Test Your Skills 2
Test Your Skills #2
Part One: Trapped Space Test
Here is the start of a scrapbook page.
I’ve positioned the title of the page in the best place possible, but that created a pretty big area of trapped space between the title and the top photo.
Note: If you need a review of trapped space, rewatch the Design Basics videos.
To make up for the trapped space, I added a yellow painted anchor behind everything.
Challenge: What do you think? Is the yellow painted anchor enough to fill the trapped space?
SEE MY ANSWER
Answer
Even though there is yellow paint in the gap, the title is still visually awkward to me. I think it needs something more.
CONTINUE
To try to alleviate the trapped space, I’ve added some Washi tape to fill the gap.
Challenge: Is the trapped space gone now?
SEE MY ANSWER
Answer
It looks much better with the addition of the tape, but the area between the tape and the W still shows an awkward gap. Maybe just one more element will make all the difference.
SEE MY FINISHED PAGE
The yellow paint was too light to act as a lone filler for the trapped space. But adding Washi tape and a small flower was enough to do the job. No more trapped space! Woot.
Credits
Page: Watch Me Jump by Jen White
Photo: Jen White
Frame Type: Independent Frame—Anchors
Kit: XOX by Brandy Murry
Fonts:Courier, DJB Bean Pole
CONTINUE TO PART TWO
Part 2: Readability Test
After seeing this image, my thought process was:
Oooh.
Pretty mountains!
And, cool clouds!
Wait.
There’s something in the clouds.
Is that a butterfly?
Um…
Hold on a sec.
Oooooh!
It’s a bird.
Nice bird.
Moving on.
Did you have a similar experience when first seeing this photo?
Now imagine the viewers of one of your images doing the same type of thing—lots of quizzical expressions, like squinting and wrinkled eyebrows.
This is the type of photo referred to as unfocused and unreadable.
Unfocused and unreadable images typically exhibit one or more of the following qualities:
- blurry
- too dark
- too zoomed out
- too zoomed in
- too small
- too busy
Even without knowing the qualities, however, your first hint that a photo is unreadable is if you find yourself saying, “Huh?” when you look at it.
Let’s try putting a few photos through the unreadability test to gain a better grasp on the concept.
CONTINUE
Challenge: Which zoom is better? Which is more readable?
SEE MY ANSWER
Answer
The image on the right is more readable.
When I look at the image on the left, I have a hard time discerning why the little girl is reaching into the tree and why her hair looks funky. It’s causing me to say, “Huh?” It’s too zoomed in, which is causing bad readability.
The image on the right gives me a full explanation for all the oddities I was seeing in the first image.
CONTINUE
Again, here’s the same exact photo, but with two different zooms.
Challenge: Which zoom is better? Which is more readable?
SEE MY ANSWER
Answer
The image on the right is more readable.
When I look at the image on the left, I find myself squinting to try and figure out what is at the end of the path. It’s too zoomed out, causing the image to be unreadable.
The image on the right is more focused and readable.
Something to think about:
If zooming in on an image doesn’t exclude any important details, then it might be just what you need to make an image more readable.
CONTINUE
Here are two photos of the same event.
Challenge: Should I use both of them or leave one out? Which is more readable?
SEE MY ANSWER
Answer
A blurry photo (on the left) isn’t readable. Period. It doesn’t matter if it’s better composed, a better expression, or better at telling the story.
Always substitute a blurry photo for a non-blurry one (on the right). In this case, I can let my journaling tell about the action that took place.
The point of this quick exercise was to remind you that you do have a choice when deciding what photos go on your scrapbook page.
You decide the readability. Your viewers will appreciate the extra time it takes.
Photography Tip
When composing a photograph, leave lots of room for editing around the subject.
Later on, you can zoom in, but you cannot zoom out.
If possible, take one zoomed in shot and one zoomed out shot.
Wrap Up
- Trapped space can be so simple to alleviate. It just takes a little thought.
- You have a choice if your photos are focused and readable.
Brought to you by Jen White.