Posts Tagged: 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!

Color photography is the commonplace standard, but there are many times when a black and white photograph can really add to a digital scrapbooking layout. Of course, you should always use black and white if it’s all you have, and if your story includes vintage photos, you should use them as they are. The photos themselves help to convey the era of time because they are black and white. But, sometimes it’s helpful to convert color photos to black and white to enhance them or to make the photo have more visual impact on the page.

Carol had some gorgeous pictures of her granddaughter in her ballet tutu. The contrast between light and dark show off her adorable poses so well in a colorless photo, and the impact of her light body in front of the dark background would be lost somewhat if the photos were color. Using black and white photos to show high contrast is a great trick for adding a big impact to a page. By the way, she used Chelle’s Tutu Cute Bundle for all those cute pink and grey elements and papers.

Kassie was not happy with the quality of her photos but wanted to scrap the memory, so she converted them to black and white, and it really enhanced her images. This is a great trick to use when editing photos that are less than ideal in color. She used Chelle’s Big City kit and Tiny Tabbed Alpha for her page, and it all works perfectly together.

Finally, let’s look at Jenn’s page. She had photos from a Disney trip, and her family had their pictures taken in front of Cinderella’s castle. Lots of colors on clothing or busy patterns on apparel can be distracting on a page, so Jenn changed the photos to black and white. The effect is that the focus is on the people in the photos instead of the clothing – exactly what she wanted! By the way, she used Chelle’s new CU Watercolor Brushes and the classic kit Happily Ever After  with some greenery added from Girl Power and Blessings.

Do you have some pictures that need help? Maybe they have bold, distracting colors on them? Change the color profile to black and white. Or, maybe you have the perfect digital scrapbooking kit in mind that you want to use, but the pictures you have don’t match it. Convert the pictures! It’s a great trick to help in lots of situations.