Do you only scrap "perfect" photos???

[amystoffel]

My kids trashed my old paper albums long ago, and then when my Dad passed I needed a project to keep me busy. So I've been re-scrapping...digitally...all my old photos from 2003 to now, so that I can have them printed into new albums.

But some of the pics are REALLY bad. Not focused, weird angles, really far away from the thing I wanted to photograph. Just bad.

Would you scrap them????

[cardinalskate]

I say heck yeah. A memory saved is a memory saved. Putting a story with a not-so-great picture will make it all the better!

[emmasmommy]

i would. to me, it's not the photos i care about, it's the memories. if they're that bad, you could always do photoless and scrap the actual memory that was prompted from the photo.

[amystoffel]

This would be an example. These arent as bad as some...I like the idea of photoless Laura!!!

[rach3975]

Maybe. If it was the only photo I had of something I wanted to remember, I'd scrap it regardless. But I tend to find that when I go back through pictures from a few years ago, it's much easier to judge which moments or events are really worth scrapping than it was when the photos were fresh. If I was re-scrapping older photos, I'd probably scrap a lot fewer of them than I did the first time around and some of the bad photos wouldn't make the cut.

In that example, yes, I'd scrap them. They may not be as good as the photos you could take today, but they show the people and the setting well enough. If your family is anything like mine, they'd look at those photos and notice how little they were or remember how much they liked the lights, not even noticing the photo quality.

[rachaelsscraps]

I would, I have so many photos that are really crappy from back in the day that I would re-scrap in a heartbeat. I have an urge to be caught up on current photos first, though, which I am close to!

[AmyG]

Originally Posted by rachaelsscraps

I would, I have so many photos that are really crappy from back in the day that I would re-scrap in a heartbeat. I have an urge to be caught up on current photos first, though, which I am close to!

This! I have photos from most of my son's life that are craptastic. They were shot on a bad 35mm. A lot of my digital stuff was shot as low resolution because I just never got around to getting a decent sized memory card. So, I am scrapping the best of whatever event we had, Christmas, Birthdays, Halloween and the like. But I'm also adding the really bad random daily stuff because I want to remember those days too. Really. Bad. Photos.

[heathergw]

I totally would

[littlekiwi]

I would

[mrshobbes]

Originally Posted by cardinalskate

I say heck yeah. A memory saved is a memory saved. Putting a story with a not-so-great picture will make it all the better!

^^ This Also what Laura said--and going photoless is a good idea For me, an awesome memory/story kinda makes an awful photo even more precious

[amystoffel]

Ok...scrap I will. Lots of them are even 96 dpi! LOL

[nun69]

I say scrap away!!!!

[maryinaz]

Yep. I just scrapped some photos from 1994 that were not the best, but captured a memory I had to document. And someone even gave me a comment about how they liked the photos. So, don't let a less-than-perfect photo stop you!

[scrap2day]

Oh yes. I would. I even have some taken with my very first digital camera which was more a toy than a camera.

[scrapweaver]

I use what I have, and if the photos are crap-tacular, I don't mind . . in my eyes, all of them are precious and irreplaceable, and deserve to be scrapped!! Though I must admit, it can be a challenge to scrap the crap LOL. Most of my pre-digital pics are terrible, same goes for the ones mum took when we were kids . . but they are all I have. Your family wont care that the angle was weird or the pics are blurry - they will appreciate that they have them, beautifully scrapped by you!! =)

[FireWolf]

I would, and do...have since I started scrapping...it's all about the stories for me and sometimes I'll choose the imperfect photo over the perfect one because it tells the story best.

[chloe]

Originally Posted by FireWolf

I would, and do...have since I started scrapping...it's all about the stories for me and sometimes I'll choose the imperfect photo over the perfect one because it tells the story best.

Ditto. Like in this LO, the pix are blurry and bad quality (taken with a cellphone) but they tell the story so well. (The story being that my friend's daughter took a looooong time before she started to walk, but once she got to it, she moved to the running phase right after! LOL):

[mummytothree]

Do you only scrap "perfect" photos???

No way!!!

I look at it this way....I'm trying to tell a story...that's the most important thing when I scrap and part of the story will be why the picture looks like it looks...so for me all those imperfect pictures help me tell my story perfectly!!!

I say scrap away...with whatever kind of photos you have...as long as you are getting those memories down that is all that matters!!!!

[nietis]

I would agree with all the girls here I'd scrap them if they mean so much to me, regardless whether they are perfect or not

[SweetMelissa]

Yes! In a heart beat. Why? Because my motto is that life isn't perfect and my pictures don't have to be either. Sometimes that "bad" picture is the perfect one to tell a story.

[mummytothree]

Originally Posted by amystoffel

Ok...scrap I will. Lots of them are even 96 dpi! LOL

I've scrapped tons that were only 640x480 and 72 dpi!!! What I have done is increase the size by just an inch or 2 and then tone down the noise. Then I scrap my layout like I want it at 12x12 and 300dpi...when it's all finished I then resize my LO to 8x8 and 150dpi and then add the photos. I have printed more then a dozen this way and you can't tell hardly any difference then the 300dpi ones!!!!

[Chantal Miller]

Scrap away. I'm thinking of digitizing all my paper LO's and I debated the whole imperfect thing. There will be much actions and photo treatment but yes I will scrap them.

[chloe]

Originally Posted by mummytothree

I've scrapped tons that were only 640x480 and 72 dpi!!! What I have done is increase the size by just an inch or 2 and then tone down the noise. Then I scrap my layout like I want it at 12x12 and 300dpi...when it's all finished I then resize my LO to 8x8 and 150dpi and then add the photos. I have printed more then a dozen this way and you can't tell hardly any difference then the 300dpi ones!!!!

Good to know, thanks for the tip!!

[aggiefamily]

My first digital camera was crap so most of the time I just make the pics b&w. Same with scanned photos because I can never get them color corrected right.

[kresta]

Yes, definitely scrap them. I agree that you're scrapping the memory. Sometimes these photos take a little more explanation/journaling, but I think that if you've captured the memory, that makes up for the fact that it's a bad photo.

[ayaandjudah]

100% scrap them. It doesn't matter if the resolution is terrible, it will be a joy for your kids when they're older.

I made this page with a scanned old old photo (think 1950ish). It's far from my best layout, it's likely among the worst but it's one of the closest to my heart.

[ColleenSwerb]

Nope, I scrap all sorts of stuff. It's about the stories for me, not the photos. The photos are just a tool I use to best tell the story. So if a crappy photo tells the story, it's in!

[amystoffel]

Okay, thanks girlies! Now I feel a lot better about my not so perfect gallery!

[ColleenSwerb]

And, like someone else said, no one else will even notice or comment on your less than incredible photos. They'll be so happy looking at the memory and the story recorded!

[Jengerbread88]

I scrap a LOT of not-perfect photos. To me, the memory is the important thing.

If I have two photos from an event, one perfect, one not, of course I'll go for the perfect one... but I don't want to lose the memory of it just because it didn't happen to be perfectly shot.

[nanienamou]

We are no photographers and our pics are far from being perfect, and I scrap them anyway. I have some pics back from 2004-2005 that have crappy resolution, but I still want to remember the story, so I edit them to the best of my knowledge and I scrap them.

[Laurarae13]

Originally Posted by tx-nana-scraps

Yes I do! Many of the photos I'm scrapping are from the 1950-1980s and some are really bad. I've learned to just scrap them because they mean something to me, or my family. I don't have the luxury to re-take those photos so I scrap if they are blurry, dark, a partial photo, etc.

This is what I was coming to say. But the great thing is you can run actions or add textures and make them look "artistic" rather than crappy Just by scrapping them with embellishments etc. makes them look better too.