I went to my first crop!!

[piratesmate]

Oh my! I went to a CM party last year & bought a few things thinking I'd like to start scrapping. I found it difficult to get motivated, though. I've read threads on here & looked at your layouts, but was just finding it difficult.

Friday night DDIL had a crop party. I found it difficult to get started, but once I did....

I still think it must be easier to do when you're with other people to talk to. This consultant has frequent crops at her house, so I'm thinking of signing up for a few to get me started. What fun!

The only problem...I went through 3 sets of pix (I took 4 envelopes because I couldn't decide beforehand) before I found some that would work. They were taken on DD's Advantex camera back in '99 - before she knew to check the settings on the back of the camera. All the pix were wider than they needed to be. DH & I, on the other hand, tend to fill the frame with the person/people. There was no room to cut around them without cutting someone out. (Does that make sense?)

How do you deal with that? Or do you just take pix with more "background" around your subject?

TIA

 

[ToDisney]

I rarely crop my pictures unless there are distractions in the background. I tend to fill the frame. I also like to use different size pictures and am fortunate enough to have my own photo printer. It's hard for me to scrap just 4x6s. I get bored. Oh... and when cropping, you don't want to always crop out the background because some of that stuff tells time... like cars, etc.

 

[4greatboys]

For me it just varies. Sometimes I crop my pics depending on what else you can see in it and sometimes I just use the whole picture.
And getting stuck on a picture is one of the main reasons I like to crop in a group. If you get stuck or need a boost getting started seems like someone else always has a great idea to get you over that hump.

 

[piratesmate]

Thanks for responding.

OK - If you don't crop the picture, do you still mount it? Or do you just embellish it another way?

Maybe I need to check out some other crops in the area. I really liked this consultant's personality, but she was kind of insistent on having us crop the pix. Granted, it was a party - so maybe she was hoping we'd all buy the cutting system.

On the other hand, she's only been a consultant for 3 months. I noticed that all of her "consultant's story album" had cropped & mounted items.

 

[ToDisney]

Most of the time I mat my pictures, but recently I've been trying to get away from it.

Here are some of my layouts.

I would DEFINITELY recommend checking out other crops. Try your local LSSs (local scrapbook stores) for classes and crops!! The crops are always fun. You not only have your fellow croppers to bounce ideas off, but usually the store's "design team" members as well.

 

[4greatboys]

I usually mat my pics, occasionally I dont. I just seem to like the way they look matted better but doesnt make it the "right" way to do it. Its all just what you prefer.

 

[Spinning]

I am a cropper. Can't help myself! I am guilty of loving lots of pictures on a page!
I stick to basic squares and rectangles with a few spares circle/ovals.
I think I crop less and less now because I have gotten better with my picture taking and of course I can edit my digital pictures.
I will leave pictures intact if the back ground is interesting or adds to the layout.
So I think it is all personal preference.

 

[wtpclc]

Another note:

A really good photographer has nothing to crop out. So, that's a good things. By the way, you can take in your advantix film and have any size made, no matter what size you took. I've done that with some accidental panoramics that cut off top and bottom a little. The whole picture is still on the negative and you can get that stuff back, if you can follow me. Sorry, I'm a little sleep deprived!

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Cropping and matting is certainly not mandatory. That is the beauty of this hobby - it goes with what you want it to be!

As a for instance, generally when I am doing DS's football photos I'll use most of the shot, or only crop a little. But this weekend one of the spreads I was doing was his involvement with the varsity team when he was a sophomore. I asked him what he wanted to remember and he was mainly interested in the photos I had of him in the press box and a few of the boys he knew best. So instead of taking whole action shots I cropped in on just those people and did a few layouts by player number.

If you don't want to crop something out don't. You know what you like and the story you want to tell.

Deb

 

[TrixyA]

Last year, SIL made all of her brothers and sisters scrapbooks from their childhood. While everyone was thrilled to see the old photos of themselves, they were equally enthralled by the background-- old living room furniture, old cars, old buildings, etc.

I crop pictures on occasion, but have gotten very careful about cropping out the background of our lives as it's a significant part of our memories.

But, I agree with the sentiment that it's everyone's choice and that there is no wrong decision. Whatever works best to help you tell the story for a layout is what you should do.

Same thing with matting photos before mounting them. The only time I feel it's "necessary" to mat them is if I'm using a busy background paper and want to create a buffer zone between the printed paper and the photos.

 

[piratesmate]

Thanks for all the thoughts!

Part of my problem is that I really like the look of the cropped & mounted pix. I double mounted 3 pix that night - one oval, one heart-shaped & one diamond.

Only 2 got places on the page that night because I ran into a small problem with the diamond. I inadvertently used the same size (smallest) for both mat colors. So I decided to use the Mickey head edger that someone got for me to trim one of them...why, oh why do I bite off more than I can chew?!?!? I "lost" some of the shape in doing that, but by the time I finished trimming it, it was time to leave.

Now I'm glad, because I realize that I'd rather put some of the uncropped pix on the same page....sort of spread out the cropped ones I guess. I'm working on pix from our breakfast at 1900 Park Fare & fortunately have another whole set of DH's pix from the same event.

If anyone else would like to post links to some of their work, I'd really appreciate it! Now I have a better idea of what I'm looking at!

 

[ToDisney]

I'll be honest with you... shapes freak me out!! You will rarely see even circles or ovals in my layouts only cuz it totally throws me off... LOL!!! Even tilting a picture or journal box or tag will throw me off and when you see any of these in my layouts, it has taken me forever to look at it and accept it.

Like others have said... it's so much about personal preference and what works for me may not work for you or vice versa.

Just have fun with it!!