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The great thing about scrapbooking is that you get to use those photos that didn't quite come out as well as you had hoped. Everyone has them tucked in boxes or drawer bottoms. The subject of the photo is not centered well or there is background that you would rather not display. Photos like these are great to use in a scrapbook.

There are different ways and techniques for cropping photos. You can use a plain pair of scissors that will make a straight cut. Craft stores sell scrapbooking scissors that create a different edging design to your photo or paper. These are great to use for cutting because they add detail to a less than perfect photo. Another way to crop a photo is to use a paper cutter. They make smaller versions of the old-fashioned paper cutter that many of us remember from our grammar school days. This ensures you of cutting a straight line and can help in trimming a photo down to a smaller size.

Another way to crop a photo is to use a paper frame to highlight what you want to stand out. You can use a stencil to trace the desired shape and size to fit your photo. Craft stores have a great variety of stencils and punch-out frames in many colors and patterns. You can also make your own frames using acid-free stock paper. Use a glass or other household item in the desired shape as your template. Use an exacto knife to cut according to the desired size. Arrange the frame over the photo and attach to your paper.

You can also crop photos by not cutting them at all and not using a frame. Consider making a collage as a layout for one of your album pages. It takes a little more time and it is like putting together a puzzle. Arrange the pictures so that the undesired section of the photo is overlapped by another photo. Some cutting may need to be done but this is a good layout idea. This works well when you have multiple copies of the same photo and you want to use them.

Keep your collection of photos organized and try not to pre-crop anything until you start working on a page layout. Once you are working on a theme for a page or entire album, spread out the photos that you would like to use. Identify the pictures that stand out the most to use as a focal point for the page. Seperate the other photos into ones that could be cropped and then pick out the ones you want to crop. Sometimes a picture of a person that wasn't taken close enough can pop out if you crop off the excess background and mount it on a color that contrasts with the page color. Even small photos can be cropped and be used for an album.

Even a mistake made while cropping a photo can be fixed. Use your imagination, frames and even stickers to cover up your mistake and save your photo.

Learn more about this author, Priscilla Benfield.
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