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can i put a transparent photo on top of a video

I want to put make a picture transparent and place it on top of a video clip. Is that possible?

Mac Pro

Posted on Jun 29, 2021 12:10 PM

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Posted on Jun 30, 2021 11:55 AM

Here's an online help link that explains in step by step fashion how to use the Picture in Picture feature of iMovie to overlay a picture onto another clip and impart animation to it.


https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mova1aaa682b


And here is a screen shot of the fade handles that I was talking about:



-- Rich

7 replies

Jun 30, 2021 10:49 AM in response to lorraine182

O.K. Now I think I see what your friend is trying to do. Is this the effect that she wants? It is a transparent angel overlaid with Picture in Picture, and made to float in by setting keyframes at specific points in time.



The procedure that I described in my earlier post will create a transparent background for the photo, but won't make the photo subject itself transparent. To do that you would need to use the lasso selection tool in the Preview app to outline (select) the photo subject, then copy--paste it on the transparency screen. As I recall I then imported the transparency screen photo into iMovie, overlaid it onto the background clip with Picuture in Picture, and used the fade handles to make the overlaid photo subject itself transparent. (When you add a fade it makes the clip transparent for a period of time.) Then I exported it out and imported it back in and trimmed back the clip a bit so as to stop the fade before it became opaque again. I know this sounds a bit complicated and may take some experimenting and practice. The end effect was pretty good, though. The transparent angel floated in and became larger as it reached the foreground of the clip.


Post back if you have any questions.


-- Rich




Jun 29, 2021 1:31 PM in response to lorraine182

Yes, that is possible. Not exactly sure what effect you are trying to achieve. Could you post a screen shot of your photos and describe what you want to do?


Generally, you can use the Preview app on your Mac to create a transparency screen, and then copy and paste your photo into it. Then save and drag into your iMovie upper timeline aboe your video clip. Select it and overlay it with the Picture in Picture feature.


Here's a link to an previous post of mine that describes how to create a transparency screen. The post was showing how over lay an arrow onto the a transparency screen, but the same basic procedure would apply to a photo.


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251193354?page=1


-- Rich


-- Rich

Jun 30, 2021 6:42 AM in response to Rich839

Thank you so much! I don't have the pictures as my question was for a friend. She is making a video using nature photographs and videos. It's for a funeral and she wanted to make a fairly transparent picture of the lady float in and out appearing on the nature objects (tree, plants, river, etc.).


I will see if I can do this with your instructions. Thank you for your kindness.

can i put a transparent photo on top of a video

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