Incorporating Large Photos

Do you ever get stuck in a rut? Perhaps you’re like me and had the same hairstyle for about 15 years. Perhaps you are always wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt (they ARE very comfortable). Even in scrapbooking, it’s easy to find yourself “stuck” doing the same thing over and over. For me, it’s the size of my photos. I always get them developed in 4” x 6”, double prints of course. Although I can crop them so they aren’t all rectangles, I can’t crop them to be larger than 4” x 6”. I would like to challenge you to “kick things up a notch” this month and see what you can do with larger pictures. Just give it a try, and if you don’t like it, you are welcome to get back in those old blue jeans and 80’s hairdo!

Starting Small
For those of you who need to start with baby steps, I would like to recommend getting your next roll of film developed in the 5” x 7” size. It doesn’t seem like much, but you will be surprised at what a difference it will make. Even if you are going to crop those photos, you will like how they make you look like a much better photographer. The pictures in the Simply Adorable example here were developed in 5” x 7”. This first step, while small, will hopefully get you out of that 4” x 6” mentality.

Expanding Your Horizons
The next baby step I want you to take is to dig out your camera manual. Not everyone will be able to do this, but many SLR cameras actually have a panoramic setting. (It only took me about four years to find that button on my camera!) Panoramic pictures are typically 4” x 10”, but my developer actually makes them 4” x 12”, perfect for a 12” x 12” scrapbooker such as myself. A long or tall picture can make a perfect border or even title.

If you don’t have a panoramic option on your camera, pick up an Advantix panoramic disposable camera or have your photo lab crop and enlarge one of your regular photos into a panoramic photo.

Portrait Perfect
When you finish your first two assignments, you’re ready for an 8” x 10”. This will be no sweat; we all get portraits in 8” x 10” of our kids to hang on the walls, right? If your walls are as cluttered as mine, eventually you will need to rotate those photos out and put them into a scrapbook. I actually start each of my children’s albums with their 8” x 10” hospital picture, and use the small margin to write their “birth story”. You can also take advantage of products on the market like transparencies to lay on top of large photographs.

A portrait isn’t the only photo that can be an 8” x 10”. I have had candid snapshots and nature photos enlarged to that size and have been very happy with the results.

Bigger Still
Here’s where we get into some BIG fun. Let’s get even bigger than 8” x 10”. For me, this is not very easy and can get rather pricey. Those of you who are digital camera users have a distinct advantage here, because you can choose how big or small to print your photos and the only limits you have will depend on your printer size.

If you do not have the digital advantage, fear not! Your local photo processor can help you out. Just like they can make my panoramic pictures 12” in length, they will do the same to an 8” x 10” enlargement, making it 8” x 12”. I took advantage of that quite a bit when scrapbooking my sister’s wedding. You can also get enlargements in 11” x 13”, 16” x 20”, or even poster size. Although they won’t fit well in your scrapbooks as-is, you can crop them or cut them to fit over a two-page spread for a unique photographic background on your page.

Here are a few ideas for incorporating really big photos into your scrapbook pages:

• Print a photo as large as your background paper.
• Use a frame or cut out and pop up the focal point of your extra-large photo.
• Put a title and some journaling right on your enlargement by using vellum or a transparency.
• Remember that you can cut your photo to make it spread across a two-page layout.
• Cut that big picture into little squares and make an impressive mosaic layout.

Want some more samples and inspiration? Take a look at the Large Photos layout gallery here at Scrapjazz.

While bigger is not always better, a big photo sure makes a statement in your scrapbook. So take a step on the wild side this month. Try out a new hairdo, retire those old blue jeans, and scrapbook some BIG pictures!

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