When I first started paper scrapbooking, the one thing I always struggled with was how to go about photographing and digitizing my projects in order to share them with others. Throughout the years, I've improved my technique but up until recently, I wasn't one hundred percent satisfied with the outcome of it all. I simply don't have the funds to buy all that fancy photography equipment (lights, etc…) and I desperately needed to figure something out.
On a whim, I decided to build myself a light reflector. All of the items used were things we already had lying around the house and better yet, I was able to recycle an empty cardboard box from a recent electrical fan purchase.
Handmade Light Reflector
- Scissors
- Mod Podge
- Cardboard box
- Aluminium Foil
I cut two pieces of Aluminum Foil down to size and glued them to my piece of Cardboard with the Mod Podge. Doesn't even need to be perfect or pretty.
My set-up is pretty basic. The light reflector is simply propped up against one of my dining room chairs and sits on top of a piece of white cardboard paper I bought from my local dollar store. You'll need to position yourself in front of a window or patio door for some natural sunlight.
Once I've taken a picture of my layout, I email it to myself and tweak it with Photoshop. The first thing I do is size it down to 8.50 inches x 11 inches using the Crop tool.
I then brighten up my layout by using the Curve tool. As a general rule, I normally find myself dragging from the middle point directly onto the line above but this step isn't an exact science. You might need to test a few things out before you settle on something you like.
I then use the Clone Stamp tool to get rid of those spots where the white background cardboard paper might still be showing and my last steps are the Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, Auto Colour and the Unsharp Mask (in that order).
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