more digital scrapbook questions

[disneyfan2]

I was looking at all the awesome pages posted, and wondered how you make a photo as your background? Also, if my pic is 4x6, how can i make it the background in 12x12 page without it being distorted. I have PS elements 5.
I read someone posted about changing opacity but i don't know where to do this.

 

[Fran98765]

You will have to stretch your picture to fill the entire 12x12 area. As long as your pic is a good dpi, it will look fine enlarged. Then you reduce the opacity for the layer. You can also use blending techniques with other papers.

On this layout, I used 2 backgrounds and one picture blended to get this neat effect:

One background had the circles but was the wrong color, so I blended it with another paper to get the color I wanted and then used the pic of Main Street and lowered the opacity.

To ensure your picture will look ok when printing, look at the layout at 100% zoomed and examine your picture. If it looks good, then it will print good. If it's choppy and grainy, then you've stretched it too far. I haven't had any issues stretching digital photos yet, only scanned in film photos.

 

[Fran98765]

And here is one of the first digital LOs I did, and the first Disney one too. On this one I stretched the pic and the reduced the opactiy and that's it. Be sure to maintain ratio sizes when you stretch, I've seen several people stretch pics and then things look funny because they didn't maintain the original ratio.

 

[disneyfan2]

thank you, but can i stretch a 4x6 pic into 12x12 without it becoming distorted?

What do i select in PSE to change opacity? What menu would it be on.

 

[Fran98765]

I use PSP so I can't tell you exactly, but over my layers window is a slide bar with opacity, PSE should be similar.

And it depends on the quality of your photo, only way to tell if it will stretch well is to try it and test it by viewing the page at 100% zoom.

 

[disneyfan2]

Thanks Fran, i will try playing with this today. As for enlarging the 4x6 photo, do i use the outlined box and stretch the photo, or do i use the shift and stretch it. As for the Opacity(had a Duh moment,lol) it is right in front of my eyes. I was looking through all the menu and could not find it but it was right on the layers as you pointed out,. What % do you find works best? I am getting closer to getting the hang of this!! Just a couple more weeks and i might be set to do a layout, lol

 

[Fran98765]

i'm not sure about PSE stretching, I've heard others say something about the shift key, so maybe use that. In PSP you just click and drag and it goes, or you could use the resize function, you should have that in the menus somewhere.

As to opacity, what looks good depends on the layout. I think for just a general bg like the boating one above, I did around 60%. Just play with it until you find something you like.

 

[daisyduck123]

subscribing....

 

[MakingScrapbooks]

Beautiful layouts ladies!!

 

[disneyfan2]

another quick question, how do i soften the edges or fade the border of pic once they are on a layout,. Some look so bold against the background and would like to see how i can soften them. thanks in advance?

 

[Fran98765]

Well, lots of designers have edge frames that you can use. If you have masks, you can use them too. Or if your program does it, you can feather the edges as well. Extracting and blending is also fun! The possibilities are endless with digital! Here are some examples from me with these techniques:

2 pager with edge frames

Feathered edge

Extraction

Extration & then blended into bg

Slicing is also fun with pics:

There are so many fun frames too! Like bent frames:

and clusters:

and stacking (with the edge):

I am always looking for picture framing, so I have a lot of options to choose from! And even with all of that... sometimes, just a simple matting will do!

 

[disneyfan2]

wow Fran, your pages are amazing, tyvm!