So today I’m addressing your questions about technology and how it relates to my approach to scrapbooking. I’m not super technologically gifted or anything (trust me), so I keep things at a fairly basic level.
[ what i use ]
My iMac is my sidekick, the computer that I love. I use iPhoto (this application comes with any Mac) for storing and organizing all of our photos. We use an auto back-up system with an external hard drive.
NOTE: If you’re not backing up your digital pictures … DO IT.
I do not use iPhoto for editing. I have been using Photoshop CS3 and will soon be getting the new Photoshop Elements 6, which looks so awesome and even has features that the more expensive (CS3) versions don’t even have. It’s already available for PCs and the Mac version is coming very soon.
[ other tools i use ]
Digital SLR: Canon 10D
Digital point & shoot camera (goes with me everywhere): Canon Powershot SD900 (Elph series). Great video with this too.
Scanner: Epson Perfection 4490
Color laser printer: HP Color LaserJet 3550. (If I’m not using pre-made letters or my own handwriting, I print any and all journaling with this puppy. LOVE the quality.)
Small photo printer (for 4×6 prints when I’m in a pinch): I’ve used a few of these over the years and like them all, although the technology keeps getting better. HP PhotoSmart 245, Kodak EasyShare 500, and Epson PictureMate.
Wide format printer (for 12×12, etc.): I’ve never used one, personally, but since I’m dabbling a bit with digital pages these days, I am looking forward to trying out the Epson R1900. I’ll give you my review when I do.
[ how i organize ]
In iPhoto, I organize all of our pictures in chronological/numerical order. Before I load any pictures in iPhoto, I do a quick edit through whatever batch of recent pictures I’m going to add, getting rid of any unwanted pictures (the bad & the blurry), then I re-number the batch of pictures, starting where I left off in our chronological pictures (remember they’re in numerical order). I do this with a renumbering program (File Sequencer) and I LOVE it. It takes a few seconds to renumber the whole batch and then I dump these into iPhoto.
[ getting ready to scrapbook ]
This is the process of getting my pictures from my computer (in iPhoto) to becoming physical prints that I put in our scrapbooks: I create folders (“albums” for you Mac users) in iPhoto for any category that I’m going to tackle. So let’s say I’m going to do a layout on a recent birthday. I browse through my collection of digital pictures and choose pictures that I think I may want to use. I copy these into the new folder called “Claire’s 2nd birthday”. I then draw a sketch based on how many pictures I want to use (or use a sketch I’ve already drawn) and now I know what sizes my pictures need to be. I open these pictures in Photoshop, “do my thing” (including resizing) and then upload my pictures to costco.com and pick them up!
[ editing ]
I do all of my photo editing with Photoshop but I hesitate sharing specific how-to’s because everyone’s software is different and the last thing I want to do is cause confusion. Maybe when I get Elements 6 (I’ve never used Elements, actually) I’ll share a few tips with that program since many of you probably have that. But really – there are so many experts out there (like Jessica Sprague – have you checked out her online classes?) that I’ll leave it to them to do the best explaining. You can always do a google search for tips with your specific editing software. I’m confidant that there is a LOAD of information waiting to get inside your head. : )
[ what about digital scrapbooking? ]
I am still a traditional scrapbooker, for the most part. However, I’ve been using Photoshop ever since we went digital in 2002. So I guess that makes me kind of “hybrid”, eh? Anyway, I LOVE the idea of digital scrapbooking. Think about how much physical space you could save! But at this point, I’m more of a dabbler. I actually did an entire mini album that was 100% created in Photoshop. So ultra simple but I love it. You’ll see that in CK very soon.
