I am pleased to present you a small lesson on photo design using the digital scrapbooking technique for day No. 21, the theme is Venture.
I am describing a tutorial using Photoshop. The lesson was made in order to acquaint the participants with the direction of "Digital Scrapbooking". If you do not use this program, you can try to make a postcard on the online scrapbook site (more on that at the end), in a special program for digital scrapbooking, you can make scrapbook manually, and then take a picture of it, well, if this topic is not interesting to you Remember, the lesson is not mandatory.

scrapbooking(or scrapbooking, English Scrapbooking: scrap - clipping and book - book, lit. "book of scraps") - a type of handicraft art, which consists in the manufacture and design of family or personal photo albums.

Scrapbooking in its original sense is the decoration of already existing photographic materials with accessories and elements to create a certain mood.
In a simplified form, scrapbooking can be imagined something like this: we select photos, select background paper, decoration elements: eyelets, flowers, lace, ribbon tags, frames, dried flowers, beads, and so on, whatever your heart desires. We put it together, glue it, make inscriptions by hand or with stamps, and now the page is ready.

From the material (from the word materials) scrapbooking, the direction of digital or electronic scrap was born.
At first it was only an imitation of material scrapbooking, that is, people photographed real decoration elements, the same fabric flowers, lace, carnations, rings, tags. They cropped them and arranged them on the computer the way they wanted.
But graphics processing programs give a lot of space for scrap and, over time, the expected collage elements appeared in electronic scrap - people cut out along the contour with a photo, and not a whole photo, through masks, details that are translucent, layers arranged through blending modes.
Working with electronic scrap is cheaper and more convenient, all elements can be easily repainted in the desired shade, reduce or increase the size of each element, any inscriptions and stamps are always available (meaning that they are easy to create yourself or can be found on the Internet).

I must say that scrappers, that is, people who are fond of scrap, are most often not initially photographers. In addition, many of them, in order to create an interesting scrap, use photos of eminent or just good photographers. Many (of those who come to scrapbook to decorate their own photos) after some time are no longer satisfied with the low quality of their photos, and begin to study photography in order to realize their ideas, they want the quality of the photo to be at a certain level.

In addition, if earlier scrap was only a post-formation of existing photographs, now in electronic scrapbooking one can also consider such an approach - when some set is formed in the head, an idea appears and the scrapper begins to realize what kind of photo he needs for this scrap.

By and large, putting a frame on a photo is already scrap, albeit its most primitive form.
There are a huge number of templates and ready-made scrap pages on the network, where you just need to select and insert your photos and the job is done.

If we look at scrap from a more labor-intensive side, then this is a whole story: the creation of an idea, the search for materials, the creation of a suitable photo or selection, layout and fit.

Here is an example of the scrap that I made to decorate the wall for my son's birthday:

Ready-made scrap-sets were not used here, the elements were searched and found separately - background, frame, decorations, text, deuce, balls, rainbow, clouds. Clouds, by the way, I inserted from other photos, trying to create the illusion of a cloud transition from the background of the photo to the external picture. In addition, I took a photo for this scrap after I had roughly figured out what and how it should be here.

Scrapbooking, in my opinion, is like creating a bouquet. Technically, you take photos, backgrounds, elements and put them together.
The result is evaluated purely visually - like it or not :) I do scraps quite rarely and for a long time. At first I will make it approximately, it will rest a little, then with a fresh look you can clearly see where it is empty, where it is too much, where the wrong color or some other flaws.

However, a simple small scape card can be made very quickly.

Before creating a scrapbook, I ask myself two things. The first thing is whether I will do the scrap using ready-made photos, or do I need something completely new.
And why this scrap, design elements will only slightly complement the photo, or the photo will become a part, one of the elements of the final picture (as, for example, in the example above). In fairness, it must be said that it is not always possible to immediately give yourself an answer to the last question, often this is solved in the process.

Let's try:)

So, I decided to make a postcard page in which I want to beautifully arrange an existing photo:


I think we need some vintage style, flowers, swirls and delicate pink and lilac tones.
I am looking for a scrap-set with the given criteria on the Internet, I find it, I download it.

Here I specifically settled on a ready-made scrap kit, and there are reasons for this. Firstly, it's not as boring as taking a ready-made template and inserting your photo. Secondly, it is not as difficult as if you search for all the elements separately. At first, this seems like the best option to me.

1. I open the background in Photoshop, upload a photo and a frame there, arrange it approximately:

As you can see, we have already "created" the background, the designer has worked on it, as well as the frame.
2. The frame is gloomy in my opinion, I make it lighter with the help of curves, I add saturation:

3. So that the edge of the portrait is not visible because of the frame, using the oval selection tool, I create a mask for the portrait layer. (select the desired layer, use the oval selection tool to select the area that should be visible, click on the icon for creating a vector mask on the layers palette)

4. We add a picture with flowers to the scrapbook, put it behind the portrait, we get spots on the face, since the portrait is in the brightness mode for the background. To fix this, by analogy with point 3, we create an inverted mask for the layer with colors so that only what is behind the edges of the portrait is visible (select the desired layer, select the area that should be visible with the oval selection tool, hold down Alt and click on icon for creating a vector mask on the layers palette).

5. I add a butterfly, put it on a flower, add a curl and text.
We will make the text as a print, for this we select the letters with a magic wand, create a new layer on top of the text layer, without removing the selection, perform Filter-> Render-> Clouds, several times until you achieve the desired result.
Now we change the blending mode of the top layer, "bright light" suited me the most in this example, and reduce the opacity of each layer until the inscription looks harmonious. I apply the same algorithm to the curl.

In the process, I decided to change the text and font, it turned out like this:

Result:

A little more about where to get materials.
On the Internet, you can easily download both ready-made pages with masks into which photos are simply inserted, and thematic scrap sets - a set of already clipped elements, backgrounds and inscriptions in the same color scheme, or you can search for everything in parts - in clipart storages, backgrounds and frames.

A huge number of scrap kits in the album http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/ladyo2004/album/164834/
http://allday.ru/ - search for scrap kits
Yes, and just type scrap kits or scrap kits for Photoshop in a search engine and an endless amount of materials will appear to your eyes.
Many backgrounds, frames and clipart on the site http://lenagold.ru/
There are also many designs on the site http://scrap-info.ru/gallery/

I also want to note that there are online resources where you can make scrap pages and even entire books online. Sometimes this can be done after registering on the site directly from the site, sometimes you need to install a small application. There are already downloaded scrapbook kits - ready-made pages, stickers, tags, frames, inscriptions, flowers and everything else.
Unfortunately, these are mostly English-language sites; I did not find such sites in Russian.
For example, the site http://www.smilebox.com/ . I like this site for a large variety of materials and the ability to save the finished result in jpeg files, or, if this is a book, in a video slideshow, or burn a disc.
There is also such http://www.scrapblog.com/ earlier it was also possible to make scraps here, but now it redirects the mixbook to the site. The site is not bad, the tools are good, but the result can only be obtained in the form of a post on social networks, or ordering a print of the resulting book, for money, of course.

There are also special small and free programs for digital scrapbooking, in which backgrounds and elements are also pre-installed. Here is an overview of several such programs.
As you can see, in order to engage in digital scrapbooking, it is not at all necessary to own Photoshop.

In preparing the master class, the following resources were used:

It is an interpretation of a fairly old paper art with the same name. Thanks to the emergence of sufficiently multifunctional graphic editors, this modern trend has appeared. Now digital scarpooking for beginners is a work on a computer, where you can also make a family album. Digital scarpooking has much more possibilities than the traditional paper direction, using different spatial styles.

We offer you a short excursion into the field of digital scarpooking.

First of all, you should choose and study a graphic editor, the most popular of which today can be called Photoshop. Thanks to Photoshop, you can add a variety of decor, various blots and shampoos, as well as the necessary inscriptions to the page. At the same time, even in digital scrapbooking, it is necessary to master the basic rules of harmonious and correct composition.

The second most important element in digital scrapbooking, just like paper scrapbooking, is photography. It should be understood that the digital version will allow you not to use the original photo itself, but to perform all actions with its copy.

In addition, special attention in this work must be paid to graphics, and to be more precise, to the material from which digital pages are created. In this case, we are talking about various backgrounds, clipart, inscriptions, templates, etc.

Just like in paper scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking has whole sets that already contain the necessary decorations, decor, background paper and inscriptions in the same style.

When working with Photoshop, you will definitely find such a concept as a template, which is a separate file in which each element is located on a separate layer. It is enough to substitute the selected background, decor and photo into the template, and the composition is ready.

However, it is worth saying that digital scrapbooking has acquired its own types of graphics, such as masks, overlays, brushes and quick pages.

If we talk about the last option, then these are some kind of pages that are already ready for design, which only need to be supplemented with photographs.

Masks are graphics with a transparent photo that will make the edges of the photo interesting enough.

Overlay graphics allow you to create your own background paper, if necessary, age it or decorate it at your discretion.

Brushes are files that are already in Photoshop in the standard set, but if necessary, you can purchase other brushes or create your own.

As a rule, when working with digital scrapbooking, you need to follow a number of rules. One of the most important rules should be considered the protection of property rights, which also applies to ready-made sets. In the event that for your work you use a purchased or free set, but it is best to indicate the name of its author and the name of the set itself.

Each set folder has a file called "Terms of Use". It is imperative to comply with these conditions, which in essence boil down to the following:

Prohibition of assignment for the selected graphics of its authorship;
- prohibition to use graphics for commercial purposes, that is, the selected set cannot be used for works that will be sold;
- prohibition of the exchange of graphics;
- it is obligatory to place credits for work.

If we talk about credits, then this is a kind of list of materials that were used in the work. In this case, we are talking about the name of the set or graphics, as well as their author.

It should be borne in mind that even a set or graphics downloaded for free, have an author.

We wish you creative solutions and inspiration.

Digital scrapbooking(digital scrapbooking) differs from traditional paper scrapbooking mainly in that the main tool in it is a computer program. Therefore, we can say that this is a special technique in scrapbooking.

If you describe digital scrapbooking briefly, then this is the design of photos in a graphic editor.

How it works?

So, digital scrapbooking requires a computer with raster graphics software. It can be classic graphics applications like Photoshop. But in my opinion, to work in them, you need to have certain skills, which may not have enough time or patience to master. Naturally, programs specifically for scrapbooking appeared, such as Scrapbook MAX!, Wondershare Scrapbook Studio, PhotoMix, ScrapbookFlair, ArcSoft Scrapbook Creator Memories Edition. I myself have not tried any of them, as I have long been accustomed to Photoshop, but for beginners I still recommend special programs that have only the most necessary functions and a simple interface.

As for paper scrapbooking, ready-made “materials” are available for the digital version of this type of creativity: background “paper”, elements for decoration, frames, fonts, templates. They can be downloaded separately and in sets on thematic sites. Some materials are provided free of charge (for personal use), for some you will be asked to pay a couple of dollars.

For example, a free set of 98 elements from www.pixelscrapper.com :

On the same site there is a gallery of pages using this set, where you can find inspiration.

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What techniques can be used?

As you can see from the examples, quality digital scrapbooking "materials" make the digital pages indistinguishable from photographed real paper pages. After all, they have images of ribbons, buttons, flowers, the effect of a torn edge, and other elements familiar to us.

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The advantage is that there is no concept of consumables. Each paper or button can be used as many times as you like. Moreover, the size of each element can be changed arbitrarily.

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The same applies to photographs. How much easier is it to make a collage if all you have to do is drag files into the program and choose the right size? And the inscription is easy to make the desired size and color.

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Will digital scrapbooking win?

In this age of technology, when most of us have digital cameras and pictures are stored on a computer, it would be natural and logical to create photo albums also in electronic form. Then they can be viewed on the screens of various devices, or they can be printed on a printer or on photo paper and "layout" into an album (or photo book).

I want to note that from a creative point of view, digital scrap is not inferior to paper. It also has room for imagination and the use of creative solutions. The main drawback of such processing, I personally think is the lack of sensations that only manual work gives. For example, I don't feel the love invested in every page when I hold in my hands a photo book printed and glued together in a typographical way.

Today I'll take a closer look at working with the Scrapbook Flair program. I remember I already talked about it in one of mine. Then we went through all the nuances of installing Scrapbook Flair on your computer step by step. This time I would like to show you how easy it is to add ready-made backgrounds and decorations to the program.

As an example, I decided to use the Halloween-themed digital scrapbooking kits that I kindly shared with us earlier this week. In order to download the set you like from this collection, you need to go to the site of the creative group "Creative Misfits" and opposite the theme of your choice, click on the inscription "Download here".

Once you have saved all or part of the proposed digital scrapbooking kits to your computer, you can begin the work of adding them to the Scrapbook Flair program. As an example, I will use a set called Aqua, since it is the very first presented in this collection.

Create a folder called Halloween in the program sections Backgrounds (Backgrounds) and Embellishments (Elements).

Now you need to transfer all files from the Arts folder to the Backgrounds -> Halloween section, i.e. Ultimately, the structure of this section should contain the following eight subcategories:

4x6, 5x7, 6x6, 8x8, 8x10, 12x12, Common, Letter

In this case, we are interested in the Common section. Here we must copy the image files from the Aqua set, but only those that are in the AR315_CMC_Papers folder.

Step Three

Similarly to the previous step, we transfer files from the AR315_CMC_Elements folder to the Embellishments -> Halloween section of the program.

Next, launch the Scrapbook Flair program and create a new project from scratch: select the line Create a new account and Start a blank project in the menu that appears. Now in the Backgrounds field for your work, you can stumble upon the Halloween section, where the backgrounds we uploaded for scrap pages are located. Accordingly, in the Embellishments field in the Halloween section, you can also find elements from the proposed Aqua set.

This is what I ended up with in Scrapbook Flair. True, for this I needed to load a couple more elements and backgrounds from the other sets dedicated to the eve of All Saints' Day =) Good luck with your scrap!

Design elements for scrapbooking.

Scrapbooking design elements are:

Bows, ribbons, pins, paper clips, tags, key chains, cutout frames, envelopes, i.e. everything that decorates the scrap page.

In this lesson, we will create these decorations. We have already made a bow, a mounting corner too.

Pins.

1.Create a new document 500x500px (300dpi) transparent background.

Draw a vertical line with a 7px hard brush, holding down the Shift key so that the line is straight.

Apply layer effects:

Color - choose for yourself - this is a pin needle, it can be steel, gold, in the color of your set)

embossing:
style - internal bevel
method - smooth
depth - 225%
direction - down
size - 10
softening - 0

The rest of the settings are default.

Lock the layer effects and cut off the tip at the bottom of the pin so that it looks like the sharp end of the pin.

I made a selection with a straight lasso and deleted it.
(For clarity, I filled the background with black)

2. As the head of a pin, you can make a pearl or jewelry from a figure.

Pearl.

1) On a new layer, create a round shape with the "ellipse" tool, the settings are the same as for the shapes of the frame templates,
the color doesn't matter.

2) Applying the "pearl" style

Pearl Style Set

I applied the lilac style from the set, turning off the visibility of the "shadow" effect

I turned off the shadow because it is better to do all the elements for the set without external shadows.

These shadows are applied during scrappage creation according to the position of the element.

But we need to create a shadow from a pearl on a needle. To do this, load the selection of the layer with the needle,

create a new layer between the needle and the pearl and with a soft dark brush make a click.

We cancel the selection, we get this view.

I want to draw your opinion on the following:

While applying the style, you can adjust the impact of the effects.

To do this, move the mouse cursor to the style icon on the layer, right-click, select from the list
"impact layer-effects".

By moving the slider, the effect will change and you can make it the way you like best.

So, we have a pin with a pearl ready, save it in PNG format.

Turn on your fantasy.

You can make pins with two pearls and three, as you see fit.

If you will transform a pearl, then before that I advise you to fix the style,

otherwise it will vary from decreasing or increasing the size of the pearl.

Figure decoration.

For the shape you can use the clipart from your background set,
or another, suitable for the theme of your scrapbooking.

Transfer the clipart to a document with a pin, transform to the desired size
and install like a gem.

My examples.

As a figure, I used my drawings for children's scrap kits.

The basis of this drawing is my tutorial written in 2007

"We draw a cheerful sun."

You can create shapes in other ways.

This is described in detail in my tutorial.

This lesson also describes the creation of paper clips. Can be made from a Photoshop mold.

Sharing my "floristic shapes" set

1) Open plain paper.

2) From the form for Photoshop we create a figure.
Paths tool position

3) In the toolbar, go to the "outline selection" tool

4) Bring the mouse cursor to the document and right-click.

Select "Make selection" from the list

5) Copy the selection to a new layer.

We got a figure that can be used as the head of a pin or paper clip.

You can make a second figure, put it smaller than this one (duplicate, transform) on a larger one, and so that they do not merge,

make a shadow.

I put a "stroke" layer effect on the shapes, unwrapped the smaller shape with a free transform

Or you can make a smaller figure from another paper, it depends on your desire and imagination.

Tags.

Tags or tags - can serve both to decorate the page, and for the informative part...

For example, you can write the date of the event or a small explanation

to the photo or your memories to the events captured in the photo.

Let's make a tag template.

1. Create a new document 1500x1500px, 300dpi, transparent background.

2. Using the rounded rectangle tool, draw a shape.
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