| If you are new to creating digital scrapbooking layouts, | | | | Resize your whole Photograph: |
| there are a few skills you will want to master early on. | | | | - Go to Image, resize, image size |
| One of these is: How Do I Resize a Digital Photograph | | | | - in the 'Document size' section select your units |
| to fit the digital template I've chosen? | | | | (inches, mm, cm, pixels, etc) and enter the width or |
| Let's look at a typical scenario: | | | | height you want |
| - A new mom has taken tons of pictures of her child | | | | - you will want a resolution of 250-300 dpi to get good |
| (what new mother doesn't?) | | | | printing results 2. Crop a Section of the Photo: |
| - She loves scrapbooking, and wants to create a | | | | - Select the crop tool and define the area to be kept |
| mini-album with digital layouts featuring several small | | | | - Drag the crop 'window' around your photo to make |
| photos, or just part-photos, on each page. | | | | the best selection Side Note: if you want several |
| - She plans to use mostly head shots, and the | | | | photos exactly the same size in a layout I recommend |
| standard 6x4s are too large for use on her page. | | | | using one of the fixed options instead of the freehand |
| - She wants to be able to print the multi-photo page(s) | | | | ones. |
| as a part of her mini-album. She already has | | | | 3. Use a Mask to Reveal only the Part of your Photos |
| Photoshop Elements, but you'd follow the same overall | | | | You Want to Display: |
| process for most photo-editing software. | | | | This is a technique I wish I'd learned about much earlier |
| First, Open a Blank Canvas, then | | | | in my journey into Digital Scrapbooking... |
| - Define the size and resolution of the page (250-300 | | | | - Create a new layer and select the Marquee Tool |
| dpi should give a good result when printing the page) | | | | - Select the size you want (choose from freehand, |
| - Choose RGB color mode, unless you want a | | | | fixed ratio, or fixed size options) if you chose either the |
| monochrome grayscale finish | | | | fixed ratio or freehand option: |
| - Set background color to transparent You now have | | | | - Draw your mask shape on the new layer while |
| a canvas and are ready to start scrapbooking | | | | holding down the left button on your mouse; If you |
| Side Note: I find the checkered background you see | | | | chose the fixed size option: (good when you want |
| (when color is set to transparent) makes it very easy | | | | multiple images the same size) |
| to align photos and embellishments. | | | | - Click on your new layer, and the fixed size you've |
| In PhotoShop each part of your design will be placed | | | | chosen will appear in outline with the 'marching ants' |
| on a separate layer and you can adjust how far | | | | Whichever style you used, the next stage is to |
| forward an item is by moving it up and down the | | | | - Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill the shape with |
| layers. | | | | color (just so that its easier to see while you are |
| Next, Open the Photo File to be resized. | | | | working) Now you have a photo mask layer ready for |
| There are now several options to resize your photo: | | | | use in your current project. You can also duplicate the |
| | | | layer for as many photos as you plan to use. |
| 1. Simply make the whole photo larger or smaller. | | | | - Place your photo on the layer above the photo |
| 2. Crop to a section of the photograph, thereby | | | | mask, and clip the two layers together. You can still |
| removing all that extra sky or foreground, then sizing | | | | move your photo to select the best part, and you can |
| the cropped image to what you need. | | | | grab a corner to adjust the size. Do this for each |
| 3. Use a mask which is an easy way to create | | | | photo until you have all you need for your digital |
| identically sized photographs in a multi-photo layout. 1. | | | | scrapbooking layouts. |