How To Add Filter To Video For Free (Super Easy)

by Julian Canlas

Want a super quick and easy tutorial on how to add filters to your amazing videos for free?

A great filter can instantly change the whole vibe of your video and have it look like it’s been done by a professional. Whether for Instagram, YouTube or even LinkedIn, adding a filter to your video can make it visually stunning and look more engaging.

At VEED, we love to see content creators creatively using filters and effects for their videos, so we’re teaching you to do just that in a super quick and easy way!

You’ll learn:

  • How to add professionally color-graded filters to video for free with VEED’s easy-to-use video editor
  • Other cool things that you can do with your filters
  • Some tips on how to add filters to your videos

This is going to be fun. Let’s go!

How To Add Filter To Video For Free (Super easy)

1. Go to VEED and upload the video you want to add filters to

Note: If you want to save your project and start new ones, you can sign up for free.

2. In the left toolbar, scroll down and click on Filters

3. Choose the Filter that you want to add to your video

4. Hit Export and you’re done!

How to edit your filters in different ways

Click on the video content to get to the Color correction settings.

1) Adjust the intensity of your filters

With the Intensity slider, you can regulate how strong the colors of the video filter are.

It can go from 0% (your video won’t have the filter at all) to 100% (your video gets fully color-corrected by the filter).

2) Edit your video filter

Under the Adjust tab, you can control the following aspects and edit your video filter through the sliders. You can either drag the slider or modify the number field.

Note: These parameters will remain the same if you change your video filters or effects. However, because the filters have different combinations of colors in them, these parameters will affect how each filter looks in unexpected ways.

Here are the parameters:

  • Brightness (Default number: 1.00). This brightens or darkens your overall video. It can go from being extremely bright (Number: 4.00), with the colors very whitewashed, to a pure black screen (0.00).
  • Contrast (Default number: 1.00). In video editing, contrast controls the tonal difference (i.e. their contrasts) between opposing colors in the video. So, for example, in a black-and-white film, increasing the contrast will lead to brighter shades of white and darker blacks. Simple enough, right?
  • Saturation (Default number: 1.00). This refers to the intensity of colors in your video project. Decreasing saturation will make your video have more muted colors, and increasing it will produce the opposite effect. Remember that saturation only intensifies the colors that are already present within their own gradients. For example, a shade of light French beige can turn into dark washed orange when desaturated to -4.00. Saturation does not depend on the difference between opposing colors like the contrast parameter.
  • Exposure (Default number: 0.00). This controls the lighting levels of your video, highlighting and darkening the brightest parts. Important to note: Exposure increases the brightness of your videos based on where light comes from, but it doesn’t change the brightness levels. An exposure level of -2.00 doesn’t completely turn the video pitch black, because it would just be muting the highlights/brightest bits.

3) Add other video filter effects

You can also add a layer of filter effects to your video by clicking on the Effects tab. Some of my faves:

  • #VHS. I’m a 90’s kid, so this video effect has a special place in my heart.
  • #RGB SPLIT. For the psychedelic look that simulates double vision.
  • #GLITCH. For the sci-fi or Matrix aesthetic.

Some tips on how to add filters to your videos

1) Stick to your visual branding

When adding filters and effects and changing the visual parameters, don’t forget about your visual branding. You need to make your videos look consistent.

Consistency in visual branding (or any form of it) helps people recognize your content faster across different social media platforms and distribution channels.

Simply put, if your videos look different every single time, viewers won’t be able to figure out what makes you visually stand out from the rest.

You can play with filters and effects with your videos, under the condition that it doesn’t regularly clash with your visual branding and overall aesthetic.

Therefore, if you’re a content creator building an audience online, stick to a selection of filters that people can instantly associate your content with, rather than use a different filter across 10 videos.

2) Don’t go overboard with the filters and effects

Adding a creative flair can work well with promo launch videos or commercials and in other cases, in which your content needs to compete with others for attention.

However, if you’re an online content creator, remember that people watch your videos for its content and the value you bring. Filters and effects are great to add a bit of creativity and flair to your videos, but they shouldn’t distract viewers from consuming your content.

In other words, don’t go overboard with your filters and effects. When you’re adding filters to our videos, think about why you want to have them.

After all, an important part of your content creation process should also be on whether or not your audience likes these filters when they watch your videos. Don’t let your video filters and effects interrupt the viewing experience.

Of course, video filters and effects still have a place for your brand. For example, if your brand is more nostalgic, something sepia-toned like Kai or Monty might work well for you.

3) Record in areas with lots of natural lighting

In social media, videos with a lot of clarity and brightness tend to have more engagement than dimly-lit ones. Videos with lots of natural lighting also tend to show details in a crisper, more colorful way.

With that in mind, invest in good lighting equipment or record with lots of natural lighting. Good lighting also makes your video filters pop out more. Win-win.

Otherwise, you can always tweak the exposure, until a certain point.

VEED is so much more than a video filters software

With VEED, you can add stunning filters to your video in just one click and change your visual parameters in a super quick and easy way.

Of course, VEED is so much more than for adding filters to your videos. It lets you merge and split videos, add captions automatically, place audio tracks, include text, and do other sorts of stuff in mere seconds.