I don’t care how amazing you are with your SLR, we all have sub-par photos. And the truth is, most of us have a lot of them. They’re dark, they’re out of focus, they’re grainy, bland, have too much contrast, or not enough; they’re yellow or orange, they have distracting items in the background, they’re poorly composed…but we love them. They’re often the ones that captured the perfect facial expression. Or they’re the only ones you have available to tell that important story.
Rarely do we see layouts with these imperfect photos in the scrapbooking magazines. It’s easy to make a fabulous layout when you have a fabulous photo. Scrapbookers need help making layouts they love with the not-so-fabulous ones.
The Problem
In the layout above, I used a group of photos I took with the camera in my computer using Apple’s Photo Booth. It’s awful resolution. The low amount of color you see in the focal point photo was the most I could get after cranking the saturation way up. But I had to scrap these photos. They are the only ones I have that really demonstrate how I feel about my relationship with my little boy.
The Solution
My first solution to this poor-photo dilemma was to increase the saturation of the main photo and turn all the others black and white. Black and white coloring will hide a multitude of sins.
Next, because the photos were so bland, I used products with bright colors to help to bring out the colors in the photo. It’s good to experiment and lay your main photo over different colors to see how they effect your pictures.
The pictures don’t look perfect, but they look better on the layout than they did by themselves.
The next Paperclipping article will be full of tips on how to solve various photo problems so that you can make a layout you love, regardless of the photo quality. If this is something you struggle with, make sure you come back soon.
* * *
Initiating Intimacy
12×12 Layout
Journaling reads:
6-28-06 Aiden, age 3.
Your numerous attempts at initiating intimacy with me today:
9:27 am. I saw you approaching so I greeted you. “Aiden, my three-year-old boy who is so big.” And you just said, “Hold you,” as you walked straight into my legs like a magnet to a fridge.
9:34am.You approached me again while I was enjoying my tea. “Will you snuggle with me on the couch?”
9:40am. You returned to me and climbed onto my lap. I held you sideways in my right arm like a baby. We played a fame where we each closed one eye and looked at each others’ open on every close-up. I commented on your great eye; your great nose. And then I said I didn’t want to look at your dierty mouth, which had crusted milk all over it.
9:52am. Just now, you approached me again. I told you that I am writing down all the sweet things you say to me.”Hold me. Snuggle me on the couch.” And your response was, “Let’s do that!” Then you laid down on my bed and waited for me to join you.
