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Digital Scrapbooking – Use Your Computer Instead of Scissors and Torn Paper!
Digital scrapbooking seems to be just the natural outcome of the increasing popularity of digital photography and the ever popular personal computer. With today’s easy to use graphics software and programs specifically designed to make scrapbooks on your computer, digital scrapbooking is just about as easy as it can get! Most of the software packages give you step by step guidance to get started and every step along the way.
As with all scrapbooking, the goal is to preserve precious moments in our lives or to celebrate the lives of someone we love. You will begin by choosing a theme for your digital scrapbook that sets the mood of your book. Themes can be bright and flashy or subdued and elegant or any combination. The really wonderful aspect of building your book with a computer is that you can try many different themes without ever tearing or coloring any paper.
Step one is usually selecting a background that will be displayed on every page of your scrapbook. This adds consistency and sets the stage for the overall theme you are creating. Try several as they are best viewed as a full page rather than the thumbnails that usually offered. Generally the background comes with coordinated embellishments and text options available.
Next in the process of developing your scrapbook is the selection and rough placement of photographs throughout the many pages. The photos will, of course, have been selected in order to tell a story. Whether this story is about a person’s life, a vacation trip or your work the photographs will be placed with a few thoughts about supporting text to help with the story.
Usually about this time frames will be added to each of the photos to give the page a more finished look. There will be a variety of frame styles which can be varied as the book is built. With frames attached to your photos, you can adjust their orientation to give different visual effects.
Text is typically added about now to give greater depth and meaning to the photographic story being told. Font types and sizes can be varied to fit space and message effect desired.
Embellishments or decorations are added to give your scrapbook some sparkle and pizzazz. Use them freely but tastefully as too many can give your book a cluttered look instead of an organized and classic. Shadows can be added to objects, text and your photos to give further design effects. Transparency is another effect that can be added to any or all of your objects.
Many of the software packages available will have websites associated with them where you can upload your digital scrapbook. These sites will host your scrapbook allowing you to invite family and friends to log on a look through it. These are set up so that you control who has access to your book. What a great way to share and get feedback on your creation!
Shop around when trying to pick from the different software programs available. Nearly all of them will give you a free trial version of their program usually downloaded directly from their website. These can be a great way to test features and user friendliness before actually spending any of your hard earned cash.
Since most scrapbooking software doesn’t give you the ability to do much in the way of photo editing, you will want to have a program that will let you modify and fix photos. You will find that some of the photos you want to use may need that little bit of adjusting to make them just right.
To wrap things up, when selecting your software program, give some thought to what you wish to accomplish. Think about how much time an money you want to invest and the amount of creative freedom you want to have or need to express.
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