MULTIPLE-PHOTO LAYOUTS

Today some of our creative team share their views tips and tricks to using multiple photos on a single layout... 

Laura R: I have two favourite ways of including multiple photos on one layout. One is to use a series of photos. When my nephew first started moving himself he did a character-full bum shuffle and I caught it on camera. As he moves towards the camera he gets larger in the frame. To show the movement I printed them all in a fairly small size and spread them across my page.

My other favourite is using then and now photos. In this layout it is the same person on the right of both photos, taken 31 years apart.

Jess: As a pocket scrapbooker most of my layouts have multiple photos. I tend to approach this in one of two ways. Most often my layouts will have multiple photos from a range of days and activities that week. When doing this weekly approach I look for similarities in colour in the photos to tie in journal and filler cards to compliment them.

Also I have started doing double page layouts which means I can group photos together where they match, even if it's not chronologically accurate. Occasionally I will use multiple photos all from the same event, these layouts tend to be special occasions like birthdays or if there's a day when I take lots of photo of the same thing, for example a trip away. 

I really like working with multiple photos from the same location and time frame because they tend to include the same colours and finding cards to match is much easier.

Michelle: I started scrapbooking with pocket page layouts which are perfect for multiple photos, especially if they don’t all follow a “theme” so I was a bit dubious of attempting a 12x12 layout with more than one picture as the main focus.  I’m glad I gave it a go as now I love to scrap multiple photos.  I like to trim my pictures so that they are different sizes and focus on the main image with very little background, then I cluster them together; often overlapping them and balance the page by adding embellishments in empty space.

Pol: I don't often use multiple photos on a layout, but when I do I like to get a series of photos printed as a photo booth style strip. That way I don't have to worry about the placement of the photos, just where I want my strip. 

I also like to incorporate the photos into the design. For example here I used different sizes of circle punch for the photos to make them look like the 'bubbles' in the bath. 

Sarah T: By nature pocket scrapbooking uses multiple photos on a layout. When I'm doing my weekly pocket page layouts I sometimes have multiple photos I'd like to use for one event. I'm trying to stick to a one sided layout for each week, but I'm really bad at sticking to one photo. So in this instance I turn to my favourite photo collage app. Picframe. I can group together multiple photos of one event on one 4"x6" photo. 

Roxy: When it comes to scrapbooking I find scrapping multiple photos easier, as the main focus is on the photos rather than the rest of the layout. I like to make my photos different sizes or use a range of small photos, and cluster them together on a layout. To make them stand out, I like to back my favourite photo with foam. The layout below shows this. 

I also like to scrap multiple photos in my travellers notebooks. In this format its easier to do a double spread and span the photos across the pages; this way you can add some journalling or let the photos do the talking. Whatever format you scrap by, don’t be scared to use multiple photos! You will find lots of inspiration in this post!

Lisa-Jane - I’m not very good at limiting my photos and I often use two or more very similar photos on a layout or series just because I can’t bare to not use them! A really quick and simple way that I often use to start a layout with multiple photos is to use the whole width or height of the layout for the photos. Once you’ve placed your 2-3 photos (depending on orientation) you are more limited on your options to use the rest of the real estate which can make decision making a lot easier!

You can fit 3 landscape going vertically...

 ... or two landscape going horizontally...

...or even with a little bit of trimming, 3 x 3inch square photos vertically or horizontally. 

Because these placements don’t involve much decision-making they can be a great way to get me into my creative flow and they can also give me a starting point at a crop too. 

Susan: I find scrapping more than one or two photos quite difficult and the best way for me to include multiple pics is to start with a sketch. You can change any element of a sketch into a photo; the original sketch might have had, for example, squares or rectangles of patterned paper. You can substitute these with photos that layer, tessellate or overlap in exactly the same way as the patterned paper did on the sketch. Your photos do not have to stay as right-angled shapes - try hexagons, circles, ovals, anything you choose! And don’t be worried if part of a photo disappears off the side of your page. One other tip from me; if you want to scrap photos that don’t fit together colour-wise, try matting them all on the same neutral colour to give some cohesion to your page, or you could edit your photos and print them in black and white.

Kirsteen: When telling your story requires a lot of photos have you considered ordering a photo collage from Truprint (other photo printers will have similar products). All the hard work is done for you. All you need to do is cut out the photos and place them on your layout. 

Here's an example of a Truprint collage cut and placed on a 12x12 layout. 

Do you have any tips to share about using multiple photos on a layout?  Leave us a comment... we'd love to hear from you!