How to use adjustment layers in Premiere Pro

Does this sound familiar? You’ve painstakingly crafted the perfect edit — it cuts together smoothly, the audio is crisp, and the titles look awesome. Then, it’s time for color grading and effects. And so you sit there and edit, over and over again. It’s tough and dull. Luckily, there’s a better way!

Adding effects to your video is as simple as finding the one you want and dragging and dropping it into your clip. Adjustment layers can hold all of the visual effects you want to use in your video, allowing you to affect part or all of the sequence at the same time.

If you haven’t taken advantage of adjustment layers in Premiere Pro, you’ll want to add them to your workflow. And if you use them all the time, Motion Array has some tips to help you have even more control and flexibility over your edits.

Part 1: What’s an adjustment layer?

Adjustment layers are a great way of adding effects and color grading to large parts of your sequence. They can be found in your Project browser and added to the sequence like any other clip or media.

Since the adjustment layer is a ‘clip’ on its own, it can be moved, cut, turned off, or removed altogether in just a few clicks. If you’ve added an effect that you don’t like, you only need to delete it from the adjustment layer.

Adjustment layers in Premiere Pro are incredibly versatile, giving an editor more time to be creative. Using one can affect many clips underneath it or across an entire edit if you wish. Once you understand how to use them, you can quickly try things out without worrying about undoing it all later.

Part 2: How to add an adjustment layer to your timeline

Since adjustment layers can be used with such a wide range of visual effects, it would be impossible to show you everything. In this step-by-step guide, you’ll use an adjustment layer to create an aged film look across the project. Hopefully, it will inspire you to explore even more fun things you can do when you add an adjustment layer to Premiere Pro projects. You can create anything from clean, simple edits to funky demon-eye effects.

Step 1: Create a new adjustment layer

Before you can add your effects, you need to create the adjustment layer in Premiere Pro. You can create as many as you need for your project. Here’s how to do it. 

1. Go to File > New > Adjustment Layer. If it’s grayed out, make sure you’ve selected the Project browser and try again.
2. You can also click the New Item icon on the bottom right of the Project browser and select Adjustment Layer. The settings will automatically be the same as your sequence, so hit OK.
3. In the Project browser, right-click the new Adjustment Layer and select Rename.
4. Name your layer and hit Return.

Step 2: Add the adjustment layer to your sequence

As you’ll see, the adjustment layer sits in your Project browser alongside your other clips and assets. Let’s get it ready to work.

1. Select the Adjustment Layer in your Project browser.
2. Drag and drop it into position on your Timeline. Make sure it’s stacked above any clip you want to add effects to.
3. Drag out the ends of the Adjustment Layer to cover the whole area you want to apply the effects to.

Step 3: Add your color grade

It’s a good idea to do any color grading you want before you add effects to an adjustment layer in Premiere Pro. Color grading determines how the clip will look overall. So, let’s get that done.

1. Go to the Color workspace.
2. Open the Lumetri Color panel on the right-hand side with your Adjustment Layer highlighted.
3. Make your color Adjustments, remembering every clip below it on the timeline will have the same effect applied.

Step 4: Add your effects

The next step is to add your effects. The instructions below will give you the basics. Remember that adding adjustment layers in Premiere Pro allows you to manually create almost any effect you want and save it for the future. If you’re starting from scratch, you can play with any effects and settings you choose until you have the perfect look. Don’t forget you can apply audio effects in Premiere Pro, too.

If you’re using a pre-created Premiere Pro template effect, you’ll load it from the Effects menu and apply it. Either way, when you know the basics, feel free to experiment. You’re only limited by your imagination!

1. Search for your chosen effect on the right-hand side in the Effects workspace.
2. Drag and drop the effect onto the Adjustment Layer.
3. Adjust the settings in the Effects Control panel.
4. Add and adjust effects until you’re happy with your created look.

You can see how Motion Array made a vintage film grain effect doing exactly this in the video.

Part 3: Pro tips for a trouble-free editing workflow

As with all editing processes, occasionally things can go wrong or behave unexpectedly. Here’s a list of tips for keeping your adjustment layers in Premiere Pro organized and trouble-free.

Always name your adjustment layers

Giving your adjustment layers names will be a massive timesaver, especially if you’re experimenting with various looks! A well-organized project browser makes your editing more efficient, which should be the goal of every editor.

Color correct before you color grade

If you plan to add color grades to your adjustment layer, you must do all color corrections first. Remember, your adjustment layer will affect everything in the sequence, so your grade will look different from clip to clip. As with any editing workflow, you should correct your clips before adding the grade — effects come afterward. Keeping the right order will help you work smarter and minimize errors.

Get creative using keyframes

The adjustment layer has the same properties as a clip, so you can keyframe effects that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. You can use keyframed adjustment layers to create cool effects, too. Here are some classics to inspire you:

1. Use the Gaussian Blur effect and keyframe the Blur Amount settings. This is useful when you need to add titles to your footage.
2. Use the Lumetri Color Saturation controls to create a Wizard of Oz-style color change. You can fade between black and white, and full color.
3. Use the Leave Color effect to slowly fade your sequence to black and white, leaving just one color in the sequence. This works really well for music videos and event promos, especially if your scene has many different and bright colors.

Save your work as a preset

If you’ve put a lot of time and effort into creating a fantastic effect, you might want to use it again. Fortunately, Premiere Pro lets you save your adjustment layer effects as a preset. This will then show in your Effects panel.

1. Select the Adjustment Layer in the Sequence.
2. Select all the effects you want to include in your preset in the Effects Control panel.
3. Right-click and select Save Preset.
4. Name your preset and click Save.
5. You can now drag and drop the preset to any other clip or adjustment layer.

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Adjustment layers are fun to work with as they allow you to experiment with your growing visual effects skills in a user-friendly way. They can also save you time, both in how long it takes you to work with effects and through handy preset functions. 

If you’re starting to use adjustment layers in Premiere Pro, we hope this tutorial will help you improve your editing workflow. For those who use them all the time, try experimenting with keyframing to elevate your edits. We also have an excellent tutorial on adjustment layers in Final Cut Pro for Mac users!