When you're setting up a change in a parameter for an attribute (for example, animating a change over the clip in opacity or position or color), start out by adding four keyframes that divide the clip roughly into quarters: one at the start of the clip, one at the end, and two part-way through. This will allow you to try out adjustments with more control than a single or even two key frames, and you can delete unused keys at the end.
By default, key transitions in Premiere are linear (except for time-remapping). This means that transitions accelerate in a fast, sometimes jerky manner -- fine if that's what you want. But if you want a smoother transition, right-click on the keyframe and select "Bezier," "Auto-Bezier," or "Continuous Bezier." This will change the graph of changes in the Effects Control panel from straight lines to curves, which represent smoother, more gradual transitions. "Auto-Bezier" shapes the curves for you, and "Continuous Bezier" and "Bezier" allow you to manually adjust the curves. I'm not clear yet on what the difference is between "Continuous Bezier" and "Bezier"; I need to play around more.
I just changed most of the moon/circle dissolves and artificial camera movements in my vid from Linear to Auto-Bezier and they look SO MUCH BETTER. I am going to play around with the manual adjustments next, but even if I leave it at the presets, there's a noticeable improvement.
If you're selecting a color with a dropper, to get an average color selection of a 5x5-pixel area, rather than a single pixel, press Ctrl+click or Cmmd+click rather than just clicking on the desired area.
On the timeline, the Page Down key takes you to the beginning of the next clip. The Page Up key takes you to the beginning of the previous clip.
I pass this on to you in case it might be helpful
I just changed most of the moon/circle dissolves and artificial camera movements in my vid from Linear to Auto-Bezier and they look SO MUCH BETTER. I am going to play around with the manual adjustments next, but even if I leave it at the presets, there's a noticeable improvement.