Welcome to the SK Digital Scrapbooking Forum FAQ!
I hope this thread answers some of your questions.
Q: Where's the best place to start?
A: Well, you're really asking a whole host of questions there! The best place to start is to look at other peoples galleries, and join
Scrapbook-Bytes and/or
RAKScraps for inspiration! You'll also need to download resources (unless you plan to make everything yourself).
Q: What programmes do you use?
A: Most Digital Scrapbookers use either
Adobe Photoshop,
Corel Paint Shop Pro or
Microsoft Digital Image Pro. You need a program that supports layers and has versitality in it's functions. You can find free trials of all three programmes by clicking on their names above.
Q: Where do you get the resources?
A: You can find free resources all over the internet, starting with our thread here at SK:
Freebie Links. You can also purchase kits and elements at many different sites, when you feel ready. Most kits are between $5 and $7, some more and some less depending on quality and content.
Q: How do you store your resources?
A: This depends on the scrapper. Some sort by element type (papers, alphas, etc), some by kit, some by store, some by designer. It is beneficial to sort by designer and then kit, or store, and then designer, so as to be able to give proper credit when posting to online galleries or submitting for publication. As the resources add up, it becomes difficult to keep track of where you got what.
Beware: Digital Scrapbooking eats up your hard drive space fast! Some burn their kits and layouts to CD or DVD using CD/DVD rewriters or programmes such as
Nero or other
Burning software, some use
external hard drives and some choose to keep their resources solely on their PC. It is advisable however, to have all your photos and layouts backed up in case of a virus or computer crash, which could potentially wipe out all your files. Be careful!
Q: What size do you scrap at?
A: You can scrap at whatever size you wish, the most common being:
12"x12" (3600x3600 pixels)
8"x8" (2400x2400 pixels)
8"x11.5" (3200x4600 pixels)
You also need to ensure you are scrapping at no less than
300DPI or your layouts will not print at good quality.
Q: What format do you save in?
A: It depends on your preference, but most save in either
.JPG/.JPEG or
.PNG format. To preserve layers (for example, on unfinished layouts), you must save in the format of your program (ie.
.PSD for Photoshop Users, and
.PSP for Paint Shop Pro users.)
Q: How do you print your scrapbook pages?
A: Some send their layouts off to online photo labs such as
EZPrints or take their layouts to be printed at
Costco or
Kinkos. Walmart also print such pages. Alternitively, if your printer is big enough to fit the size of layout you are scrapping at, you may choose to print at home, or buy a new printer to accomodate the size of your layouts. It is worth calculating which would be most cost effective before you start printing.
Q: How do you make your pages look real?
A: Some digital scrappers want to make their digital layouts look like paper ones. You can achieve this not just by using real looking elements, but also by using
Drop Shadows. You can find a tutorial on using drop shadows
here.
Q: What are the advantages of digital scrapbooking over paper scrapbooking?
A: There are many. The most important is that there are not nearly the amount of freebies for paper scrapping as there are for digital. You can get away with digital scrapbooking without spending a single cent on resources. Another is that you can use your resources over and over again for as many layouts as you wish, without it costing you any more money. You also have the ability to "undo" something if you do not like how it looks, as well as crop photos in different ways, position things differently and use different fonts, etc without wasting money. It is also a lot less messy than Paper scrapping and takes up a lot less time and room! Once you go digital, you will never go back!
Digital Scrapbooking FAQ
