Cropping photos for scrapbooks is an easy thing to do, once you figure out there is no exact way that it must be done. With all of the tools available for scrapbooking, it is possible to crop photos in any shape or size imaginable.
The main thing to remember when cropping your photos is to keep them simple. Keep the main action as the focus. Consider a photo of a smiling child surrounded by only blue skies and green grass. If you are creating a page that is all about blue skies and green grass, then you may want to use the entire picture and just a border. Chances are you are creating a page that centers on the smiling child. The sky and grass only detract from the child, so you would crop them out.
Many times we have photos at gatherings that have people sitting at a table smiling at the camera with many others milling around beside and behind the center of the photo. So many try to use the entire photo because they are afraid to cut out anyone in the background. What you end up with is a photo with no focus to it. Most of your relatives won't mind if you cut them out of a picture if they weren't posing for it in the first place. In order to give your photo a focal point, crop out the people that aren't looking at the camera.
There are many tools out there that can be used to crop photos. One of the easiest to use is a personal trimmer. This is simply a paper cutter like you may remember from school, only on a much smaller scale. Place your photo on the tool and line it up with the blade and slice away any pieces you don't want. This tool only allows straight cuts.
There are tools that allow you to cut shapes in your photos. There are stencils that you mark with pencil and use scissors to cut out. There are also more sophisticated tools that can do the same thing. These use a cutting mat and small blades. The tools have edging that the blades fit into. Simply place the tools over your photos and run the blades along the edges to cut away portions of the photos. Many of these tools have different sized blades so you can also make borders that will fit around your photos.
One other tool out there is scissors. Many hobby stores offer scissors that cut with many different patterns. Is sometimes difficult to keep an even cut, but if you make an outline on the back of the photo it can usually be followed with ease.
These are some of the simple ways that you can crop your photos. Just remember to keep it simple and you will end up with great photos for your scrapbooks.