Choosing Photographs

                       Choosing Photographs

Your photos are the first ingredient for a layout and will help you decide on all other aspects of your page. You can choose your photographs for each layout based on several criteria. How you have chosen to organize your album will play a big part in how you choose your photographs for individual layouts.


If you have just started scrapbooking, you may think that you don't have much of an option about what kinds of photographs you can use in your scrapbook. Just because your old photos are 3 ½" x 5", yellowing, and feature those lovely seventies styles and colors, doesn't mean they have to stay that way. Using today's computer technology, you can scan, crop, and enlarge your photos.

You can also colorize them to make them sepia tinted or black and white and enhance them in many other ways. If you happen to have the negatives for old photos that have yellowed, having them re-developed from the negatives will bring the original color right back as if the photo was taken yesterday.

As you take photographs of your family and friends around you, think about what kinds of things you want to remember, and how you might use the photos in your scrapbooks. Take a variety of vertical and horizontal photos, close up and far away shots. Panoramic photos also create added interest and can show the subject of your photo in a different way. Take photos of the scenery to help bring the whole feel of the day or event into your page. Catch people in action enjoying the day.

While photos are important and help to tell the story visually, a layout can easily be made without any photos, and may be even more special without them. For layouts without photos, you can include extensive journaling, memorabilia or other items that represent the subject of your layout.