Rules for Cropping Pictures to Put in Your Scrapbook

The pictures you place on your scrapbook page are and should be the star of the show. In viewing the photos, memories are brought to mind and emotions are shared. After taking the photographs and printing the pictures off, you may notice background objects that are less than desirable. This is when cropping your pictures can make all the difference you need between a so-so scrapbook page and a stunning scrapbook page. I'll cover a few rules about cropping your photographs and some important tips to remember!

The first rule of cropping photographs is to try to eliminate background clutter. If the picture has an extra person who is not looking at the camera in the background, or any other objects that may take away from the photograph, cut it out. This will allow the true star of the photograph to be revealed and properly highlighted.

Some people feel that when they crop a photo they are cutting out history. While this is partially true, you really are making the picture you took into the picture you meant to take. If you feel there is some background in the photo that you need to make the memory more special, simply leave it there! You never have to crop a photo, nor do you have to crop every photo, just do as you see fits best!

Another benefit of cropping your photographs is that you can increase the number of pictures you can fit onto a page. By trimming out the extra, each picture is made smaller so that more can be placed on the page. This allows for more memories, more interest and more emotion to be shown through your page.

Cropping your photographs also allows one to change the shape of the picture. This adds a lot of creativity to a page, turning away from the standard rectangle picture. Ovals, circles, stars, hearts, and squares are all some great photo shapes! Use your creativity to create a unique page by cropping your pictures into a different shape!

By cropping many small photos to create a large shape you add a dynamic interest to your scrapbook page. Crop the pictures to fit into a large square that is matted together. This is a lot of fun, and makes for a very crafty page!

One last point to mention about cropping your photos is the ability it brings to highlighting a specific item. If you have a close up, or just a really cute face, crop out all the rest so that the cute face is the true meaning of the picture. Baby feet, eyes, smiles, toys, memorabilia are all highlighted when shown in their simplicity. This is my favorite part of cropping. Pictures really are worth one thousand words, so use them all!

Scrapbooking is a favorite hobby among many women and mothers. Often much of a scrapper's free time is spent at the table buried with paper, pictures, tape and albums. Scrapbooks are a creative outlet and will provide many people with a memory or two!