Looking for material for a new scrapbook page the other day, I found an old ’single use’ camera at the back of a drawer — the shots were all used, but I’d never had the film developed. So I took the camera to Walgreen’s and had the photos printed out.

There was the fun and surprise of finding pictures from a holiday five years ago, of course. But to be honest, there were only a handful of shots that I really wanted to keep — the rest were pretty uninteresting. And it made me ask myself the question: just when did I last take a non-digital photo?

Digital cameras have taken the world by storm over the past few years, and I suspect that, like me, many people have forgotten how quickly they’ve changed the nature of home photography. No longer do you have to use up a whole film to find the few pictures you actually like and want to keep — you can just delete the ones that don’t work for you.

Digital photography has had an impact on scrapbooking too, and now there are services that allow you to upload your photos, design a page online and print it to be included in your latest album.

But the digital revolution means that scrapbookers probably have hundreds of photos sitting on the hard drive of their computers — pictures that in the past would have been put in an album or photo box and been readily available to leaf through during leisure moments.

So I’ve made a resolution to take time this holiday to sort through the photo files on my laptop and start collecting groups of snaps that could form the basis for some new scrapbook pages. I’ll be deleting uninteresting files and trying to be better organized.

Could be inspirational — and I’ll free up some hard drive space into the bargain!

Sometimes you may want to add a little twist to the scrapbook photos in your album. Here are some fun techniques for giving your photographs a different treatment. Make sure you experiment on a few unimportant copies before committing yourself to any of these methods! That way you’ll be sure of the effects you can achieve before you work on the actual items you’ve set aside for your page.

Shrink Film

Shrink art can add an abstract or child like feel to your photographs or scrapbook pages.

Shrink art is easy to make. First, you print your photograph directly onto shrink plastic film. Next, punch a small hole into the top of the photograph. You will use this hole to later attach your photograph to your scrapbook. Then, cook the photograph until it shrinks!

Tinting

Tinting is a great way to add a touch of color to black-and-white photos. Tinting can be used to draw focus to a certain portion of a photograph or add color to a dull black and white page.

A special product called Photo Twin pens is useful for tinting. The basic idea is to draw on the photograph with these pens to create custom tints. For example, you can add a rosy blush to Grandma’s cheeks.

Bear in mind that a great deal of practice is required to get these pens to create the desired results, and in the beginning, you’re probably better of practicing on pictures that you don’t plan on using in your scrapbook.

Crystal Lacquer

Crystal lacquer adds shine and protection to your photographs. This shine adds a soft elegance to any page. However, crystal lacquer looks especially nice on more formal gift scrapbooks.

It’s as simple as painting your photograph with the crystal lacquer and let it dry. Be especially careful not to let the lacquer spill over the edge and ruin other parts of your scrapbook pages.

Magnifying Marbles

Here’s a great trick to add a unique magnifying effect to letters or photographs under them. This is a great elegant touch for favorite relatives or gift scrapbooks. Glass marbles can also be used to create artistic children’s art and scientific looking scrapbooks for young scientists.

To create this look, you will need glass marbles with one flat side. Then, paste these marbles with clear drying glue on top of writing or an embellishment that you want magnified.

You’ll have begun to see how many interesting creative effects can be achieved with your photographs with a few simple tools and supplies. Browse through our section on using scrapbook photographs for more tips and tricks. And you can follow the link to online suppliers for all the specialist materials you need for your work.