How to Create a Free Collage Online

Creating an online photo collage is simple and fun.

Creating a photo collage no longer requires scissors and glue and hours of trying to paste your photos together in a display. Online collage makers offer services and techniques to easily create amazing collages with a few clicks of the mouse. There are collage generators that can add graphics and designs to your collage and arrange your photos to the best advantage with no cutting required. You can even create a photo collage in a shape such as a cat, heart or symbol.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with Internet connection
• Collage-making software
• Photo files

Instructions

1. Choose a photo-editing and collage-making software program and download it to use for your project. Several choices are available for free, such as Google Picasa and Shape Collage. See the Resources section for links to these. Download the software by following the directions.

2. Load your photos into the software by using the program's tutorial. If you have digital photo files, simply upload them to the program. If you have paper photos, scan them into your computer as .jpg files, then upload to the program. If you don't have a scanner, you can take the paper photos to a photo kiosk and scan them to a disk. You can add as many photos as you like to a collage, but the visibility of the photos selected depends on the number you choose to add.

3. Choose the shape or design of your collage. The program will create the collage or you can use the editing tools to create your own. You can choose the size of the photos, number of photos and space between them in the shape collages. If you decide to edit them yourself, you can save the file and open it in Photoshop or another photo-editing program and crop, rotate and adjust the photos manually.

4. Save your collage and publish online. Collages created with most programs can be shared on Flickr, Snapfish, Photobucket, MySpace, Facebook or any blog or website you use. Some sites such as Snapfish provide collage-making software if you have an account on the site. Creating an account is free.

References

• Microsoft: Create a Digital Photo Collage

Resources

• Google: Picasa3
• Shape Collage
• Snapfish: Create a Personalized Multi Photo Collage