Hello everyone – and happy Template Tuesday on the Lilypad Blog!  Today is the start of a 2-part post involving single photo layouts.  In honor of Template Tuesday, I will be talking about how to convert a multi-photo template to a single photo template in Photoshop.  Tomorrow (in response to a Dear Polly question) I will be talking about when a single photo layout is the best option.

If you have ever seen my gallery, you know that I am a HUGE fan of single photo layouts.  I also love using all the fabulous templates available in the shop – many of which are designed with multiple photos in mind.    Here are some of my favorite ways of converting a multi-photo template into a single photo template.

Large Background Photo:  With this technique, I delete all of the photo spots and blend one large photo into the background.

In this example I actually kept the photo spots in and just clipped the large background photo to them to create a layered effect:

This template had a fabulous watercolor paint element in the background that I used to mask the photo (after deleting all of the photo spots):

Journal Cards as Photo spot Fillers:  This technique is probably the easiest of them all.  Just clip those fabulous journal cards to the photo spots (or replace the photo spots with them).

On this page, I used journal cards for three of the photo spots:

On this page the journal cards are clipped to two of the photo spots:

And on this page I used a title card in place of the extra photo spot:

Replacing Photos with Elements: Although journal cards are a great replacement for photo spots, sometimes an element works even better!

On this page I used the open book and a word art piece to replace two of the photo spots:

On this page, I used a couple of elements pieced together in place of the second photo spot:

Finally, on this page I used a whole cluster of elements to replace a photo spot (and just deleted the third one in the top right corner):

Word Art Fillers:  Word art also makes a fabulous replacement for an extra photo spot:

On this page, I used a round word art piece to replace both photo spots (with a blended photo in the background):

Combinations:  It is also fun to combine different techniques on the same page!

On this page, I used a journal card for one photo space and a house element for the other extra photo space:

And on this page, I filled the photo spots with journal cards and added a blended photo (sketch element) to the background:

As you can see, there are lots of fun things you can do to convert a multi-photo template into a single photo template.  The next time you see a multi-photo template that you love and want to use to scrap a single photo JUST DO IT!  I hope you have fun playing with these techniques – be sure to share your favorite single photo conversions in the comments. :)

Until next time ~
Judie (HeyJude)