How to Make a Photo Montage in Paint Shop Pro 11

Use the various tools in Paint Shop Pro 11 to make a photo montage.

A collection of photographs with or without a theme, a montage is also known as a collage and can be made manually or with a computer. Paint Shop Pro 11, a graphic manipulation program for Windows-based computers, includes the tools for making a photo montage for printing, saving on a CD or sharing with others via the Internet or by email. If you plan on printing your photo montage, you need to use high-quality photographs so the images will be crisp instead of fuzzy.

Things You'll Need

• Photographs
• Printer

Instructions

Creating the Background

1. Open Paint Shop Pro 11 by clicking the program's icon on your computer desktop, or click "Start," "All Programs" and "Paint Shop Pro 11."

2. Click "File," then "New." Select the size of montage you want to create--8.5 inch by 11 inch or other size. The "New Image" dialog box will open.

3. Select "200 pixels per inch" from the "Resolution" box so your montage will output properly to your display or printer. Leave the background color as "white" unless you are not going to fill every inch of your montage with photos and you want some background to show.

4. Click "OK."

Selecting and Cropping Photos

1. Click "File," then "Open." Navigate to a photograph you want to place on your montage. Double-click on the file's name to open the photograph.

2. Click the "Crop" tool icon (a box with a line running through it) on the toolbar on the left side of your screen. A rectangle will appear on your photo.

3. Use your mouse to adjust the rectangle to the area you want to keep on the photo. Any area outside of the rectangle will not appear after the cropping process is complete.

4. Click "Apply" to complete the process. Click "File," "Save" or "Save As" to save the cropped image. Note: You may want to rename the cropped file if you plan on using the original file again in another project.

5. Repeat Steps 1 through 4 for each photo that needs cropping for your photo montage. Leave each photograph open after cropping.

Placing Photos

1. Click on the first photo you want to place in your montage. Click "Edit," then "Copy." Switch to your blank photo montage background.

2. Click "Edit," "Paste" and "Paste As New Layer."

3. Click the "Move" tool (a group of four arrows) on the toolbar at the left side of your screen.

4. Click on the photo you pasted. Drag your mouse across the photo until the "Resizing" toolbar appears on the bottom right corner of the photo.

5. Click the "Deform" tool icon (second icon) from the "Resizing" toolbar. Move your mouse over the bottom right corner of the photo, but don't click the mouse. You will see a resizing handle appear on the photograph.

6. Right-click the resizing handle, hold down the right mouse button as you drag the handle to size your photo to your liking. Click the left button on your mouse once you have the photo sized to your liking.

7. Click on the photo and place it in the position you want on the montage background.

8. Repeat Steps 1 through 7 for each of the remaining photos you want to place on your montage.

Saving and Printing

1. Click "File," then "Save As."

2. Enter a name for your montage in the "File name" box. Click "Save" to save your photo montage.

3. Click "File," "Print" and select the paper, paper size and tray options for your printer. Click "OK" to print your montage.

Tips & Warnings

• To add text to your photo montage, click the "Text" tool (the letter "A") on the toolbar. A text box will appear on your montage. Click "Apply" when done entering your text. Use the "Move" tool to move the text box to the position you want.

References

• Corel: Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI User Guide
• Camera Photo Zone: Creating a Collage of Photos Using Paint Shop Pro
• PC World: Make a Photo Collage

Resources

• Corel: Make Your Own Vignette Frame