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Ro Paxman
A Dog, a Boy, and a Poor Photograph
I received my first digital camera in 2003. Until that time, I used film cameras. Because our little family struggled financially - especially during our early years - the cameras we owned were not very good.
Film was expensive. Developing film was even more expensive. It was unthinkable that I would take massive numbers of photos. (Mothers today are so blessed. They can take as many photos as they wish!) I lost a lot of photos because I couldn’t afford to get film developed before it deteriorated.
To make it worse, I didn’t know how to take good photos. I grew up in an era where mothers lined their children in front of fireplaces, Christmas trees or (if it was a good day) the bushes in the front yard. Care was taken to get the entire body in every shot. Children were positioned so that the sun or a bright light shone directly on their faces.
The subjects of these photos cried, “Hurry, Mom! My eyes are killing me!”
The fathers (who rarely held a camera) advised, “Make sure you don’t cut their heads off.”
While I was fairly good about catching action photos of my children, I still believed that it was best to place your subject directly in the middle of the photo. (Rule of thirds? Huh?) The result? I have albums filled with tiny, long-distance photos. If you squint and grunt a bit, you can sort of see my children’s faces.
But wait... I have more photo drama to share. When my oldest two sons were little, I chose to have the photos developed as 3x5 images. Do you realize how small a 3x5 print is? A 12x12 canvas drowns the poor things.
Now that I am a digital scrapbooker, I often struggle to create layouts of my two oldest boys whose childhoods are adrift in these disappointing images. However, I recently stumbled onto a method that allows me to show a close-up of a face. Here’s what I did:
- I scanned the image into Photoshop.
- I cleaned the image, removing flecks and other imperfections.
- Because it is common for older photos (especially those taken between 1960 and 1980) to develop a yellow cast, I fixed the cast on my photo with Photoshop image adjustment editing options. Because blue is opposite on the color wheel to yellow, I used a light blue filter to remove the cast.
- I adjusted the saturation levels to bump the faded colors up a bit.
Layout by Ro
larger view
Here is the layout I made of my son, James, with his dog, Bingo. As you can see, the original photo is so small it’s hard to see the faces. When I created this layout, I decided to enlarge the photo and blend it into the background. This allowed me to show their faces because the blend hid the image pixelation that occurred when I enlarged the photo. (If you enlarge an image too much, it begins to look like it is made up of tiny square tiles. This is called pixelation.)
I had fun using Brandy Hackman’s Mod Bungalow Collection Biggie to create this layout because she provided a layered PSD file of the background. Of course, she also provides a regular flattened JPG. The layered PSD file allows me to slip the photo under the top layer and gives me this nice blended effect.
I suspect that many of you have albums of poor photos taken in the era prior to digital cameras. How would you feel about having a special gallery where we could share what we are doing? I know I could use encouragement to work on these layouts.
If you think you’d enjoy working on this together, would you send me an email to [email protected]?
If you want it, we’ll get ‘er done!
- Ro
P.S. I know I didn’t spend a lot of time explaining how to edit an image and I’d imagine that our less experienced readers may feel a little confused right now. Learning to manage the image adjustments is a big topic that I spend quite a bit of time teaching you about in my Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed tutorials. If you use them, they’ll get you going fast! Look below to find out more.
Muse: To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation. Not intended to solve the world's problems, another person's problems, or to cover topics completely. One does not have to agree with musings to enjoy them, just as one does not have to be the same as someone else to appreciate who they are.
Note from Ro: Would you like to earn a $20 Gift Certificate? Send your own muse to [email protected]. If it is selected for publication in the Scrap Girls newsletter, you'll get to have fun shopping!
Ro is now spotlighting various Scrap Girls members, showing layouts, and running contests in her blog. If you end up being spotlighted in it, you'll get a little gift from her. Subscribe to her blog so you don't miss what is going on!
Ro has recently spotlighted daisies803, Scraptabulous, and kidsrgr8! |
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