I know you’re a scrapper that has a computer -- after all you are reading this article on-line - but are you really a digital scrapbooker? You may scan your photos, use a digital camera, and print your own pictures, but you need the right software to realize the benefits of being a digital scrapper.

Owning the right software comes with privileges.

1. Save Time
2. Save money
3. Achieve creative freedom

Repair and creatively edit photos, stitch multiple photos together, capture the perfect moment from a video, all the while keeping your photos organized and ready to share! With the right software you can even create a scrapbook from scratch - digitally. The options are endless when you Go Digital!

Being digital means you need to manage all your digital assets. You need to be able to find, store and most importantly share all your memories via email, an online 3D photo gallery or even to a mobile phone or PDA. Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 is the finest and quickest program to organize and share your memories.

I took a series of photos at my 20th high school reunion and was able to view them all together and retrieve them individually with a simple ‘click.’ Within 10 minutes I was able to pick photos and create a slideshow of the reunion that included background music. I emailed the slideshow to classmates and posted it to the alumni website.

When I save photos I "tag" or categorize them by ‘People,’ ‘Place,’ ‘Event,’ ‘Date’ or ‘Other’. I can also just label them as if I were writing a caption for a scrapbook. For example, I labeled a recently scanned photo: "Grandpa, traveling as a young boy in 1940 in New York in front of the Statue of Liberty." This simple label completes the tagging task because now Album 2.0 lets me find the photo several ways:

• ‘Grandpa’ (category - People)
• ‘Travel’ (category - Events)
• ’1940’ (category - Date)
• ‘New York’ (category - Places)
• ‘Statue’ (category - Other)

Album 2.0 intuitively places it in these categories for me. Type in "Grandpa" and all my photos of him can be viewed together. It is like having a personal assistant in my PC.

Album 2.0 also has some basic photo repair functions and easy to use templates for greeting cards, calendars and photo books, but the digital scrapper needs digital imaging software. The good news is that Adobe is now offering Album 2.0 with their digital imaging product Photoshop Elements 2.0 combining two powerful products in one affordable package.

Elements 2.0 is an easy-to-use digital imaging program with tools to correct common photograph problems and creatively edit photos to produce high-quality results. The software includes step-by-step "Recipes" to help you create a variety of creative editing techniques like adding frames, edges, and amazing realistic paintbrush effects. This product will really let you unleash your creative talents!

The "Quick Fix" feature of Elements 2.0 lets me correct the following photo imperfections with just a couple of clicks.

• Focus
• Color Levels
• Exposure
• Red-eye
• Cropping
• And more!

When it’s time to print I layout multiple pictures in various sizes on the same page. I save time, money and effort because I am using less photo paper and I am not using photo development services. The Photomerge feature automatically assembles panoramas from multiple photos, which works great for seamlessly stitching together two scans of a 12" x 12" layout. These functional features of Elements 2.0 are nice, but the powerful creative capabilities - which permit me to create a scrapbook from scratch - really make this product shine. I recently took old family videos and using Elements 2.0 was able to capture individual frames as photos. For the background I captured a still of our old house and added captured photos, images (ribbons, bows, scans, etc.), text, and printed the entire page. Done! I could have manipulated photos to creative realistic paintbrush effects to simulate oils, watercolors, charcoals, pastels and different canvas textures to further enrich the period feel of the page.

Regardless if you are an established digital scrapper or just thinking of getting started, these two products will save you time, money and release a new creative energy that got you scrappin’ in the first place. I urge all of you to take the leap and elevate your scrapbook abilities to new heights!

Right now Adobe is offering Photoshop Album 2.0 with Photoshop Elements 2.0 as a packaged set, which means a great savings for you! Get a free training video CD for Elements 2.0 if purchased on Amazon.com. A $49.00 value while supplies last.