LARGE PHOTOS

Our monthly theme for July is large photos. Over the next month our creative teams layouts and blog posts will all feature photos sized 6"x 8" or larger.

In today's joint post the team are discussing how we use large photos...

Jess Claire: A large photo can mean different things depending on what format you're using. My examples might sound small in comparison to 12x12 scrapbookers, but my format is smaller. In my December Daily album and my recent Week in the Life album I used a number of 6x8 photos, which, for those albums, was a full size photo. In my Week in the Life I also used an 8x12 photo which covered a double page spread (photo 1). I have done this in a Traveller’s Notebook, where I printed my photo at 8x10 and cut it down to cover both pages (photo 2). In all of these cases I have left the embellishing to an absolute minimum. I usually include one or two small pieces and maybe the date. For two of my Christmas pages I used the large acrylic words from Ali Edwards' story kits (photo 3). As a predominantly pocket scrapbooker they always seem too big, but paired with a full size photo in a mini album they look really effective. 

Photo 1...

Photo 2...

Photo 3...

Maria: Before I started scrapbooking on 12x12, I used to use 8x8 books all the time. They were very convenient for me and for a while I loved them. The problem with an 8x8 page is that a ‘normal’ sized photo looks huge! So I have quite a few layouts in my 8x8 albums where the photo is the main feature. My advice would be to not only make your photo the main focal point but also try to keep the embellishments to a minimum. The photo is already taking a lot of space in your page, so don't distract from it with tons of embellishments. Yes, keep your clusters in 3s if that's your thing, but keep them minimal as otherwise your page could look too busy. 

Michelle: To be honest I have never scrapped a large photo, I always print 6x4 and often use an app to print 2 photos on that one 6x4 print. I'm super excited to give it a try though as I find it really satisfying when I get out of my comfort zone and try something new ... and it gets all the school photos out of boxes!

Pol: I really enjoy scrapping with large photos but I don't do it as often as I should. I absolutely love the look of a page where the photo is huge and has been directly embellished or journaled on. I usually print my photos at 3x4 so even a normal 6x4 is a large photo for me!

Terri: I love scrapping with large photos, especially in my travel albums. I like to use them as a title page or as a divide between countries or cities. It annoys me that the cost of printing large photos is significantly higher than a standard print size so it means I don't do it as often as I would like. I try to use large photos that have some space in them so I can cover parts with embellishments and journaling. 

Laura Jane: I have only ever scrapped one layout using a larger size photo; this was using a 6x8 photograph on a 12x12 page, as one part of a double page layout. I did find the larger photo challenging to begin with as I was unsure which direction to go with it, but I chose papers which I could mirror on each page, added my title and kept the embellishing to a minimum. Once the layout was completed I was really happy with how it looked and have since seen some beautiful layouts using large format photographs which have really inspired me to consider this again in the future. I think the most important thing to remember is that if you're not happy with the end result you can always take it apart and re-do your layout ... as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you have never used a large photograph in your scrapbooking I would urge you to give it a try as I think it gives a different perspective to have your photo as the main/largest component of the page and can be really effective. Here is my double page layout showing the page with a large photo and minimal embellishing. 

Jackie: I find that large photographs on a layout looks great in my holiday albums. For my New York album, which is still on going, I've used a large photo as a way to divide the places I visited. For these large photograph layouts I tend to keep the embellishments to a minimum. This is also something I intend to do when doing my other travel albums. 

Susan: I love to use a big bold photograph in my scrapping, especially as I tend to stick to just one photo on a page. I like to balance the photo with a big bold title, too. My favourite thing to do with a large photo, especially one that has a central subject, is to cut the photo giving emphasis to the important bit. Usually I cut vertically, as in the page featuring my husband walking on the beach. Sometimes I’ll even cut the photo into a jigsaw of nine pieces! I have a blog post on the technique I use to do this here. My final tip; don’t be afraid to stick titles or embellishments right on your large photos.

Lisa-Jane Johnson: I do love using a large photo on my layouts - they are always so striking because they are not what we are used to seeing. They also leave a lot less room for anything else so you are working with a much narrower field of decision making! These layouts use photos you get printed on the day from some sort of visitor attraction and features one of my children sitting with Father Christmas in his sleigh at Warwick Castle. They sit right at the front of our Christmas 2013 album because of the impact of the large photos. I've seen large photos used in pocket pages by cutting them up and sort of piecing them back together in the pockets and I love the way it looks but you do have to choose the right photo and the right distribution to pull the look off and I've not managed it so far!

So there you go, my lovelies! I hope we've inspired you to break out of your comfort zone slightly and have a go at scrapping a large photo with us this month!