One of the changes I have noticed in scrapbook publications since I began scrapping almost 6 years ago is the rise in importance of the photograph. The quality of the photographs seen on published scrapbook pages has risen steadily in the last few years. It’s not enough anymore to just make a great page – you have to have great pictures to put on it.
As editors have more and more pages submitted to them to choose from for their publication needs, they can be more and more selective about what they choose to use. Photography can be a tie-breaker between two otherwise equally well-designed layouts. And since magazines want their overall content to be as high quality as possible, they will select the submission with the most excellent photographs. As a result of this, we are seeing increasing discussion of photography techniques and equipment in online forums populated by professional scrapbookers, as they try to improve every aspect of their submissions in hopes of getting them published.
As they see all of this quality photography in the magazines they read, even hobbyist scrappers are trying to improve their photography. They do so by reading photography articles that are printed with increasing frequency in scrapbook magazines, and in many other ways.
I believe that the increasing emphasis on quality photography is a good thing for both the industry and it’s consumers. Good photography skills are timeless and having the ability to capture your memories with the best possible photographs can preserve priceless memories. For the industry it means a base of consumers who are taking more pictures they feel are worthy enough of devoting time and supplies to scrapping.
Pictures are the foundation of a scrapbook page. Having a solid foundation to build on is a good start in any design!
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