Move a camera, light, or point of interest

Camera layers and light layers each include a Point Of Interest property, which specifies the point in the composition at which the camera or light points. By default, the point of interest is at the center of the composition. You can move the point of interest at any time.

Before moving a camera, choose a view other than Active Camera so that you can see the point of interest icon and the boundaries defining its angle.

Select a camera or light layer.
(Optional) To set the camera or light to ignore the point of interest, choose Layer > Transform > Auto-Orient and select an option other than Orient Towards Point Of Interest.
Using the Selection or Rotation tool, do one of the following:
- To move the camera or light and its point of interest, position the pointer over the axis you want to adjust, and drag.
- To move the camera or light along a single axis without moving the point of interest, Ctrl-drag (Windows) or Command-drag (Mac OS) the axis.
- To move the camera or light freely without moving the point of interest, drag the camera icon or light icon.
- To move the point of interest, drag the point of interest icon .

Note: As with all properties, you can also modify a camera or light’s position, rotation, and orientation properties directly in the Timeline panel.

When working with a camera or light layer, create a null object layer and use an expression to link the Point Of Interest property of the camera or light to the Position property of the null layer. Then, you can animate the Point Of Interest property by moving the null object. It is often easier to select and see a null object than it is to select and see the point of interest.

The AE Enhancers website provides an expression that makes moving a camera or light more convenient: www.adobe.com/go/learn_ae_aeenhancersmovecameralight.