Adding A Flash Effect To TikTok Videos: Here’s How

Some TikTok trends come and go quickly. Others stay popular for years, and one of them is using a “flash” effect in videos.

In fact, there are several different types of flashes you can add. One makes the picture look brighter as you shoot the video, and others let you insert different versions of flashing lights into the video.

Here’s how to add each of the effects.

How to Use Flash on TikTok

The first option is one that you’re already familiar with if you’ve ever used a camera to take a picture at a birthday party or other indoor activity.

Using Flash to Brighten a Photo or Video

When you’re shooting in low-light conditions, videos and photos can look dark at best, impossible to decipher at worst. That’s why cameras have had built-in flashes or attachments for decades — and it’s why smartphones have flashes, too.

When you’re shooting TikTok content, the availability of flash options is even more impressive. When you activate the flash in the social media platform’s editing screen, it will turn on the phone’s flash, if necessary, but it can do much more.

• Highlight textures and details in videos.
• Make videos shot in brightly-lit settings look more vibrant while enhancing their colors.
• Provide a mood or style that makes your TikTok posts stand out when users are surfing their feeds.

Flash won’t enhance every video. It can cause glare or reflections, or distort the natural contrast and brightness of the content. In short, you have to become a true videographer when using the function.

It’s simple to experiment, too.

1. Tap the “+” sign at the bottom of the home page to enter TikTok’s Create screen.
2. If you plan to be working with content from your phone’s camera reel, hit the “Upload” icon (to the right of the record button) to choose and upload it to the editor.
3. Tap the lightning bolt icon near the top of the right-hand menu to turn on the “Flash” function. If you’re using your phone’s front camera, you’ll see a white frame around the photo; if you’re using the back camera, the phone’s built-in flash will turn on.
4. On some app versions, you can use the slide bar underneath the flash icon to choose between low, medium, and high intensity or to engage “auto flash.”
5. Record, edit, and post your video as usual.

If desired, you can also tap the “Flash” icon as you’re recording to add a flash effect at the desired point of the video.

Using The TikTok Editor’s Flash Effects

The word “flash” can also refer to lighting effects that look something flashing strobe lights; many TikTok users insert different types of flash effects to make their videos stand out. In reality, the app creates the effects by manipulating frames of the video while adding motion or changing the content’s speed — but the result is a striking change to the look of the TikTok post.

Many flash options are available in the app’s “Effects” menu, found on the right-hand side of the editing screen. You can choose the one you’d like to use by tapping on the appropriate thumbnail (you’ll see a video preview above the menu so you can be sure you’re happy with the choice) or by using the TikTok search function to find more options not shown on the menu.

Experienced content creators prefer to use the CapCut app to add flashes to their videos because the variety of available choices is much greater in CapCut.

Whichever editor you use, flashes are just one more way to make your content more visually interesting and appealing — and catch the eye of viewers and potential followers.