Making Picture Collages in Photoshop

Multiple images are easily collaged in Photoshop.

Making a picture collage in Photoshop offers many advantages over the traditional cut-and-paste method. Images can be easily moved around at any time. You can make layers of images interact with each other in ways that a traditional collage doesn't allow. If you have a scanner, you can use it to incorporate any photo, drawing or texture into your collage.

Things You'll Need

• Digital images
• Scanner (optional)
• Printer (optional)

Instructions

1. Acquire images from the Web or scan them with a flatbed scanner. Keep in mind that most images found on the Web are about 72 ppi (pixels per inch), which is not a good resolution for printing a collage. If you have a scanner, open its software and follow the prompts to scan your images at 72 ppi if the collage will only appear on a website, or at 300 ppi if you want to print the collage.

2. Create a new file in Photoshop by clicking "File > New." Enter in the size you want for the collage in pixels or inches. Choose the necessary resolution. Select the background color as white, transparent or whatever the current background color appears as in the bottom of the Toolbox.

3. Open the images you want to use for the collage by clicking "File > Open" and selecting each file from its folder. Pick an image to start with, press "Ctrl + A" to select the whole image and press "Ctrl + C" to copy it. Click the new collage file and press "Ctrl + V" to paste the image into it. The image appears as a new layer in the Layers box.

4. Continue copying and pasting the images into the collage file. New layers appear in the Layers box as more images are pasted. Adjust the order for these images to sit on top of each other by clicking and dragging a layer on top of or below another one in the Layers box.

5. Change the size of an image layer with the Transform tool. Select the layer, click "Ctrl + T" and hold down the Shift key as you drag out a corner of the bounding box around the image to shrink or enlarge it. Press "Enter" when done.

6. Use the Eraser tool to take out parts of an image and reveal the image layers below. Select the Eraser from the Toolbox and choose its brush size from the horizontal menu at the top of the screen. Hold down the mouse button and move it over the image to erase.

7. Try Blending Options to see how image layers creatively interact with each other. Select the layer you want to experiment with. Choose an option from the drop-down menu in the Layers box that defaults as "Normal." Use the Opacity and Fill sliders to see how "see-through" the image becomes.

8. Add text if desired. Choose the Text tool from the Toolbox, marked by a capital "T." A new layer is automatically created as you click into the image with the tool. Select the font size and type from the horizontal menu.

9. Save the image as a .pdf file if you wish to preserve the layers. Otherwise, flatten the image by clicking "Layer > Flatten Image" and save it as a .jpg. The collage is now ready for the Web or printing.

References

• "Photoshop CS3 For Windows and Macintosh"; Elaine Weinmann, Peter Lourekas; 2007

Resources

• Adobe: Create a Collage or Montage
• Photoshop Café: Photoshop Collage Tutorial Multiple Images in Photoshop