Post-processing refers to any editing, enhancement, color grading, effects work, or refinement applied to an image or video after the initial capture or generation. The term encompasses everything that happens to visual content after the raw material exists - transforming, polishing, and finalizing it into the intended finished output.

In photography and image generation, post-processing includes color correction and grading, exposure and contrast adjustments, sharpening or softening, noise reduction, retouching, compositing, and the application of filters or stylistic effects. In video production, it expands to include cutting and assembly, audio work, visual effects, title graphics, color grading across the full timeline, and output rendering for delivery. In AI generation workflows specifically, post-processing often means taking the raw output of a generation model and refining it further - inpainting problem areas, upscaling resolution, color grading to match a specific look, compositing elements from multiple generations, or integrating AI-generated clips with live-action footage.

Post-processing is where raw AI-generated material is shaped into finished, polished content. Even high-quality generations rarely go straight to final use without some degree of refinement, and building post-processing time into creative workflows - color grading clips in Compose on Morphic, upscaling key shots, and compositing multiple elements - is part of treating AI generation as one stage in a broader production process rather than an end-to-end solution in itself.