Cropping Photos

With good cropping you can make your photos pop off your pages.  Keep in mind that you only want to remove the unnecessary background bits that don’t go with your theme (subject).  If you are scrapping a travel album, you might want to leave in the palm trees, Statue of Liberty or even some architecture to set the mood for your album.  There are times when the background is as important as your subject.  Remember, “think twice, and cut once”.  

Cutting Tools

When you crop a photo, be careful not to remove any important pieces of history.  A family picnic with the old car in the background, or old-fashioned clothing or furniture can prove to be of great sentimental value for some of your family members as well as verifying the date of the photo in question for future generations.  Always keep in mind what you want as your focal point in each photo before cropping. 

Not all photos have to be square.  There are many plastic templates and cookie cutters for patterns available.  You can crop photos into interesting shapes such as ovals, clouds, circles, raindrops, hearts and other simple objects. Plastic templates come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You can always make your own, using plastic margarine tub lids or heavy cardboard.