PDS028 – Dirty Dishes in the Sink

Hello PDS gang! I just wanted to comment on the piece of mail asking about Photoshop Elements tutorials. I recently completed a graduate school project in which I created a six part video tutorial series about how to digital scrapbook using a layered template in PSE 6.0. The series is available on YouTube and I also created a sample blog post (I don’t have a regular blog) that includes all of the videos, as well as some extra commentary and discussion. This is not a professional tutorial, and it only shows my own personal process in creating a specific scrapbook page, but I think it could be valuable for someone wishing to try out Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Here is the link to the sample blog post: http://scrapbookingwithrachelsmith.pbworks.com/w/page/32845984/Digital-Scrapbooking-Video-Tutorial-Series

Hope this is helpful to someone!

Thanks, Rachel Smith

Love Lynnette’s perspective on scrapbooking and getting ourselves into it. I have also scrapped since teenage years, so it’s like a journal, “slam book”, documentation for myself. I’m not thinking about handing it down to future generations when creating. I don’t have kids yet, so my scrapbooking is about family, friends, trips, events and random thoughts. I’ve always thought of scrapbookers like art journalers…only they start with a photo… although the trend is shifting to the story – so it really is just pouring your thoughts and emotions out – whether a long write-up or a few words and colors to express what you feel. Shimelle is a prolific scrapbooker and she doesn’t have any kids… so folks might get specific ideas from her projects as well. There’s a great video about why she scrapbooks and I think it’s fabulous to watch/listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoi5NTUSYps

On the flip side, I totally understand why people scrapbook about their kids more than themselves. Maybe it’s just that a lot of scrapbooking magazines focus on events and kids, since it’s a way to get people to buy products. Parents tend to think it’s okay to spend money and time for their kids than themselves.

A few comments on file types. Some programs cannot open layered TIF files and keep the layers. The TIF files are so much smaller, but not the most compatible across other programs. In addition, some programs cannot open layered files at all. For those customers, it’s a good idea to include a separate PNG file for each layer. (Something I need to be better about doing!) Now, for my personal layouts, since they do not need to be shared, I save as a layered TIF to take advantage of the smaller file sizes. As for flattened JPG versus flattened TIFs, JPGs do lose quality and TIFs do not. However, many of the popular scrapbook/photobook printers require JPGs for printing. This is mainly because when you print an album, you are uploading at least 20 pages over the internet, and that is a lot of bandwith and a lot of data to process to the printer. The bigger the files, the longer it takes to process to the printer. Commercial (traditional) printers, however, require CMYK TIFs. So, as with any project, file format really depends on the end use. For my layouts, I save a layered TIF, a full-size JPG for printing, and a small 600px JPG for uploading to galleries. For my design work, I include a layered PSD, a layered TIF and a small JPG for fast browsing.

Thanks for this comment Wendy – very useful information!

Have you ever done a comparison of jpeg vs. tif print quality? Everyone
insists that we can’t really see the difference but I’ve done my own test
and the difference seemed clear to me. I want to try it again, though, to
see if there wasn’t just something up with that particular set.

As a person who doesn’t have children and no prospect in sight, I scrapbook for myself. I think many people make the assumption that the scrapbooking is all about children because that is what is most visible. And kids are certainly cute. Many a new parent finds they suddenly have the urge to record things they didn’t before because of this new person who is so overwhelmingly important. But the belief that people only scrapbook about their children reflects an assumption that THEY (the scrapbooker) are not important, which is utterly false. (Many females fall prey to this unthinking assumption.)

So really scrapbooking is for anybody. But I would add that it took time for me to actually understand my own purpose in scrapbooking. Because all around me were mothers who scrapbooked, I almost had to justify it to myself. It took time for me to realize that it had nothing to do with any prospective children. I want to remember and reflect, which I do through photos and words to record my memories. If no one else ever sees my scrapbooks, that’s okay. If the only people who see them are absolute strangers, that’s okay too. By including all the details as well as my thoughts, some of them may connect with me. And it’s that connection that we value.

Hi all, and a Happy New Year!
Thank you so much, Izzy, for reading my comment with such emotion–the only thing missing was a few heart-wrenching sobs. Otherwise, spot-on! It really was that awful….
Love the show and I so appreciate all you do for us. I have scrapped more this year since listening to both the Roundtable and the Digi Show, but the biggest change has been in the freedom I feel to write my stories. No one else is going to write them, and the more I journal, the more I feel the NEED to. It feeds itself. (Great pick of the week for future reference is the book “52 Projects.” It’s all about creativity and it is sparked.) So, thank you all and best wishes for TDS and PRT in the New Year.

LOVE this show! Am one of those kiddie-less scrapbookers. However, I started scrapbooking only four years ago (NEVER paper-scrapped, all digi). I love what Steph said, to “not worry so much about the ‘right way’ and the ‘wrong way.’” I was thinking about the stuff I’ve scrapped over the years and while I’ve done pages with important events, it’s the everyday moments that I love to scrap about the most. Or using scrapping to delve into deep emotions like grief, love, anger, sadness, guilt, etc and simply using it as a way of expressing myself. For my 2011 projects, I’m already aiming to do something like Lynnette’s monthly favorites layouts (LOVE those). Also thinking about doing One Little Word-inspired layouts (from Ali Edwards’s One Little Word concept). I’ve realized this year that scrapbooking isn’t so much about specific, event-driven memory-keeping for me (because I have my photos for that), but to express myself and to journal about everyday moments. For instance, I have all these crazy photos with my sister, but a layout I plan to do with them isn’t on the exact date we had (which was a fun, spontaneous thing, actually), but to journal about how happy and anxious I am because she’ll be leaving the country in a few months to embark on a new stage in her life. :)

Thanks Wendy!

I wanted to comment on the subject of “off-site” backup services. You discussed someones unhappy experience with Mozy. I wanted to chime in with my wonderful experience with Carbonite. I had a hard drive crash about 2 years ago – but the process of getting all my files back with Carbonite was really easy. After I replaced the hard drive and re-established an internet connection, I just had to log into my Carbonite account on the Carbonite website and request a full download of all my files. The files then started streaming to my hard drive – it took a few days, but everything was back on my computer, in the same file location that they were to begin with. I can see if you do not have a speedy connection that this would take longer, but with my high-speed cable connection, I didn’t think a few days was unreasonable to get everything back. I have been very happy with Carbonite.