Photoshop Tutorial - Make Custom Scrapbook Pages.

This tutorial is done in Photoshop CS3. But it is compatible with all versions of Photoshop -whether older or newer. All you need to follow along is Photoshop and the pictures you wish to use.

This tutorial assumes you have a very basic knowledge of Photoshop. Just knowing basic things like where to find the menus is helpful.

The tutorial is broken up into two parts. The first part is just creating a very basic scrap book page, while the second part gets more into customizing and adding a "personal flare" to the page. Feel free to follow along as far as you like. I've provided references for both parts. Use them to follow along and be sure everything looks right.

Use these to help guide you through this tutorial.

Click on the picture to be taken to the full size view. These tutorials are big enough so that they can be easily read, and might take a while to load if you are using a slower connection speed.

The black and white background in step one is one of many template backgrounds I've kept over time. I have quite a few and they each provide a different feel for a different occasion.

Here's a handful of these backgrounds to get you started. Click on them to be taken to the full size view. They are all free.

1. Time to get started. To begin, go to File-->Open and locate the picture you want to use as a background. Select that picture and click Open to bring it in to Photoshop.

2. Now go to your Layers Palette, right click on the Background Layer and click Duplicate Layer.

3. Click on the Layer Effect icon at the bottom of the Layer Palette and then click on Gradient Overlay in the drop menu. An options box appears. Click color bar next to "Gradient" and select the first gradient option. You could use any of the options, but the first one is the easiest to start with.

4. The box that appears will have a color bar. At the bottom are two boxes with arrows, one will be black/gray and the other will be white. Double click on the darker one. Select the color you'd like to use, and hit "OK". Now select the white box and do the same thing. When you have the two colors you want, hit "OK".

5. On the layer you just colored, set the Opacity anywhere from 60%-70%.

You now have a very basic background page for a scrapbook. You could stop here, print it out, and use it. Or you could do just a few more steps and REALLY personalize it. If you'd like to do that, follow the second part of this tutorial below.

Ok so once we have the basic background set with the first part of this tutorial, we can start to add a picture to it.

1. Go to File-->Open and find the picture you want to add to your background. Select the picture you like and hit Open.

2. Now, using the area selector tool, click and drag a box around the area of your photo you want to use. Then go to Edit-->Copy. You may now close the picture.

3. Open the scrapbook background you made earlier and go to Edit-->Paste. Your photo should be placed on the background.

4. Go to Edit-->Free Transform. A box for resizing the image will appear around you picture. You can now size and position the picture how you'd like. When you are satisfied, hit enter.

5. Now select the drop menu in your layer palette and select Luminosity. Set the opacity of this top layer to around 85%.

6. Now if you don't want all of the background of you photo on your scrapbook page, select the eraser tool. Select the Soft Round brush and set the size according to the area you'll be deleting (smaller brushes for smaller areas.) Erase everything you want to get rid of.

7. Select the text tool and add your title and any text you want to add using the font style and size of your choice.

You are now finished! Hooray, you! Now you can print the page and use it, or you can use it for digital scrapbooks and begin adding pictures right away.