Scrap Skills: Black & White Photos

One of the greatest things about most digital scrapbooking programs is the fact that photos can be edited within the programs in a host of ways. One of my favorite ways to edit a photograph before using it on a page is to convert the picture to black and white. I do it for dramatic effect, but I also do it to eliminate distracting colors in the photo. Changing a color photo to black and white also allows me to choose any scrapbooking kit I want, regardless of color scheme, and my photos will look great with it. Chelle’s Creative Team members have made a few pages as examples to show you.

First, we have a page by a guest member Debbie. She has some adorable photos of her daughter in a Halloween outfit that would be complimented perfectly with Chelle’s Cowgirl Up kit. Removing the color of the photos allows the focus to be on her sweet face, and it allowed Debbie to use the kit full of pinks, browns, and black without clashing with any colors in that flowered shirt she is wearing.

Next, Jenn wanted to use one of Chelle’s newest kits, Choose the Right {TREK}, but she was making a page about a trip to Disney. Even though the theme of the kit is different than the theme of her photo, they are a perfect match with the wooden paper and elements and the rustic feel of the photo. I really like how she made that photo very large on the page and used the kit elements to compliment it, not overwhelm it.

Finally, Leslie has done something a bit different with her black and white photo. She also used the color change to enable her to pick a kit at will, but she went a step further. Her photo of a street at Bar Harbor has been changed to black and white, but she changed the blending mode to Darken which cased the blue paper below the photo to show through and replace the white parts of the photo. It’s a perfect technique for a page about a seaside town, I think. By the way, she used Chelle’s Letters from Home kit for her page.

I hope you’ve been inspired to scrap with a favorite kit regardless of the colors in your photos. You’ll still have a perfect page capturing your memories if the photos are black and white than you would if the photos were in color, and you’ll have tons of fun using that kit!