How to Create a Photo Collage in Adobe Photoshop

You can use Adobe Photoshop to create a photo collage.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer with Adobe Photoshop installed
• Digital photo files

Decide how big and for what use your collage will be.

1. 
   Create a new document and set parameters for your collage.

   Open Photoshop, and under the File menu, select New document. Name the document, and enter width and height for your collage. Choose the resolution that's best for what you want to do with your collage: 72 ppi (pixels per inch) for use on the Web; 150 ppi for at-home printing on a color laser or ink jet; 300 ppi if you want to output your final work as a poster or high-end commercial printer. Choose a background color, leave transparent or white.

2. 
   Build the collage by using the Layers pallet.

   Select the Window menu, and open Layers pallet.

3. 
   Open your photo files one at a time, and begin adding the images.

   Keep your collage file open, and open the first photo file. This file is now the active window. Use the selection tool to select all or part of the photo. Select File and Copy.

4. 
   Open a file, copy and paste all or cropped sections into your collage.

   Click on the collage file window to make it active. Select File and Paste. Photoshop automatically creates a new layer from the copied image. Close the photo file, and open a new one. Open new photo files, and repeat the copy and paste process to build your collage.

5. Click on the photo file window to make it active, then close the file. Open another photo file and repeat the process to build the collage. Note: As you paste new images into your collage file, they are stacked in the layers palette in the order you add them. Click a Layer, use the move tool, rotate, skew or do any of a multitude of manipulations Photoshop has to offer.