Digital Scrapbooking
Getting Started
So, you're new to digital scrapbooking? Not quite sure where to get started? Here, we've provided some tips on how to do just that.MATERIALS
If you're unsure of just what products you'll need, try downloading one of our themed kits, where you'll find various papers, frames, embellishments, etc. that were all made to go together!
PROGRAMS
In addition to materials, you will also need some kind of software to put together your layouts. There are all kinds of software out there, from free to thousands of dollars in price. So, how do you know which is right for you?
Well, if you're just getting started (and chances are, if you're reading this - you are), perhaps you should start with something free. I can't make a whole lot of recommendations in this department, because I've been an avid Photoshop user for the last several years. However, I've heard some wonderful things about GIMP. It is supposed to be very close to Photoshop in many ways. If that doesn't look right for you, here's a compilation (by About.com) on various free graphics programs that are available.
If you already have access to Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, I would highly recommend these, as well. Photoshop can be pricy, but Elements isn't too bad and will have most of the features you'd ever want to use for scrapbooking purposes. Paint Shop Pro is also used by many, although I have yet to try it.
ADDING ELEMENTS
Now that we have the materials and a program, the next step is to combine them into a scrapbooking masterpiece!
First off, you'll need a background. So, in this graphics program that you've chosen, open up (usually File > Open) one of your papers to use as a backdrop to your ensemble. It should be 3600 x 3600 pixels @ 300dpi, which makes it 12" x 12". This means you could print it out that large and there would be absolutely no loss of quality.
If you don't need it that large - for example, if you're just going to put this stuff together for a digital album, something that won't be printed out - then you could certainly resize your working area. After all, 3600 x 3600 pixels is pretty huge, and once you get a bunch of stuff combined, if you don't have a fairly powerful computer, you may notice it taking a while to do things.
If you want to resize it now, look under your top menu. In Photoshop / Photoshop Elements, it's under Image > Image Size. If you're using GIMP, right click anywhere on your image and choose Image > Scale Image. With PSP, it's under Image > Resize. As you can see, these are all fairly similar. You should only need to change either the height or the width, and the other should change along with it. By default, most graphics programs will resize something while keeping the same ratio. There will usually be a place to turn this option off, as well. But for now, keep it on and change the pixels to something more manageable. Say, 800 x 800. This will still be large enough for most digital layouts that you won't be printing out.
Now, we need a photo. Or two. Or three... or however many you plan to add to this layout. Don't have a layout in mind yet? Check out some of our design & layout tips.
With this photo open, hit CTRL-A (Mac: CMD-A) to "select all" - this works just like selecting all in a text document and is basically selecting the whole canvas. Then CTRL-C (Mac: CMD-C) to copy. You can now either close this or switch back to your paper background canvas (most programs will, as you can see, allow you to have several images open at once). CTRL-V (Mac: CMD-V) to copy. Voila! You now have added a photo to your layout!
It's probably not the right size, though, right? So, to fix that, we'll need to resize it. But this time, we'll be resizing it differently than we did the paper above. Why? Because it's an image within an image. If we resize it the same way we did before, we'll change the size of both the paper and the photo. And we don't want that. But because this image is on its own "layer," you can do things that affect the photo and not the paper beneath. Here's how.
In Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, under the top menu choose Edit > Transform > Scale. With GIMP, right click on the photo and choose Image > Transform > Scale. PSP has what is called a "deform" tool in the toolbar that does the same thing.
A rectangle will come up that surrounds the image with various points on it. You're going to want to click on a corner and drag it to resize. But wait! If you want to keep the same ratio (in most cases, you will), hold down SHIFT while you do so (in PSP, instead of left clicking on the corner, right click and move it to save the ratio). See how it keeps the same basic shape and doesn't get all distorted?
Great! Do that for as many photos as you'd like to add. Each of these will be put into its own "layer" so you can go back and move/resize/edit them individually later. In Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, there's a little window called the "layers palette" where you'll see each of them (when you first opened Photoshop, this window and a few others were open on the right side of your screen - but if you've since closed them, you can see them again by choosing Window > Layers from the top menu).
POSITIONING ELEMENTS
You have, believe it or not, mastered most of the basics of digital scrapbooking. Being able to add and resize elements is a huge part of it. Now you just need to know how to position them. Then I'll give you a few tips on adding effects, and you're well on your way!
This is a good time to make sure that your layers palette is open. If you're using Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, make sure that there is a checkmark next to "Layers" when you click on "Window" on the top menu. If there is, you should see at least two layers. The paper as a background, and the photo that you have added as "Layer 1." If you added more than one photo, they would be Layers 2,3, etc.
In that layers palette, click on "Layer 1" or your photo layer. Now choose the "Move Tool" from the far upper right corner of your tools palette (it looks like an arrow and a crosshair). Then click anywhere on your canvas and drag. The photo moves along with it! Place it wherever you'd like it to go.
Now keep adding elements from the theme, from frames to other kinds of embellishments in just the same way that you added the photo(s). Copying and pasting. They'll each be on their own layer, so you can resize them and position them wherever you'd like.
Frames are, of course, made to go around photos. There's all kinds of other things that you can do to frame your photos, but for now we'll stick to prepackaged items for simplicity's sake!
You can add ribbons to divide sections, buttons to "hold down" corners of your photos or other elements, etc. The possibilities are limited only by your own imagination.
CROPPING
Another important thing is to know how to "crop" a photo. Once you get a frame around it, you may have edges of that photo stick out from beneath. How do you get rid of those?
In Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, you'll want to select the "Rectangular Marquee tool" on the upper left of the tools palette. In GIMP, right click on the canvas and select Tools > Transform Tools > Crop & Resize. In PSP, select the "crop tool" (not sure where it is on the palette). All of these will now allow you to click on the canvas and drag to form a rectangle. So, in this case, click on the upper left corner somewhere under the frame. Drag down and to the right, ending under the lower right corner of the frame. In your layers palette, make SURE that you have the photo layer selected.
Now, if we were to hit "delete" now, we would remove everything in the middle of that rectangle. But we don't want that! That's the part of the photo that we want to keep. So, to "inverse" the selection, in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, hit SHIFT+CTRL+I (Mac: SHIFT+CMD+I). Now hit your delete key. If you did it correctly, it should have removed the outer edges of your photo that were sticking out from beneath the frame. (To inverse the selection should be very similar if not the same in GIMP and PSP.)
OTHER BEGINNER'S TIPS
Drop Shadow
In Photoshop/ Photoshop Elements, at the bottom left corner of the layers palette you'll see a button that's called "add a layer style" - it looks, to me, like a dark circle with an "f" inside it. Select your photo layer, or any layer other than the very bottom "background" layer. Click on that, then select "drop shadow," then glance back over at your canvas. Notice that whatever is on that layer now has a shadow beneath it, making it look like it's somewhat raised from the canvas? You can use this to give some of your elements depth, and make them look like they're really sitting on top of a sheet of paper. Play around with the settings and just see what kind of effects you can get (in particular, change the opacity %, distance, and size - you'll use these the most). GIMP and PSP will have these settings also, no doubt.Tilt/Rotate
What if you want to tilt or rotate something? You'll do it just like when you resized the photo (Edit > Transform in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, right click and Image > Transform in GIMP) but instead of "scale," choose "rotate." That same box will come up, and this time when you click on a corner and drag, you'll be rotating the image. From that same menu, you can select things like rotate 90 degrees, for if you want to rotate it exactly, and you can also flip the image horizontally and vertically. Again, play with the options just to see what you can do.Hue/Saturation/Lightness
Another thing that you can play around with that will probably come into play a good deal in your scrapbooking is Hue/Saturation. What if you have a blue button, but you want it to be pink? In Photoshop/Photoshop Elements, under Image > Hue/Saturation, move the "hue" slider back and forth and see what happens. Hue determines the color or ... well, hue. Saturation determines just how much of that color there is - in other words, if you moved that slider all the way left, it would become white/black/gray. Lightness determines how light or dark a color is. Using this tool, you can change the color of any element to whatever you'd like it to be! (GIMP's is under Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation and PSP is under Colors > Adjust > Hue/Saturation/Lightness)Opacity
One more tip, although I'm not sure how much you'll use this in the digital scrapbooking world. On the layers palette, you can also change the "opacity" of a layer (in the upper right corner of the palette for Photoshop/Photoshop Elements users). Select a layer other than the background, then change the opacity to 50%. You can now see partially through that layer, see?QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
Whew! I really hope that this information helps you get on your way!
If you have any questions about anything mentioned here, or want to suggest another topic be added, please feel free to contact us.
