How do I rotate and crop a video like a photo?

[Kartick Vaddadi]

I'm experienced at photo editing, and new to video editing.

I'm trying to edit this video, where the road is at an angle:

 

I want it to be straight like this:

When I rotate the video in Premiere Elements, I get black corners:

Obviously, I don't want those.

I know I can zoom in the video to fill the canvas, but I instead want to crop and reduce the canvas size.  For example, there might be too much stuff above the road which I want to crop out. I want to do this visually, by dragging a crop rectangle, rather than choosing an aspect ratio. I don't know what aspect ratio I want. I want to try it out visually and make a decision based on esthetics rather than numbers like 2.39:1. How do I do that?

This is similar to how in Lightroom, I rotate and crop a photo based on what looks good. When I export it, the exported photo has a lower width and height in pixels. How do I do this for a video in Premiere Elements?

[Steve Grisetti]

Editing video is a little different than editing photos. When you edit photos, you're editing the photo itself. When you crop it or rotate it, you're rotating the actual file. When you edit video, you're placing the video within a project and rotating and cropping it within a project. In other words, cropping and rotating video only changes it within the project's timeline, as you're seeing. You can't reduce a video's "canvas size".

As you've discovered, you can resize the video to fill the frame. Or you can create a new project at a certain size or shape and fit the video within that video frame. But you can't resize the video project by resizing the video you put into it.

[Peru Bob]

This is similar to how in Lightroom, I rotate and crop a photo based on what looks good. When I export it, the exported photo has a lower width and height in pixels. How do I do this for a video in Premiere Elements?

By @Kartick Vaddadi

What are the pixel dimensions of the photo?

What are the pixel dimensions of the project?

What are the pixel dimensions of the device where you want to view the exported video?

You may not be able to do what you want to do in Premiere Elements.

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Thanks, Peru Bob. The input video has a dimensions of 4032 x 2056.

The dimensions of the exported video should be based on whatever pixels remain after cropping. It need not be a standard resolution like 1080p or UHD. Don't worry about device compatibility — it's compatible. I have in the past created videos with non-standard resolutions like 1848x1440,  2560x1306 and 1280x652  and it's compatible. It works on Youtube, works locally on Mac and Windows, and people I send them to are able to play them without difficulty.

If what I want is not possible in Premiere Elements, is it possible in Premiere Pro? Thanks again.

[Peru Bob]

For Premiere Elements, see here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-5JaGciCYQ

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Thanks, Peru Bob. I wouldn't know what aspect ratio to enter while exporting, since I have to see the result and adjust the crop till it looks good. Further, I may want to crop more from the top than the bottom, which I don't think the export presets will handle.

Is what I'm looking for (updating the project settings based on a crop) possible in Premiere Pro? 

[Peru Bob]

 I wouldn't know what aspect ratio to enter while exporting, since I have to see the result and adjust the crop till it looks good.

By @Kartick Vaddadi

Physically measure the image on the monitor after you get what you want.  Then calculate the aspect ratio to export.

Is what I'm looking for (updating the project settings based on a crop) possible in Premiere Pro? 

By @Kartick Vaddadi

Indirectly, yes (see previous comment in this reply). 

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Does Premiere Elements or Premiere Pro have a ruler tool to measure?

[Peru Bob]

I use the free version of JRuler:

http://www.spadixbd.com/freetools/jruler.htm

[Kartick Vaddadi]

Is there no ruler in Premiere Elements / Pro?

A third-party ruler app isn't the best answer because it will measure screen resolution, not video resolution.

[Ann Bens]

I think you have a couple of things mixed up.

Premiere Elements/Pro is a video editor not a phote editor: big difference.

The project settings in Premiere Elements are fixed.

Premiere Pro does not work with project settings but rather with multiple sequences that can be set to any height and width.

These settings are fixed too but can manually be changed during editing.

You usually start off with a standard setting such as HD (1920x1080) or UHD (3840x2160) or a social media settings.

The way you set photo's/stills in Premiere Elements or Pro for that matter is to scale up or down (and rotate) the image within the video frame until it fits or how you want it to look. You do not adjust the videoframe itself. You adjust the image within the video frame.

I

If you want full resolution of the still you turn off Scale to Frame Size.

[Peru Bob]

it will measure screen resolution, not video resolution.

By @Kartick Vaddadi

A ratio is a ratio, no matter what the measurement system.

Measuring is just to find the aspect ratio.