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December 2, 2008 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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by Dax Borges |
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Collages are a great way to capture more then what a single frame is normally able to do. Before digital photography Collages were pretty straight forward. You got a stick of glue, some scissors, your prints and a large piece of paper to paste your cutup images on and went to work. Though this technique is still possible with your digital photographs it creates a mess and leaves you with only one copy of the collage. Thankfully there is a better way! Following the below process you can make a seamless photo collage that can be printed as many times as you like. One of the largest problems people have with digital collage is the change in file size between images. If you shoot all the images using the same camera and don’t changing the file size settings, you should have no problems. However, if your images come from a range of sources such as, some from a scanner, others off the web, and others from your camera, then be aware that when you put the images together the size ratio can vary.  This example shows this exact problem occurring. While the image is the same, “A” Is the file from a camera while example “B” is the same image downloaded from the web. © 2007 Dax Borges
Though size difference can often be tolerated, if you want to learn how to properly resize your image follow the link below. It will teach you how to control image size and allow you to get the best quality when enlarging a small image. http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOME/Columns/Digital_Photography/Details/up_rezing_your_images.fci Once you have image size in order you are safe to start your collage… 1. In Photoshop go to File > New and Open a new document. I usually have height and width set to inches and the size set to what I would like the final output size to be. Standard sizes are 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10. Where it reads Resolution set it for pixels/inch. As for what number you should enter in the Resolution box I usually do 300dpi (Dots per Inch). This is the best quality that any printer can put out. However this is likely much higher then the dpi of you file size, thus all your images will seem small when put them into your Collaged image. If your files seem too small, try setting the resolution to around 180dpi. If you only plan on using your collage on the web, you are safe with 72 dpi 2. Once you have your Collage document open, open the first image you want in your collage. Note: I open all my images at once so that I can pick and choose faster but if your computer is running slow I strongly suggest sticking to opening one image at a time. 3. With both the Collage image and the image you want to put in the collage open, place them side by side on your screen. Make sure you’re on the window of the image you would like to add and select the move tool. Once selected, click and drag the image you’re adding from its window to the collage window. When you do this Photoshop automatically makes the added image a new layer. You can see your layers by going to Window > Layers. Think of layers as transparencies stacked on top of one another. Whatever layer is on top, in the list, will appear “on top” in the collage. However many images you plan on using in your collage will be the number of layers you have, plus a background layer. Thus if you have a lot of images I suggest naming your layers by double clicking on their label.  4. Repeat step three until you have all your images layered in your collage file. In the end your layers window will look something like this…  5. Once you have your images layered begin moving and sizing them around your collage. You can do this using the same Move tool and size them by going Edit > Transform > Scale. This doesn’t need to be perfect since you can always make small adjustments later. Also, be sure that you are clicked on the layer of the image you want to move/size in your layers window. If nothing seems to be moving or if the wrong thing is moving you are probably on the wrong layer 6. Once your images are moved and sized roughly you are ready to start the final collage process. This is where you choose what part of each image is shown. In other words if this wasn’t digital this would be the stage where you cut your pictures. Be sure you’re selected on the layer of the image you want to “cut,” then click the Add Layer Mask button. Once you have done this you should notice a linked white box that appears on the layer of the image you’re “cutting”.
7. You will be using your brush tool to “paint in” where you don’t want the picture to show through. The first thing you must know is that the layer mask (the linked white box) considers 100% black non transparent and 100% white completely transparent.  © 2007 Dax Borges
 © 2007 Dax Borges
 © 2007 Dax Borges
By using this method you can always take back a “cut” or fill you don’t like by painting in either black or white on the layer mask. Just be sure that you are clicked on the layer mask, of the specific layer, of the image you want to edit. 8. Helpful Hotkeys and tips
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