Journal on a photo

Next time you have a picture with a lot of “white space” (like sky, ocean, a big green field…) try journaling directly on it.  This instantly draws the eye to your subject and leaves more room for embellishments.   Here are three ways to do so:

1.  If you have photo-editing software this is fairly easy.  Simply open your photo (scan and save first if it’s an old film version) in your program, and choose the “insert text” feature.   If you’re not sure how, enter “insert text” into your program’s help feature and it will walk you through the process step by step.

2.  If you do not have photo-editing software (or are not sure how to use the text feature), you can also place journaling on your photo by using your word processing program and printing the text onto a transparency to lay over it.   For example, in Microsoft Word:

• First open a brand new, blank document.

• Click on “Insert” (top of the page) and select “Text Box”.

• Little cross-hairs will appear, click and drag them to create a box on your document (we’ll re-size it in the next step).

• Double click on the outline of the box to bring up the “Format Text Box” menu.  (If this doesn’t work, go to “Format” at the top of the page, and select “Text Box” from the menu that appears. )

• Click the “Size” tab (2nd one from the left) and enter the size of your photo in the appropriate height and width fields.  

• In relation to where you’d like your journaling on your photo, enter text into the text box.  When selecting a font color, dark colors work best when printing onto a transparency, regardless of the photo area color.  Keep this in mind when choosing your photo.  (*TIP if you having issues formatting your text the way you would like it to be – you can insert a text box within a text box, just be sure your cursor is inside the larger box before following the steps above.  To remove the border see the step below)

• Once your journaling is the way you like it, you can remove the border around the text box by once again opening the “Format Text Box” screen (see above) and clicking on the ”Colors and Lines” tab.  Click the down arrow next to “Color” and select the option for “No line” at the top.  Or, leave the box border to print as a guide when cutting your transparency to fit your photo if desired. 

• Print your journaling on a test piece of paper before printing on the actual transparency.  Place the paper over the photo and hold both up to a light source (a day-lit window works great) to check the placement. 

• When you are ready to pring on the transparency, you will print on the rough side.  To do this you’ll need to be sure to print a mirror image of your text so it prints backwards.  After selecting ”Print” from the “File” menu, click on the “Properties” box.  Under the “Setup” tab, click the box next to Mirror Image, click ok, and you’re all set. 

• To attach the transparency over your photo, use brads, staples, stitching, or spray adhesive (when using the spray, be sure the ink on the photo is totally dry and know that you can’t re-position it once it’s placed).  

3.  Write with a pen directly on the photo – now before you say that’s not possible – it totally is!  You just have to print the photo onto a different medium (that can be written on) other than photo paper to do so.  White or light cardstock works very well and gives your photos interesting texture.   Now you are free to use markers, gel pens, whatever your heart desires.

Experiment and see what works for you.  This is also a great way to include lots of journaling in mini-albums whose pages have limited room.  Soon you’ll be looking at those photos that have “too much” white space in a whole different way!