With the holidays around the corner, it's time to think about what kind of gift we want to give to our friends and family. I am a big fan of photo gifts because they are personal and thoughtful. Yet digital scrapbookers can take it a step further and add words or decorations.
I took this photo of my sister-in-law and daughter at the zoo a few months ago. My sister-in-law doesn't like pictures of herself, so I thought this one of the back of her head and hand made for a safe gift.
I edited this photo quite a bit to make it look like that. It actually started off like this:
I cropped away some elements at the bottom that we didn't want. That let space at the top. For any forensic people out there, you will be able to tell that the photo is patched and blended up there. I'm guilty as charged, but I can do what I want because it is my picture! It's called artistic license.
This composition left me plenty of room to write the sentiment, “Aunts like you are precious and few.” I added a soft black outline around the text to help it stand out from the photo. Also, I realized afterward that her other four aunts might get offended by saying that aunts like her are "few." I hope they don't take it the wrong way. We need the "few" to be there to rhyme with "you" anyway.
I also spent some time airbrushing the smudge marks on the glass from where all the other visitors had touched. I also played with the part of the photo behind the glass to make the blues richer.
I presented it to her on her birthday in an 11x14 matted frame. Now isn't that better than just buying something in the store?
No comments:
Post a Comment