How To...Edit, Print and Share e-Scrapbooks

For Reproducible click here. PDF 52KB

Build artful collages with Picasa2 as a unique way to include more photos on a scrapbook page.

Memory books and scrapbooks are always special, especially at the end of the school year. Help create memoir pages for your graduating students or just to reflect on the memories of this school year.

Scrapbooking elements
Planning a digital scrapbook project requires students to look at three main elements once they've gathered their resources: photos, basic page design and journaling or text. Organizing these elements using a graphics editor makes it easy to create digital scrapbooks for a variety of topics like "All About My School Year" or "Our Field Trip." Research topics like "My Favorite Planet" and pages on Earth Day 2006 can be published as digital scrapbooks. Whether you assign each student a page for your project or design just one page to enlarge as a poster, student engagement will be high with published scrapbook pages showing their research.

Taking photos
Photos are the main visual focus for digital scrapbooking. To help insure your success, here are some keys to obtaining quality pictures.

1. Keep in mind that photos from a digital camera or scanner are bitmapped graphics, made up of square pixels or dots. This means digital photos always have a background. Making a digital photo smaller is seldom a problem; making it bigger enlarges the pixels and can distort or blur the image.
2. Match your photo resolution to your print or web needs. 72 dpi is adequate for school website pictures, but printed scrapbook pages will need to be at least 300 dpi for quality prints. Also, keep in mind, the larger the printout, the higher the dpi needs to be. To learn more about resolution, dpi (dots per inch) and ppi (pixels per inch), visit http://dx.sheridan.com/advisor This excellent resource defines image file formats and explains print topics such as color, page layout, resolution and image types.
3. Use the original file each time you edit a picture to avoid distortions.
4. Using png files (portable network graphic; pronounced ping) can be very effective for e-scrapbooks. A png is an image with a transparent background. Visit www.graphicssoft.about.com/od/formatspng for more about the png format.
5. Finally, always keep a backup of your photos! Burn your digital photos on a CD-R to prevent files from being changed.

Editing digital images
Basic editing can be done on the camera or with any number of photo editing software programs. For a chart of popular photo editing programs with a checklist of features for photo editing and scrapbook layouts, visit our website, www.TeachingK-8.com

There are also a number of software/web-based photo services that will support your photo editing and layout design. These tools make it easy to import/export photos, edit, add special effects and organize into albums.

• iPhoto – An iLife ‘06 product from Apple. Mac OS X. www.apple.com
• Picasa2 – Free download from Google with one-click editing and effects. Win2000/XP. picasa.google.com/
• Kodak EasyShare Gallery – This free software download is a great way to store and edit digital photos. Use one-click edit tools to enhance lighting, crop and even create collages of four to 100 photos. Win/Mac. www.kodakgallery.com
• Snapfish – This online photo service from HP facilitates camera or computer uploads – even e-mail photos from your mobile phone. Install PhotoShow for more features. Win. www.snapfish.com
• Yahoo! Photos – Upload pictures and print at home or school – or order and pick up prints at a local Target store. http://photos.yahoo.com

All of these photo tools let you e-mail photos to share with colleagues – or e-mail to parents to highlight special school events. Explore the possibilities for creating photo posters, calendars, greeting cards, and even real U.S. postage stamps using the digital photos from your next class project.

For Reproducible click here. PDF 52KB

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.