How to: Montages & Collages With Photoshop

You can align each picture in its own panel or overlap them.

As a powerful graphics tool, Photoshop provides many options for creating collages and montages. These pieces of art may be as simple as overlaid images, or they may include intricate special effects to make each picture really pop out. However far you wish to take your collage, the basic method is the same. You must place each image in its own layer, where you can move it around to its optimal position.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Adobe Photoshop
• Digital images

Instructions

1. Double-click on the Photoshop icon to start up the program. Go to the "File" menu and select "New." Enter in the dimensions and resolution of the collage you wish to make. Note that 300 dpi is the idle resolution for collages you wish to print, while 72 dpi is ideal for web images.

2. Go to the "File" menu and select "Open." Find one of the images you wish to include in your collage on your hard drive and click on "Open." Repeat this process for every picture you wish to place in your collage.

3. Click on the rectangular selection tool in the Toolbar on the left-hand side of your screen. Click in the upper left-hand corner of one of your pictures and drag your mouse down to the lower right-hand corner of the image. You have now selected the image. Hold down the "Ctrl" key and press the "C" key. This will copy the image to your clipboard.

4. Click on the minimize icon in the upper right hand corner of the image to minimize that window within Photoshop. Click on the collage's icon to bring that to the front. Press the "Ctrl" key and then the "V" key to paste your picture into the collage. It will appear on its own layer.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each image you wish to include in your collage. To move each image around on its layer, simply select that layer in the Layers window in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. Then press the "V" key. This will change your cursor to a cross hair. You can then click on the image and drag it around the collage.

6. Adjust the images and apply special effects. You can re-size images by selecting "Transform" from the "Edit" tab in the main menu. You can also apply special effects to any of the layers by clicking on the "FX" icon at the bottom of the "Layers" window.

References

• Adobe: Create Collages, Montages
• Entheos: Learn How to Create a Vintage Collage in Photoshop
• Photoshop Essentials: Collage of Warped Photos in Photoshop