5 tips for editing and creating beautiful digital photo projects

Photo gifts are the best presents ever- especially for family.

Grandparents love nothing more than a gift filled with photos of their grand kids that they can show off to all their friends. I know my mom loves getting custom made photo books and photo gifts that she can take to the senior center and show to all of her friends. Not only can she show off her family she can brag that her daughter made the gifts for her.

I've taught myself how to use digital editing software, it hasn't been the easiest thing but I'm still learning and I love it.

I recently started using photoshop and now I'm addicted. Before graduating to Photoshop I just used basic editing software that online companies like Shutterfly and Kodak offer.

I can do so much more with Photoshop- it's amazing. I love to sit back and sometimes simply admire my handiwork. I never in a million years thought I would be creating digital works of art. For years I shied away from computer creations and stuck to old fashioned real work cutting, pasting and scrapbooking. Now I have realized I can do so much with digital photo editing.

Here are my 5 tips for editing and creating beautiful digital photo projects:

1) Always save your work and have back ups. I like to keep my original photos as well as the new works of art I create so as soon as I start to edit a photo I save it under a new file name. That way I have both my original copy and my new creation.

2) Start with the simplest edits- like removing red eye. More than once I have done a lot of edits and photo adjusting only to print out my final version and realize I didn't fix the red eye. So now red eye removal is the first thing I do.

3) Don't be afraid to experiment. My mother hates the computer because she's always afraid she's going to mess something up. I know that you learn through mistakes and because you mess up. You can't be afraid to try new things. The good news is that with computers- there's always the "undo" button.

4) Make sure your photo settings save your photos with the highest pixel count possible this will give you the best resolution for photo gifts- especially if you want to make t-shirts, blankets, puzzles or anything else that will need really clear resolution. You can always compress and save smaller versions of the files for easy sharing on photo and social media sites.

5)Have fun. By far this is the most important tip. Enjoy what you do enjoy what you create. Making beautiful photo gifts should be enjoyable, not a chore. If it stresses you out perhaps you should try a different creative endeavor.

So go forth and create photo gifts- the holidays are right around the corner, what photo gifts are in your future?

I see Christmas tree ornaments filled with images of Christmas past along with photo books filled with this year's most memorable moments.

Disclaimer: “I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Adobe blogging program, making me eligible to receive a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”