All software products are slightly different and offer a variety of features
that enable you to enhance the look of your images. Other features include
creating artistic touches such as adding patterns of brush or pencil strokes,
blurring the edges of the photo and modifying the color.
The feeding and care of your printer
Whatever type of printer you use, it is a good idea to calibrate your printer’s
head every time you change your ink cartridge. This can generally be done using
the printer’s built-in utility program accessed through your computer.
Other items that will improve your output:
• Use the printer instruction sheet included with your paper and select
“Photo” or “Best photo options” from the printer properties and settings.
• Select “Photo paper” or “Premium photo paper” from the paper-type settings.
Depending on your needs, take into account that the printer software
allows you to lay out multiple-size prints on a single sheet of paper. This flexibility allows you to maximize the use of the paper so you can print several
smaller prints on an 8.5-by-11-inch page or create rows of wallet-size prints to
hand out to family.
• For ink, do your research to find a high-quality, inexpensive source for
DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING
FOR MANY PEOPLE, once they print those
photos of the kids in their Halloween costumes,
that special vacation trip or a family holiday celebration, the next step is creating a scrapbook.
Over the past several years, scrapbooking has
taken off as a creative way to preserve memories.
Photos are combined with colorful background
papers, embellishments and captions around
a theme that tells a story.
As the hobby has grown in popularity, the
supplies for creating scrapbooks has grown
exponentially. Entering this market is the new
approach of digital scrapboooking. Instead of
paper, glue and scissors, the backgrounds, embellishments and other elements are available
for download from various Web sites. Combining
them with the help of graphic software programs
allows the digital scrapbooker to create pages,
import digital photos and assemble a scrapbook that can be shared via the Internet, saved
on the hard drive, burned onto a CD or printed
out to be preserved in an album.
One advantage of digital scrapbooks is that
they can be easily changed or revised. Say you
want to crop your ex out of a photo and then
reprint the page—no problem. It is easy to
experiment with different looks and themes,
without the investment in special papers, etc.
And two photos can be combined, one as
background, the other as foreground, to
create a scrapbook page. The approaches are
virtually limitless.
As you create a page, save often. Once
the page is finished, save at 180 to 225 dpi
for printing to inkjet printers; 300 dpi for
professional quality.—Anita Thompson
