Digital Scrapbooking - Change the Way You Show Off Your Pictures!

[Earl Fehr]

Scrapbooking is a hobby that over 25% of American households
participate in according to a 2006 survey by Creating Keepsakes. It's
one of the most popular hobbies today and it's evolving with the
development of digital photography on computers and cameras. For
instance, I snapped 150 photos on my camera in ONE DAY for my vacation
last summer to the beach. Can you imagine how many disposable cameras
that is?! Wow am I glad that I don't use them anymore... I'd have to
have an extra beach bag just to carry those things.
Anyway, if you happen to scrapbook, which you probably do if you are
reading this, then you probably scrapbook the four most popular
subjects:
1. Vacation2. Holidays3. Birthdays4. Family life
The big question is, how many people actually get to see these
precious pictures and how often? How many friends and family members
get to see your pictures of the holiday get-togethers after they've
left the get-together? Probably not very many. If they do, it's
probably a pain-staking process that involves attaching a bunch of
large pictures to an email and sending it across the "cyber world",
which sometimes isn't that reliable at all. OR, it could involve you
printing them out with an expensive printer on expensive paper just so
they look like they do when you took them... What a pain.
How about you bring those pictures to life and spread these family
memories to your friends and family like you intended when you took
them? Don't let them just sit at your house in a book that gets
cracked open once every few months. They are great pictures, right?
You know they are, and they deserve to be showed off. So what should
you do to make them come to life?
Ah-ha, this is where it gets good! Turn your paper scrapbooks into the
digital form, a video showcase. Video showcases with music, video
effects, titles, and designs all created on the computer. If it sounds
too confusing or too "hi-tech" for you, have no fear; I have something
that will help.
The best part about turning your paper scrapbooks into a video
showcase is that it can be completely free. You don't have to buy
anything fancy, no more buying paper, albums, glue, decorations, NONE
OF THAT! All you have to do is double click a program that is already
installed on your computer, Windows Movie Maker, and start scanning
your pictures onto your computer and importing them to the program. If
you don't have a scanner at your house, you can go to a local office
equipment store such as Staples and get them scanned and put on a CD
for nearly nothing. Now to add all the fancy things to make your video
show case stand out, you might need a little help. Trust me, it's
something that you can learn even if you aren't tech savvy. However,
if you want to bypass the learning curve and get right to turning your
scrapbooks into slide shows that you can easily share on YouTube or
anywhere for that matter, then I'd recommend checking out the guide
below! Your scrapbook could be ready to be sent on CD, DVD, or blasted
on YouTube for all your friends and family to see in no time.