Make the page pop with a DoublePhoto

Want to add a little interest to your scrapbook page? Make it jump off the page with a DoublePhoto. This neat little accordion fold trick lets you squeeze two pictures into one, and whoever is looking at your page will pick up the scrapbook and hold it up in the air, just to see the picture from both angles.

Start with the pictures you want to use. Let's say you're making a page about a child's birthday - pictures that would work would be the child as an infant and at present. For best results pick pictures that are visibly different from one another; if they're similar you won't get as strong an effect. Use Cropper to get down to the interesting part of the picture -- I used 18x24 as the aspect ratio since that's the same as 3x4, and 2 3x4's are the right shape to fit on a 4x6. (If you need to, verify the math while the DoublePhoto comes out of the printer. :-))

Now drag the two cropped images from Explorer into the placeholders in DoublePhoto. If you're happy with what you see, click Save.

Next, send the file you generated to the printer. (I usually do this using Windows; just click the Print button from the preview window you see when you double-click the file.) If you're using an inkjet printer you should let the ink dry a bit before continuing.

Next you'll need a straightedge and something to scribe the folds in the image. I use a rotary cutting/scoring set from Fiskars, but a ruler and a sharpened dowel (think "pointy stick") or similar scoring tool would do just fine. Line up the ruler with each of the boundaries between the two photos, and apply some pressure while you pull the pointy stick along the line.

Now carefully fold along the scored lines, in alternating directions, so that the photo ends up looking like an accordion.

Finally, attach the DoublePhoto to your scrapbook page, add your usual embellishments, and enjoy the reaction you get!

Scrapbooking with Cropper and PhotoSheet

Are you into scrapbooking? You might find some of the tools here useful. I have a few friends who are into scrapbooking and a few of these tools are handy for getting photos to the right size for that album page project.

Cropper is designed to do two things: 1) give you control over what part of a picture makes it into the print, and 2) allow you to whip through a folder full of photos in record time.

For your scrapbook project, let's say you have a picture of your child sledding with her friend's family. The theme for your scrapbook page is not her friend's family; instead it's the priceless expression on your her face that you'd like to focus on.

In the old days you'd take the 4x6 print from the drugstore and cut out your child, leaving you with a tiny oddly shaped 1x2ish picture of your child's face.

Now with software you edit the digital photo, use a 4x6 setting in the cropping tool to select your child, save the crop, and send it to the drugstore's web page to be printed at the 4x6 size. This effectively enlarges your child's picture to be the significant image on your album page.

Obvious, right? Cropper lets you whip quickly through a lot of photos and pull out the bits of the images you want to include in your album page. Pick the aspect ratio you want (1x1, 4x6, 8x10), use your mouse to draw a rectangle, and click "save crop".

The above example with the 4x6 image is pretty straightforward. Of course your album pages might be a little boring if all of the pictures on all of the pages were the same size. But how do we create the variety? If your photo printer deals in fixed print sizes (and usually 4x6 is the cheapest option), how do you get a couple of 4x3 prints, or maybe a bunch of 1x1.5 prints (for those pictures with characters at Disneyland)?

PhotoSheet creates a composite from a bunch of individual pictures. The final size of the composite is one of those sizes your drugstore probably prints at. And you get to pick how many pictures go into the composite. If you put 4 on a 4x6 page, each will be 2x3. If you put 2 on a 4x6 page, each will be 4x3. With 12 pictures each ends up 1.3x1.5.

Nifty. Now back to your page about your child's priceless expression. You have a few other pictures containing elements you want to include on your scrapbook page as accents.

1. First, decide which elements you want to pull out.


2. Next, run Cropper and select the aspect ratio closest to your target size.


3. Now drag the folder (or a photo from the folder) into Cropper and start cropping.


4. When you're done, drag the pictures you want to use as accents into PhotoSheet. Experiment with different image counts until you see what you like. Hit Start.


5. Now send the pictures created by PhotoSheet to the printer, and get your scissors ready.

Making a MiniAlbum

Here's an animation that shows how to assemble a MiniAlbum.