We have discussed about able to get cheap scrapbooking by going digital and you learned how that is. Now let us discuss what you will need just in case you haven’t tried going digital yet. In the absence of papers, cutters, glues, embellishments, and all those tools, you need to learn how to use a photo editor or scrapbook software. You will also need digital photos and scrapbook kits. If in case you need printing, buy photo papers or just have it printed in printing labs. For storage, you will be needing cds, back-up storages, or just post your work online. Let us begin.
Photo Editors. When you do not know yet what to use and how to use them, it is best to invest on books or research online for some tutorials. There are a lot of photo editors out there like GIMP, Corel, Photoshop, etc. I personally use Photoshop CS4, because I have been doing some post processing for my digital photos, so I am more familiar with the tools. For practice, take your digital photos and tweak them to get the look that you want for your page. Fumble with the colors, hues, contrast, and the effects. This is the best thing about digital scrapbooking, you determine the look you want your photo to be to match it easily in your page, rather than trying hard looking for the best backgrounds and themes to suit the photo. Do the same for all your materials in your scrapbook kits, in case you are not satisfied with their colors.
Digital Scrapbook Software. If you invest a small amount for a scrapbook software, this is better because you will be able to get more help in digital scrapbooking rather than learning a photo editor. With softwares, they have ready templates and kits. And since a scrapbook software is designed solely for scrapbooking, you need not to learn it that much. Usually, the software maker has tutorials included so you do not need to research.
Digital Photos. This should be the easiest for you, because it is more likely that you own a digital camera and you have tons of Jpeg files in your hard drive. Now, in case you want to scrapbook old photos, simply scan them or also take pictures of them if you can’t take them out of your albums or frames.
Scrapbook Kits. For sites like Scrapbook Max, there are a lot of designers who shares and sells scrapbook kits. These are essential in adding graphics and ready to use designs for your pages. They usually come in a number of pages, so this is cool for creating a themed album such as weddings or other significant occasions.
Printing. If in case you decide to have your pages printed, the best is to collate them, print them out, and have them bounded. This is the new age album. They look better or professionally made. They can be stored flat and you do not need to look for those acid-free albums and protectors. You still have a choice to put protectors between pages, but I am sure that most printing companies have archival quality already.
Back-Ups. Back it up! Always back-up your work, not just once but twice or more. Digital products and photos can also easily get corrupted and vanish in a second if you do not take extra precautions. You can get some photo recovery software in case you lost data without back-ups. But make a habit of backing-up. I cannot be clearer than that.
There you have it, when going digital research tutorials and books then get a software or an editor depending where you can get comfortable making your scrapbooks. Do not forget to have fun with your work and share them to your friends and families.
Tagged with digital scrapbooking, scrapbooking tips
