scraps of jacki's life: tutorial

More about me

i can read, write and speak english fluently. ek kan vlot afrikaans lees, skryf en praat. ik kan prachtig nederlands lezen, schryven en spreken.
i am jacki
i have a small scrapbooking shop in benoni, south africa. i have a son -francois- who is 22. his father died more than 6 years ago, in 2002. mike and i have been happy together more than 5 years. he has a son -sean- who is 12, who lives with us. he is my bonus child. mike also has 2 older sons, 22 and 24 years old. scrapbooking is my hobby, my passion and my source of income, and blogging is my compulsive obsession. and i photoshop everything, to make life seem more beautiful...
Why i do this...
I have always been a writer. No, not an author, as in someone who has written a book, but a writer, as in someone who writes. As a teenager I was a prolific letter writer, and people said that I should write books. When I was 19 and unmarried, and discovered that I was pregnant – with that wonderful boy, Francois - I put pen to paper, and dealt with my feelings of confusion and fear by writing. When my husband Ronnie died one awful April morning in a plane crash and left me behind, shattered, heartbroken, and in the depths of despair, I was pouring out my feelings on paper within days, and continued to do so for a whole year. So, I have always been a writer. But I have only recently discovered blogging. Initially it felt uncomfortable. It was a chore, a commitment I wasn’t sure I could keep. I was, and still am, painfully aware that there are people who read this. Writing about life, and feelings, and fears, is like putting your heart outside your body, where people could step on it. You open little windows to your soul, and let people peep into them. You make yourself vulnerable. And yet, almost perversely, you want people to read this. You need people to see. You hope people will understand you a little better. You need to share shards of your soul, some beautiful, colourful, and some cracked and scratched and ugly. I have always been a writer. I need to think ‘out loud’, in writing, where I can re-phrase, re-read, edit, and really think about what I’m feeling, and why. Putting it in words helps to crystallize, to clarify, to process. Part of my growth process is to write it down. But, if it means anything to you, if you agree or disagree, if I make you think, if I make you smile, if I touch a chord, then please, please leave a comment. You can comment by clicking on the word ‘comment’ below each blog entry, and a block will appear for you to write in. It only takes a minute, but it means so much to me. If you don’t, it feels as if I’m shouting in the wind, and nobody hears me…

tutorial - creative cropping

playing and experimenting with photoshop has really made me feel more adventurous. and there is one thing i have realised - sometimes being unconventional and creative makes for a so much better photo.

{some of you who read this blog regularly will have seen some of these photos before. }

i want to show you some examples of how interesting creative cropping can be. you do not need photoshop for this, any photo editing software can so most of these things.

i am just a girl from benoni. i am not a photoshop expert. if you are prepared to figure it all out with me, then you are welcome. if you want a degree in photoshop, then you are at the wrong place...

word art: shabby princess, ronna penner, remember this, part of the express yourself kit

frame: michelle coleman floral frame, part of the 'wonderful' kit

ugh! looking at photos of myself makes me realize 3 things: i HATE photos of myself, age is unmerciful, and i love, love, really love photoshop!

frame: shabby princess scalloped border, part of the 'fesitval' kit.

by doing some really close cropping, you can get rid of that distracting background.

frame: shabby princess shabby borders1 inked border

you can also put the focus an the subject's eyes.

frame: jessica sprague grunge frame

the way i cropped this photo of my mom and my sister, creates an intimacy, a closeness. it also highlights how much they look alike.

this is marni. she is my brother andre's daughter. i want to use this photo of her to show you a magic trick in photoshop.

open your photo. create a new layer. do your basic edits. then, click on 'image' in the overhead menu. on the drop-down menu, choose 'crop'. a highlighted block will appear on your photo, with handles that you can make the block bigger or smaller. but first, under the word 'file' on the overhead menu, find the words 'aspect ratio', as shown by the pink arrow on the photo below. on the drop-down menu, you can choose one of many options. i like to use 'use photo ratio', as this makes the photo easier to print.

when you move your mouse on the handles of the cropping block, you will see that the arrow suddenly changes to a curved arrow. this means that if you click there and hold your mouse button in, you can move the angle of the cropping box, as shown by the green arrow in the above photo. when you are happy with it, you can click on the green arrow to accept it. if you are not happy, you click on the red circle, and try again.

the whole idea is to experiment, to play. crop dramatically. click to accept. look. like it? keep it. don't like it? go to 'edit' in the overhead menu, and click on 'undo crop'. photoshop is so much better than real life, you can do wild, brave, irresponsible, silly things, and just 'undo' afterward. not like real life, where you are stuck with the hangover/baby/crashed car/credit card bill.

frame: shabby princess shabby borders1 inked border

and this one i'm particularly proud of. this is ron, the man's father. i took this photo of him on christmas day 2006.

frame: shabby princess shabby borders1 shabby lines

go on, give it a try. remember, it is all about playing, experimenting, having fun. if you don't like it, you don't save it!

you can find my other photoshop tutorials here.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

this post was featured on paxton prints and photoshop-pack and scrapscene and scrapdiary

Posted at 02:48 PM in Family, General Blabbering, Photoshop is my new best friend.., Sean, Tips and tutorials | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00e54ef1e3f1883400e553a219028834

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference tutorial - creative cropping:

{some of you who read this blog regularly will have seen some of these photos before. }

i want to show you some examples of how interesting creative cropping can be. you do not need photoshop for this, any photo editing software can so most of these things.

word art: shabby princess, ronna penner, remember this, part of the express yourself kit

frame: michelle coleman floral frame, part of the 'wonderful' kit

ugh! looking at photos of myself makes me realize 3 things: i HATE photos of myself, age is unmerciful, and i love, love, really love photoshop!

frame: shabby princess scalloped border, part of the 'fesitval' kit.

by doing some really close cropping, you can get rid of that distracting background.

frame: shabby princess shabby borders1 inked border

you can also put the focus an the subject's eyes.

frame: jessica sprague grunge frame

the way i cropped this photo of my mom and my sister, creates an intimacy, a closeness. it also highlights how much they look alike.

this is marni. she is my brother andre's daughter. i want to use this photo of her to show you a magic trick in photoshop.