Creating Handheld Camera Shake | After Effects and Premiere

Using Wiggle in After Effects

Ok, now let’s see how it is done in after effects. First things first, click inside the project panel to import your footage to after effects. You can also drag and drop your video footage there if you prefer. Then right-click on the footage and choose “new comp from selection” so that you can start working on the footage.

Next, click on the footage to choose it then you are going to hit “P” to bring up the position settings. Then hold down the “Alt” key, which is “Options” on Mac, and click on the stopwatch. What you are about to do is adding some wiggle to the footage and then working with it till it feels right and natural right.

To do that you need to type in on the footage in the timeline “Wiggle”, followed by parentheses and inside the parentheses, you will write 2,30. It will be “wiggle (2,30)”. This code will tell After Effects to wiggle the footage twice per second for thirty pixels. Remember that this number is not a fixed thing and you should try different combinations because every footage is different and in every video you may be looking for a different feel. But in most cases, it seems like 2 wiggles per second and each one for 30 pixels seems to be working just fine.

Now what you may probably begin to see in your video is the dark edges that are moving inside and outside the frame. To eliminate that you need to choose the footage again, hit “S” for scale, and then change its value to something like 120%. Depending on the wiggle setting you have chosen, scaling can be done with different numbers.

Advanced: Control Shake Intensity with a Slider

The basic wiggle(2,30) expression locks your shake amount at 30 pixels — to change it, you have to edit the expression every time. A much better approach is linking the wiggle to a Slider Control, giving you a visual knob to adjust shake intensity in real time and even keyframe it for dynamic changes throughout your timeline.

How to set it up:

1. Create a Null Object (Layer > New > Null Object) and name it Shake Control
2. With the Null selected, go to Effect > Expression Controls > Slider Control
3. On your footage layer, Alt/Option-click the Position stopwatch and enter:

wiggle(2, thisComp.layer('Shake Control').effect('Slider Control')('Slider'))

1. Now adjust the Slider value in the Effect Controls panel — drag it to 0 for no shake, 30 for moderate, 60+ for aggressive handheld

Why this is powerful:

• Keyframe the slider to ramp shake up during action beats and ease it down for calm moments — no expression editing needed
• Add a second Slider Control for frequency: wiggle(thisComp.layer('Shake Control').effect('Frequency')('Slider'), thisComp.layer('Shake Control').effect('Amplitude')('Slider')) — now you control both speed and intensity independently
• Reuse across layers — multiple layers can reference the same Null, so one slider adjusts shake on everything simultaneously

Pro Tip: Rename your Slider Controls to “Amplitude” and “Frequency” for clarity. This setup turns your wiggle from a static effect into a fully art-directable camera shake rig.

Red Giant Universe Plugin

For creating the fake camera shake inside premiere pro you need to take a look at Red Giant’s amazing plugin, named Universe.

After installing the plugin, you can access it by going to Window, Extensions, RG Universe Dashboard. You will see that the dashboard is well organized with so many different effects and options ready to be used in your video projects. But the one you are looking for is under “Utilities” and it is named, rather obviously, “Camera Shake”. Opening the category will reveal some great templates useable for different scenarios like Handheld and Shakycam. Either one you decide to use, just make sure your footage is selected in the timeline and then click on apply.

The effect is already applied and in many cases, the job is done here but if you want to have more control over the style of your shakey camera, you can then go to Effect Controls panel and find all the settings under “Universe Camera Shake by Red Giant”. Here you can change things like the frequency of shake and the amount you are ok with for the footage to be cropped in by scaling. Even more detailed settings are accessible by opening the “Shake Controls” and “Crop Settings”. Working with the settings here is totally dependent on the style and feel you are seeking for your video, so working with them all and experiencing the resulting effects for yourself is something I can not suggest more! The same goes for all the methods suggested in this blog!

How to Apply Camera Shake to Specific Segments

The methods above apply shake to your entire composition — but what if you only want that handheld feel on certain shots or moments? Maybe an action sequence needs shake while a dialogue scene stays smooth. Here’s how to target specific parts of your timeline.

Selective Camera Shake — Two Approaches

Method 1 — Time-Range Isolation

Apply shake to only a specific segment while keeping the rest of your footage untouched:

1. Split your layer at the exact points where you want shake to begin and end (Edit > Split Layer, or Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + D)
2. Apply your shake method (Wiggle expression or plugin) only to the isolated segment layer
3. To smooth the transition, add a short crossfade (1–3 frames) between the split layers so the shake doesn’t start or stop abruptly
4. Scale up only the shake segment (~110–120%) to cover edge gaps, leaving the clean segments at original scale

Method 2 — Mask-Based Selective Application

For more complex scenarios where shake should only affect certain areas of the frame (not just time ranges):

1. Precompose your footage layer
2. Apply your camera shake effect to the precomp
3. On the precomp layer, draw a mask around the area that should receive the shake
4. Feather the mask generously (50–100px) so the shaky and stable zones blend naturally
5. Duplicate the original footage beneath as a clean plate for the unmasked areas

Pro Tip: For the most realistic result, combine both methods — split your timeline into segments, then use masks within shaky segments to protect UI overlays, lower thirds, or text that should remain stable even during handheld moments.

Pro Tips for Realistic Camera Shake

Adding position jitter alone won’t fool anyone — real handheld footage has subtle optical characteristics that pure wiggle expressions miss. Here’s how to sell the illusion.

Simulate Focus Breathing for Authentic Handheld Feel

When you hold a camera by hand, tiny movements cause the lens to shift focus slightly — a natural phenomenon called focus breathing. Without it, fake shake looks mechanical and “digital.” Adding subtle depth of field shifts synced to your shake makes a huge difference.

How to set it up:

1. Create a Camera layer (Layer > New > Camera) — choose a 35mm or 50mm preset for a realistic focal length
2. In the Camera Settings, enable Depth of Field and set the Aperture to a moderately shallow value (e.g., F2.8–F4)
3. Set your Focus Distance to match your subject’s Z-position
4. Alt/Option-click the Focus Distance stopwatch and add a subtle wiggle expression:

wiggle(1.5, 8)

This shifts focus ~8 pixels at 1.5 times per second — just enough to simulate natural micro-focus drift without looking blurry

1. Sync the rhythm with your position shake — if your position wiggle is wiggle(2, 30), keep the focus wiggle slightly slower and smaller so it feels like a secondary motion, not a competing one

Additional realism layers:

• Add subtle rotation wiggle — real handheld has slight roll, not just X/Y movement. Apply wiggle(0.5, 0.3) to the Z Rotation for gentle tilt
• Enable Motion Blur on your composition (the film strip icon in the timeline) to blur fast shake frames naturally
• Vary the shake over time — real hand fatigue causes shake to increase gradually. Use wiggle(2, 20 + time*2) to slowly ramp up intensity

Pro Tip: The combination of position shake + focus breathing + slight rotation is what separates amateur fake shake from the kind that editors won’t even question. Each element is subtle on its own, but together they create a convincingly organic handheld look.