Mixing Black and White with Color Photos

Some people would ask why you would want to mix black and white with color photos. It was a recent assignment for me for Get It Scrapped. When I receive my assignments, I have learned that there are often trends involved. Perhaps the mix of black and white photos is one of the latest upcoming trends. There is also the element of how it effects your design, so much so, that it is worth considering it as a means of enhancing your story.

Homemade Rain by Christy Strickler Supplies| Patterned Paper, Die Cuts: My Little Shoebox; Alphas: Colorbok; Brads: Basic Grey; Buttons: Pink Paislee; Border: Sassafrass; Soft Gel: Golden; Other: Acrylic Paint, stencil

I began my memory keeping journey with the need to create two page spreads. For a long time, I considered it almost kin to blasphemy to create anything but two-pagers. Over time, I permitted myself to create two separate one page layouts. However, I required the use of the exact same materials on both layouts. I then made the big jump to creating two separate one page layouts and I allowed myself to place them next to each other in the album. I found that I liked it. For a long time, I didn't make two-pagers and that was ok.

I now find that I like to mix two page layouts with one pagers in my albums. However, as I have developed, I feel less confident about my skills with the two pagers. I tend to keep the overall design simple with few embellishments. Part of this choice centers around the often active photos. Two page layout generally involve activities or events with a lot going on.

When I created Homemade Rain, I wanted to find a way to add some calm amidst all of the activity. There were moments when each child was highlighted in such a way that their personality showed through. I could have created separate layouts for each of the children and one showing the activity of the water hose fight. Instead, converting some of the photos to black and white allowed me to highlight each child while still showing them within the context of the group activity. I was able to unify the photos with the others by using my fledgling photoshop skills to bring out the blue of their umbrellas.I placed the photos to bracket the action shots.

Mixing black and white photos is not something I would intuitively think of on my own. I am glad I had this opportunity to consider it. I think it's a technique I may use again in the future to highlight a specific photo while letting other photos lend support to the story. I find it works well for both single and double page spreads. In this case, it allowed me to create one two page spread versus several one page layouts. This was both a time saver for me as well as a means of enhancing my two page layout.

 If you print from home, it's easy to convert a photo to black and white using photoshop. You can also use photo apps such as Instagram to convert your photos. I invite you to consider this technique for a future layout. I think you will find you like it. It's a wonderful tool to really bring focus and meaning into your layouts without the need to heavily embellish them.

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Add a little fur...

and this month's Counterfeit kit was purrfect! I truly love everything in the Counterfeit kit I made for the month of February. However, one of the reasons some of the things have sat in my stash is due to the fact that I had no clue how to use them. I admit, that I was stumped for a little bit...until I realized I could make these supplies work with photos of my sweet cat on one of her prissy days.

Sketch Inspiration #206

She is a steadfast companion and is often nearby while I scrapbook. Most days, she hangs out on a chair. On this particular day, she chose to get into my scrap basket. Keep in mind, she is not supposed to be on the table. She had been removed several times and deposited upon the chair or the floor...only to persistently hop back onto the table. I decided to snap these photos of her after she had defiantly crammed herself into the little basket.

sketch inspiration #207

I felt like the color palette of my kit lent a prissy, refined tone that these pages seemed to call for. I got the idea for the silver frames from the Counterfeit kit blog. Unfortunately, I did not have all of the same materials used in the recommended tutorials. So instead, I used a sizzix folder to emboss a piece of scrap pad cover. I then painted it silver with acrylic paint and inked the edges with Colorbox black ink. I think my version is quite passable and I love the texture it adds to the page. I also loved the ease of making a bling flourish with my i-rock and a Bazzill flourish  stitching template.

  Now that I was on a roll with my kit, I  pulled out some photos of my dog running around after a bath. After all...furry cuteness is a good thing. Admittedly, some of these shots were not the best. It's hard to get your dog to pose for photos when he's busy running around the house and rolling on the rugs. I took care of bad lighting in the shots by converting them to black and white. The movement in the photos was something I loved. The photo in which part of my dog is cut off only serves to emphasize it...at least in my opinion.

I will admit, I added an extra glimmer mist color to my kit. The moonlight blue just worked so well with the blue papers from the Bayberry cottage pad. I loved the way it looked splattered across the page. I used glossy accents on the hole punched circles to make my own mini pebbles. I also added some as droplets on the photo of my dog shaking.

I wish my camera better emphasized the blue of the papers in these pages.  It makes such a nice pop of color with the black and white papers.

  I am really enjoying using my kit. It's been so much fun rediscovering things in my stash and finding photos to use them with. I am really looking forward to using more and to making up a kit for March( WOW...it's almost here!). Stay tuned for more creations with my counterfeit kit...