What a Templates?

18 posts / 0 new
Last post
What a Templates?

Hi this is my first post and was wondering what templates are and why they are black and white? Look forward to hearing from someone. Tara

Hi Tara! Welcome to DigitalScrapbook.com!
A template is a layered file that allows you a jumping off point for a scrapbook page, so you don't have to just start with a photo, a kit, and a big white page staring back at you. They're not always black and white, but they are simplified versions of scrapbook pages, so that you can clip in photos/papers over the top of the layers shape or place the elements where the suggested smaller shapes are.
I would say I use a template 70% of the time.
Designers make and sell very intricate ones that people are willing to pay for because it saves them a lot of time having a starting point to create a new page.
There are also very simple ones.
If you want to see examples of pages I've made with templates, click here , here or here.
The link to each of Marisa's templates is on the right side of the screen.

You can easily edit a template and make it your own as well. I'd say I change around the templates I use almost 100% of the time.

Really, the best reason for me to use one is so that I don't have to figure out the proper shadows for each layer. They're already built right in!
Hope this helps! If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask!

@Tiffany: Thanks for your awesomeness in assisting Tara with information about templates!
That's another reason I love our little community here. The members always step up when us moderators are out of pocket at the exact time someone needs help!!! Love you ladies so much. Thanks for helping to make PS an extra special place. smiley

@Tara: Just to add a tiny bit to Tiffany's great explanation. You don't have to alter the templates if you don't want to in the beginning (or ever really, if you like them the way they are) So this tool (layered templates) makes them great for beginners to jump right in and create a terrific layout while still learning their programs in and outs and not feel too overwhelmed. I know when I started dig-scrapping about 8 years ago or maybe more, there weren't too many layout templates, so you had to learn everything about layers and all the hard way creating it yourself from scratch. Took me almost a whole saturday to do my first "simple" layout. LoL

Besides the templates for layouts, the templates that are offered here on DigitalScrapbook.com and other places, are black and white (they are actually called grey scale images), so that you can take an element, and make it any color you wish, to match your colors in your layout. It isn't always easy to change the color to something you want, if the element you are using is already colored. By using the grey scale image, you can change the color, and still have the shading effect on that element.
Here is one tutorial that will explain how to color them.. I didn't have time to look for others, but I'm sure there are more available to help you work with grey scale images.

https://www.digitalscrapbook.com/forum/tutorials/using-templates-texture-overlays-video

@Diane: See that's what I mean... smiley Thanks for your awesomeness in covering even yet another aspect of the templates here at the website that my brain totally lapsed on. LoL

I have photoshop elements but I have to say that I am terrified of layers and using them, therefore I have never used a template. I would love to learn how though! When I first started digital scrapping it was with Creative Memories and I even changed their pages around! Does anyone have a good tutorial they would recommend on using layers? Something easy to understand.... smiley

Okay thank you for your answers. I think I get it… will keep on reading and learning. I have PSE9 and use layers all the time for making magical photos (i.e. green screen and putting daughter on a mushroom with wings)… but feel stumped for some strange reason when it comes to all this stuff here. LOL - my brain doesn't seem to be transitioning very well.

I'm not sure exactly what templates we're talking about here, but if we're talking about Layout Templates, I have a tutorial here where I make a page starting with a layout template.

I'm always interested to know what people want to learn, which is tricky because a lot of the time people can't ask for what they don't know...Let me know is the tutorial above is helpful.

Not sure if I am in the right place. Is there a tutorial on how to design a template? How to make one? I want to make some but not sure how. I am spanking new to Photoshop Elements. Paint Shop Pro has always been my program of choice. I am trying hard to learn. Any way wanted to make some templates and overlays. Tutorials anyone?

Thank you
Nancy

Nancy: Tell me what kind of template you´d like to learn, and I´ll try to look for a tutorial for you. Do you want the ones like my portion on this month´s blogtrain, that are used to make layouts, or the ones that are used to make papers and elements?

Hi Nancy,

There are a couple of video tutorial on how to make paper patterns, like polka dots and plaids right here:
https://www.digitalscrapbook.com/forums/digital-scrapbooking/tutorials/making-striped-and-plaid-paper-video
https://www.digitalscrapbook.com/forums/digital-scrapbooking/tutorials/making-polka-dot-pattern-video

Even though they are not for Elements, they may give you some ideas!

Thanks! Being a bit of a newbie myself, this thread if very helpful!

Do many of you use storyboard templates for your designs, just seeing some freebies on the net and downloading, thought they might come in handy?

I haven't heard of storyboard templates, Sue. Do you think you could point us to one, to see what they are?

Here is a link with some for you to view, I suppose they are like a collage of photos.

http://www.sarahgourdiedesigns.com/collections/freebies

Oh right! Now I remember seeing those in some photographers' facebook tab as freebies. Looks like they can be extremely helpful for pages with lots of photos, or for Project Life like layouts. Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome Melo, I have been seeing a lot of them around lately and just wondered if anyone used them at all, they would be good for a photo collage or a page with lots of photos like you said. I have grabbed a few free ones to play with. smiley

I avoided templates for years! Several months ago I decided to download one and try it….I seriously don't know why I waited so long. In photoshop elements they are very simple to use, at least in PSE11 they are. Just open the template and all the layers show individually. I just decide what kit I'm going to use and start selecting elements and papers, I usually end up with more than I will use but I hate going back to search for an element once I get started with the template. I first place the photo(s) I'm scraping on the template. After that just click on one of the layers of the template, for instance a flower, bring in the flower you want to use, position it then go over to where the layers of the template are showing and click the "eye" to hide that layer. Just keep repeating this until all the layers of the template are hidden. Most templates have a "Title" and "Journal Here". It kinda depends on what I'm scraping if I use either of these or both, but if you don't use them, just click the eye to hide them and you're done. Of course you can add more elements, but I would suggest to keep them to a minimum…remember the reason you chose the template is because it caught your eye, if you start adding a bunch more elements, the design that caught your eye is no longer the same, but 2 or 3 elements that really tie in with your pics is a good idea. I hope anyone who hasn't tried a template will at least try one to see if you like it or don't, but at least try.