Scrapbooking By The Numbers - 6

One technique I enjoy works great when I have 6 photos.  I print one of them as my page background!  Obviously this requires either a wide body printer (I have the HP photosmart B8550 and LOVE it) or pages that are no larger than 8 1/2" by 11", but it can allow for some great effects.  In this first example, I was able to "print" white text directly onto the background since I was printing the whole thing as a photo.

This technique, can make creating a focal point on your page more challenging, and you need to pay careful attention to ensuring there is a focal area for your eye to rest on.  This first example is a somewhat unusual layout where the background is also the focal - due to the large ibis that sits in the center of the page. The eye then naturally moves from that to the lower left corner, where there is a bit more color, before moving on around the page.

Using one of your pictures for your background works great with photos that have lots of plain background, or are somewhat boring scenery but set the stage for your photos.  However, it can take some work to figure out where to place your smaller photos so they don't take away from your photo background.

This example allowed me to print a large picture of the sunset, and have several other pictures of it on the page.  The focal, however is a picture of the photographer where she sat and watched the sun set.

Figuring out where to put my smaller pictures was rather challenging until I decided the main area of interest in my background picture was the cityscape surrounded by sunset clouds and water.  Thus, I could cover parts of the foreground tree and the right edge where there was "excess" sea.

This final example is another one where printing my own background allowed me to use white text for my journaling.  Using the photo as background gives context to the other photos that are close-ups of the comorants on their rocks.  In my focal photo, the comorants are larger than in most of the other photos, but I also matted the picture with a wide white mat to help draw attention to it. Stairstepping the other photos and matting them in white helps them to be better seen against the background.

Next week concludes this series with a look at placing more than 10 photos on one page!