TIPS, TRICKS and INFORMATION
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Part 11
Creating Depth and Realism
It’s important for faux paper-style scrapbooking to create an illusion of realism— elements should look as “real” as possible. Adding shadows to create depth will help create this aura of realism. You’ll add some shadows around your photos to lift them off the manila folder:
Paint Shop Pro:
Click one of the photos with the Mover tool. The photo will be the active layer in Paint Shop Pro’s Layers palette. Go to Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow. Adjust the available options for opacity, blur, and colour as well as the offsets for size and positioning. You can choose to apply the shadow on its own layer, which will also be linked to the object’s layer. Click OK to apply the shadow. Repeat for any other photos.
Photoshop Elements:
Click one of the photos. Open the Layer Styles palette, and choose the Shadows category. Select a layer style and drag it over to the image. Drop it on top of the photo you wish to shadow. To customise it, go to Layer > Layer Style > Style Settings. In the dialogue box, you’ll find options to set the Lighting Angle and the Shadow Distance. Click OK to apply.
Drop and perspective shadows consist of direction, colour, transparency, size or width, and blur or softness. The direction of the shadow should be determined by the placement of a theoretical light source shining on the object. For example, if the sun is shining on an object from the upper-right corner of an image, the shadow on the object should primarily show in the bottom-left quadrant of the image, away from the light source. Light directly in front of an image would throw a cast shadow, behind the image. It’s important to keep the shadow direction consistent in the whole layout, so keep this in mind if you are creating elements outside the layout to be pasted in later. You don’t want the shadow in one direction on one element, and an opposing direction on another!
The size of the shadow indicates how far an object is away from another object behind it, and the blur or softness indicates how far the object is away from the light source itself. An object directly in front of a bright light source would have a hard-edged shadow. An object with a wider or larger size shadow setting would appear to be higher off the background than a smaller size shadow setting.
Ribbons, Fibers and Bows
Paper scrapbookers have embraced the concept of lumpy layouts—this means adding dimension and texture to a layout by adding objects that “lift” off the page, such as ribbons, yarn, fabric, and other common crafter’s notions. The digital scrapbooker can emulate that look, without the bulk and weight added to a paper page. (This bulk can cause storage dilemmas as well as potentially affect the archival life of any photos included in layouts with those types of decorations.)
Embellishments and Elements
Adding decorative elements to your layout can result in a truly creative and unique image, and is perhaps the most exciting aspect of scrapbooking. You can choose from a variety of embellishments so that no layout looks like any other layout, even when using the same papers and mats. Paper scrapbookers refer to the decorative elements added to their pages as embellishments. Digital scrapbookers refer to embellishments as elements. Elements can include, but aren’t limited to, things like stickers; clip art; metal eye-lets; brads and snaps; metal and plastic mesh; clear glass or plastic pebbles; metal, wood, or plastic frames and plaques; and slide mounts and coin holders—the list goes on and on! You can create many of these elements yourself. For example, Web graphic buttons can be modified to look like real buttons or page pebbles. Mesh patterns can be used to create metallic mesh.
Of course, you can purchase digital elements or find plenty of free ones on the Internet, but you can also create your own (examples in one of the next chapters). You can also use your scanner to come up with unique papers and embellishments from everyday objects—scan in buttons, shells, old jewellery, macaroni shapes, and toys, you name it!
Using Digital Elements on Paper Layouts
Thus far we’ve discussed creating totally digital pages, but you can also add a touch of digital creativity to paper scrapbook layouts. Clip art makes wonderful stickers when printed on sticker paper or clear label sheets. If printed on sticker paper, you’ll want to trim closely to the printed edges. If you print on clear sticker labels (which are available in many sizes, including whole 8.5 ×11 inch sheets), you won’t need to worry about trimming so closely, as the clear sticker material itself will be virtually invisible, especially inside a plastic layout protector in an album.
Anything that you can create for a digital layout, you can print out to add to a paper layout as well. Consider matting your photos in your image editor, and printing them out as one piece. The “lumpy bumpy” embellishments you love to see can become part of a neat, flat paper layout, if you print out digital versions and adhere them to your traditional layouts. You’ll never run out of the perfect embellishment again—once you’ve created, purchased, or downloaded that great digital embellishment, you can use it over and over again, in a size and colour perfectly suited to the layout.
Text Techniques
The second most important concept of scrapbooking involves words—using titles and journaling to tell the story. In some cases, finding the right words may be a difficult task, but presenting those words in myriad ways is easy, using your computer. In fact, many traditional paper scrapbookers use computer-generated text almost exclusively in their paper layouts. If you aren’t fond of your own handwriting, and don’t want to invest your children’s inheritance in alphabet stickers and letter tiles, computer journaling makes the most sense.
If you’d like to use computer journaling with your traditional paper layouts, you can print text on a separate piece of paper, trim it, layer it over the title area, and use adhesive or glue-dots to give it a 3D look. You can use most card-stock and other paper types, and even some handmade papers work well in inkjet printers. In addition, you can use transparent vellum, which is pretty, especially layered over a patterned paper or photo. However, it’s hard to adhere vellum by itself because the adhesive often shows through. In that case, you might consider attaching your vellum paper to the paper layout using a metal eyelet or brad. Another trick for a vellum title box is to hide the area where the adhesive shows through the vellum by layering other non-transparent paper over that area. Vellum may require a little more time to dry than regular paper.
You can create your own word and photo transparencies—the kind that cost several dollars at scrapbook stores. Do this by buying inkjet transparency sheets and printing words and phrases or images using the manufacturer’s suggested ink and drying time. Text is important in every layout, even those that only have a title. It’s integral to a style of scrapbooking known as Word Art or graphic style. Generally, a layout in this style has few embellishments, and isn’t meant to simulate a paper scrapbook layout. This style creates a layout that resembles something you’d see in a glossy magazine advertisement. In fact, the inspiration for many graphic-style pages comes from magazines and commercials, or from paintings and other artwork.
Finding Fonts
For every scrapbook layout, there’s a font (or 100) that coordinates beautifully, matching mood and style of the design. Finding the perfect font is every bit as addictive as seeking out the elements that make your layout special.
Freeware Fonts
It’s not necessary to spend a lot of money to start a great collection of fonts. Many of the applications you already own come with a number of fonts. The Internet is a treasure chest of fonts. However, be advised that not all fonts are free. Many fonts are shareware, meaning you can test drive them to see if you like them, but if you’d like to keep them, you should pay for them. Use just about any Internet search engine (Google, Yahoo, or Dogpile) to search for “fonts” and you’ll find more links than you’ll ever be able to research! Scrapbook sites have whole font sections, with some available for download and some available on CDs that can be purchased online or through a local scrapbook store.
Commercial Fonts
Font foundries offer commercial versions of their fonts, and some for reasonable prices. Why pay for a font when there are so many free fonts available? Most commercial fonts come in families, which include various weights and styles of the same font—bold, italic, wide, condensed, etc. They’re usually developed with great care and attention paid to small details. They also often include extended character sets with extra symbols and special characters. If you have a special project such as a wedding album, you may want to invest in a special font (one that you won’t see everywhere), that will add a distinctive touch to your most precious projects.
Entire books can be devoted to the concept of font design; a brief synopsis of typefaces follows:
Serif-style fonts: Have small horizontal lines on the ends of vertical letter strokes. Serif fonts aid reading legibility as the eye follows the serif from one letter to the next.
San-serif fonts: Lack serifs. May not be as easy to read, but can add a lot of impact to a title or subheading.
Script fonts: Can be formal or informal. Some script fonts resemble handwriting and can be appropriate for journaling.
Speciality fonts: Often have small decorative characters incorporated in the font, such as flowers, snowflakes, hearts, and ladybugs.
Dingbat fonts: Fonts that are actually images, not letters or numbers. Dingbats are great for creating your own clip art!
Fonts - To be continued
