwater Video Workflow
Video editing in Lightroom works best when it stays simple.
Start by trimming your clip to remove dead time, fin kicks, sediment clouds, and camera shake.
Adjust exposure first. Small changes make a big difference.
Control highlights early, especially near the surface and sunballs.
Warm gradually, stopping sooner than you think you should.
Restore reds carefully. A little goes a long way underwater.
Then stop.
This workflow mirrors the order of operations from Parts 5A through 5D, just with fewer tools and more restraint.
Extracting Still Frames from Video
Extracting still frames from video can be useful.
These frames work well for documentation, reference, social sharing, or identifying subjects you missed in still photos.
They are not a replacement for RAW still images. Video frames have a lower dynamic range, greater compression, and far less post-processing flexibility.
A video frame is a compromise, not a substitute.
When Lightroom Is Enough, and When It Isn’t
Lightroom excels at fast, clean color correction for underwater video. It is not designed for advanced motion editing, audio work, stabilization, or cinematic grading.
Knowing when to stop in Lightroom is a skill, not a limitation.
Choosing another tool when needed does not mean Lightroom failed. It means you are editing with intention.
Common Underwater Video Mistakes
The same patterns appear repeatedly:
Over-warming deep clips, crushing blacks for contrast, oversaturating reds, ignoring output intent, and expecting still-photo tools to behave the same way on video.
These mistakes stem from a misunderstanding of Lightroom’s role in video editing.
How Part 5E Sets Up What Comes Next
The limitations of video editing highlight a key idea.
Tools matter less than judgment.
As we move into Part 5F, the focus shifts to intentional color control using HSL, Color Grading, and disciplined decision-making. The better your color judgment becomes, the less you fight the software.
Closing Thoughts
Lightroom handles video effectively because it has a clear focus.
Once you understand which skills transfer from still photography and which do not, video editing becomes calmer, faster, and far more enjoyable.
Editing is not about transformation. It is about translation.
And the better you understand the language, the less you need to overstate your edits.
Ready to go deeper?
In Back to Basics – Part 5F, we’ll move beyond White Balance and focus on intentional color control using HSL and Color Grading, the tools that separate guessing from confidence.
👉 Continue the series at info.robertherb.com/lm-2-blog
Written by Robert Herb
Empowering underwater photographers to capture and enhance the beauty of our oceans since 1978.
Stay tuned for more in-depth insights into underwater photography. Let us dive deeper into the art and craft of capturing the marine world. I would welcome any comments or suggestions.
Get ready for an exciting underwater photography adventure. For more details on my upcoming online training course, check out my Training page at RobertHerb.com or email me at bob@robertherb.com.
Sincerely,
Bob Herb
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