Pet scrapbooking - an introduction
Considering doing some pet scrapbooking? After all they are members of the family and deserve a space in your album, don't they?
Of course there are many different types of pets, some cute and furry, others scaly or feathered. You would probably tackle a dog scrapbook page differently to one where an iguana is the star!
Before we move on and feature a variety of pet scrapbooking pages, lets look at taking the photos that you will use in those layouts.
One of the family
If you are able to interact with your pet, then it can be nice to include him or her in your photos of the rest of the family.
I always think it sad when I'm with friends when they are taking pictures of their kids and are forever saying, "Move out of the way, Toby, I don't want you in the shot!" In later years the children might enjoy seeing pictures of the family dog that they shared their childhood with.
Capture your pet's character
You can go one better and make the animal the main focus of the photos and create pet scrapbooking layouts that show their individual characters.
If your pets are anything like mine, they do the funniest things and its great to try to capture these moments, whether its an action shot of your dog jumping to catch a frisbee or a picture of your cat curled up in a unexpected place.
Often we tend to take more photographs of our pets when they are cute, cuddly babies and then forget to snap them as they grow older.
Sadly most pets do not share our lives for long, unless of course you happen to have a tortoise, or parrot, who may well outlive YOU, so grab those pictures while they are still around and then even after you are parted you can create a memorial scrapbook layout of your beloved pet.
Pet scrapbooking photography tips
You don't need to be a professional photographer to take pictures of your pets. The tips below will give you some guidelines for getting the best pictures.
- Get down to their level. Taken from above, your photos may have a strange perspective and be unusable.
- Get in close. A photo where your dog is a mere dot in a wide landscape, will not work as well as a portrait that clearly shows his markings and expression.
- Check the background. Before you press the shutter, check what is in the background. Will it enhance or distract from your picture? Can you move a little to improve things?
- Catch the action. Use a fast shutter speed, or Sports mode, to get blur free shots.
- Take lots of pictures. If your camera has a continuous shooting mode, use it to capture a sequence of photos, which often tell the story better than a single shot.
Additional elements
With great photographs you have the raw material to create wonderful pet scrapbooking pages. But what else do you need?
Just as with any other layout, your pages will need suitable card stock, scrapbook papers, journaling and embellishments to help tell the story.
Documentation such as pedigree papers or vaccination cards can be scanned and printed, and then included on your page, without damaging the originals.
Stickers or rubber stamps depicting bones, balls, paw prints, food bowls, dog houses and collars are available in any good scrapbooking store.
