Early video recorders were so expensive, and the quality degradation caused by copying was so great, that 2 inch Quadruplex videotape was edited by visualizing the recorded track with ferrofluid and cutting with a razor blade or guillotine cutter and splicing with tape. Improvements in quality and economy, and the invention of the flying erase head, allowed new video and audio material to be recorded over the material already recorded on an existing tape. This technique was referred to as linear editing. If a scene closer to the beginning of the videotape needed to be changed in length, all later scenes would need to be recorded onto the tape again. In addition, sources could be played back simultaneously through a vision mixer to create more complex transitions between scenes.

Editor in linear VCR suite

There was a transitional analog period using multiple source VCRs or LaserDisc players, but modern non-linear editing systems use video digitally captured onto a hard drive from an analog or digital video source. Content is ingested and recorded natively in the appropriate codec which will be used by software such as Sony Vegas, Avid‘s Media Composer and Xpress Pro, Apple‘s Final Cut Pro, and Adobe‘s Premiere to manipulate the captured footage. High definition video is becoming more popular and can be readily edited using the same software along with related motion graphics programs. Clips are arranged on a timeline, music tracks and titles are added, effects can be created, and the finished program is “rendered” into a finished video. The video may then be distributed in a variety of ways including DVD, web streaming, Quicktime Movies, iPod, CD-ROM, or videotape.

For the home market, products such as AVS Video Editor, Adobe Premiere Elements, AVID Express DV, CyberLink PowerDirector, Final Cut Express, Sony Vegas, Pinnacle Studio, Lilly, Ulead VideoStudio, Roxio Easy Media Creator, and muvee autoProducer have come on the market with the emergence of computer video editing for the home PC. Two free programs that are bundled with computers are Apple’s iMovie and Microsoft‘s Windows Movie Maker.

There are many other free opensource video-editing programs too. These include Kdenlive, Kino, Openshot and Cinelerra.

In most photos, the person and the face is a key element. This site will show you a collection of free and commercial software that focuses on how to enhance faces. In addition to enhancing photos you can have some fun morphing faces and trying on new hair and makeup. The following web sites will allow you to create fun photo images that look professional – without all the cost and hassle!

Custom photo collages are great for any occasion:

Birthdays
Vacations
Mother’s Day
Retirement
Christmas
Weddings
Loving Memories
Sing-in Boards
Newborns
Anniversaries
Graduation
Father’s Day
Family Reunions
Valentine’s Day
Halloween
Wakes
Grandparents
Pets