Midday to golden hour in a video: Omni edit or first/last frame

To move an existing video from midday to golden hour, send the clip to Gemini Omni Flash 1.1 as video_url with a prompt that names the new light and says to keep everything else the same. Use first and last frames instead only when you want the light to change during the shot. A 6-second edit at 720p costs $0.75 on Sume.

Two different jobs hiding in one query

"Make it golden hour" can mean the whole clip is lit differently, or it can mean the sun sets while the camera rolls. They need different requests.

Writing the edit prompt

Describe the light by direction, color and quality, then protect the scene: "Change the lighting to golden hour: low warm sun from the left, long soft shadows, warm highlights on the facades. Keep the people, the camera movement and all objects the same." Name the shadows explicitly. A relit clip with midday shadows pointing straight down looks wrong even when the colors are right.

One guard that Google's own demo uses

Google's launch post describes a real-estate app built on the model that adds no furniture and shows the home at the perfect time of day. The useful lesson is the constraint: for property, product and location footage, say what must not be invented. Add a line such as "Do not add or remove any objects." The model may still alter small details, so compare the result with the source.

Cost

Edit output follows the source clip length. For a 6-second clip, the rates below give $0.225 at 360p, $0.75 at 720p and $1.125 at 1080p. Run the first try at 360p to see whether the light direction is right before paying for a higher tier; Google says 360p previews are faster and a third of the 720p cost.

Keep the camera still

Lighting edits work best on locked-off or slow-moving shots. A handheld clip with fast pans gives the model many more pixels to regenerate and more chances to change geometry while it changes light. If the clip is shaky and the move is not essential, consider trimming to the steadiest 4 to 6 seconds first with video trim, at $0.02 per job.

Skies are the other weak spot. If the original has a flat white sky, the edit has to invent a sunset sky from nothing, and you may get colors you did not ask for. Name the sky in the prompt: "clear sky fading from pale orange at the horizon to blue overhead".

When the first and last frame route is better

If you have a day still and a dusk still of the same view, the first/last frame request interpolates between them. The listing-photo transition and the day-to-night and season guide cover that case. Use the edit when you only have footage, and keep the camera locked off so the model has less to reinvent.