If you remember your elementary-school days, you probably remember cutting out a bunch of pictures from magazines and pasting them on a piece of construction paper. Well, with Photoshop, the idea of a collage isn’t much different, but the activity is a little more refined. Maybe you want to let loose your artistic side. Or maybe you need to combine several images into one as part of a job. Or you may just want to get a better handle on how layers work. Whatever your reason, you can use the steps you find here to get started on your first collage. And by the way, if collage is too froufrou a word for you, you can substitute it with composite—as in the definition of “derived from many components.” I usually do. Creating a collage takes many steps. If you’re short on photos, you can go to www.gettyimages.com. Be sure to register so that you can have access to a huge gallery of free comping images. Comping images are small, low-resolution images used for internal corporate or personal noncommercial use only. What makes a collage a collage is the fact that you layer a variety of images over each other. So it makes sense that you need to understand how layers work in order to get started. To create the first layer of your collage, follow these steps:
1. Decide on two images you want to use in your collage and open them by choosing File-->Open.
I recommend picking an image to use as your main canvas and then opening up a supporting image that you can select and then drag onto that main image. However, if you want, you can also start with just a blank document. For my example, I decided on a travel theme and opened an image of the Grand Canyon and another image of a passport.
2. Choose Window-->Layers to open the Layers palette.
Always be sure that the Layers palette is visible whenever you’re creating a composite from multiple images. You need to see what is happening as you drag and drop, and you need to be aware of what layer you are working on at all times.
3. Select the desired element in the supporting image.
Feel free to use whatever selection method suits your fancy, but remember, the finished collage will look only as good as its individual selections. Because the contrast between my passport and the background behind it was very good, I grabbed the Magic Wand tool, set the Tolerance to 50, and clicked the passport. I then held down the Shift key and, with the Lasso tool, circled the remaining pixels in the gold type that the Magic Wand tool didn’t pick up. To add a selection, you must press and hold down the Shift key.
4. Choose Select-->Modify-->Contract and enter a value. Then choose Select-->Feather and enter a value.
Contract the selections lightly (I chose a value of 1 pixel) before you apply a feather (I chose a 0.5 pixel value) to avoid picking up some of the background during the feathering process.
Using a small feather helps to avoid the harsh, looks-like-I-cut-it-out-with-apair-of-pinking-shears look.
5. With the Move tool, drag and drop the selection onto the background.
The Layers palette shows that you’ve produced a layer. You’ll notice that your main image remains as the background below the layer. Don’t worry if your element isn’t the right size.
6. Choose File-->Save. Name the file collage and make sure the format is Photoshop.
Keep the file in a handy spot on your hard drive so that you can find it when you’re ready to do more with your collage.
I’ve already shown you how to create a layer by dragging and dropping a passport onto a background image of the Grand Canyon. The process I’m demonstrating here is a little different. It entails pasting one selection into another. Sticking with my travel theme, I opted to take the image of a compass and paste it into the background so that the compass looks like it’s peaking out from the side of the canyon.
To paste one selection into another on your collage, follow these steps:
1. Choose File-->Open. Select the file you saved from the last exercise. Also open a new supporting image.
2. Choose Window-->Layers to open the Layers palette.
Always keep the Layers palette visible whenever you are creating a composite from multiple images.
3. Select the part of the supporting image that you want to use.
Feel free to use whatever selection method you desire, but try to get as accurate a selection as you can. For the compass, I used the Elliptical Marquee tool, while pressing the Alt key (Option on the Mac), to draw from the center out to select the bottom portion of the compass. With the same tool, I pressed the Shift key and then the mouse button and then the Alt key (Option) to add the top portion of the compass.
4. Contract and feather the selection (as described in Step 4 in the previous set of steps).
Unless you’re going for some special effect, be consistent with the treatment of the edges of each of your elements in your composite.
5. Choose Edit-->Copy.
6. In your saved collage file, move the first supporting image (the image you added in the previous set of steps) to the side with the Move tool. Then use the Lasso tool (or any other selection tool) to create a selection in which to paste your new supporting image.
I want the compass image to look as if it is peeking up from behind the side of the canyon, so I made a selection in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon.
7. Choose Edit-->Paste Into.
If you use the Move tool to move the pasted image around the canvas, you see that the pasted image is invisible outside the boundaries of the selection outline. Don’t be concerned if your element isn’t the right size. The Layers palette shows a second thumbnail next to the compass thumbnail. This thumbnail represents the layer mask created automatically when you pasted into a selection. A layer mask allows portions of the layer to show and be hidden. In my example, the white areas on the layer mask are where my compass shows through. Those white areas happen to correspond to the selection I made in Step 6. The black areas represent where my compass would be hidden if I were to move it into those areas.
8. Choose File-->Save.
1. Decide on two images you want to use in your collage and open them by choosing File-->Open.
I recommend picking an image to use as your main canvas and then opening up a supporting image that you can select and then drag onto that main image. However, if you want, you can also start with just a blank document. For my example, I decided on a travel theme and opened an image of the Grand Canyon and another image of a passport.
2. Choose Window-->Layers to open the Layers palette.
Always be sure that the Layers palette is visible whenever you’re creating a composite from multiple images. You need to see what is happening as you drag and drop, and you need to be aware of what layer you are working on at all times.
3. Select the desired element in the supporting image.
Feel free to use whatever selection method suits your fancy, but remember, the finished collage will look only as good as its individual selections. Because the contrast between my passport and the background behind it was very good, I grabbed the Magic Wand tool, set the Tolerance to 50, and clicked the passport. I then held down the Shift key and, with the Lasso tool, circled the remaining pixels in the gold type that the Magic Wand tool didn’t pick up. To add a selection, you must press and hold down the Shift key.
4. Choose Select-->Modify-->Contract and enter a value. Then choose Select-->Feather and enter a value.
Contract the selections lightly (I chose a value of 1 pixel) before you apply a feather (I chose a 0.5 pixel value) to avoid picking up some of the background during the feathering process.
Using a small feather helps to avoid the harsh, looks-like-I-cut-it-out-with-apair-of-pinking-shears look.
5. With the Move tool, drag and drop the selection onto the background.
The Layers palette shows that you’ve produced a layer. You’ll notice that your main image remains as the background below the layer. Don’t worry if your element isn’t the right size.
6. Choose File-->Save. Name the file collage and make sure the format is Photoshop.
Keep the file in a handy spot on your hard drive so that you can find it when you’re ready to do more with your collage.
I’ve already shown you how to create a layer by dragging and dropping a passport onto a background image of the Grand Canyon. The process I’m demonstrating here is a little different. It entails pasting one selection into another. Sticking with my travel theme, I opted to take the image of a compass and paste it into the background so that the compass looks like it’s peaking out from the side of the canyon.
To paste one selection into another on your collage, follow these steps:
1. Choose File-->Open. Select the file you saved from the last exercise. Also open a new supporting image.
2. Choose Window-->Layers to open the Layers palette.
Always keep the Layers palette visible whenever you are creating a composite from multiple images.
3. Select the part of the supporting image that you want to use.
Feel free to use whatever selection method you desire, but try to get as accurate a selection as you can. For the compass, I used the Elliptical Marquee tool, while pressing the Alt key (Option on the Mac), to draw from the center out to select the bottom portion of the compass. With the same tool, I pressed the Shift key and then the mouse button and then the Alt key (Option) to add the top portion of the compass.
4. Contract and feather the selection (as described in Step 4 in the previous set of steps).
Unless you’re going for some special effect, be consistent with the treatment of the edges of each of your elements in your composite.
5. Choose Edit-->Copy.
6. In your saved collage file, move the first supporting image (the image you added in the previous set of steps) to the side with the Move tool. Then use the Lasso tool (or any other selection tool) to create a selection in which to paste your new supporting image.
I want the compass image to look as if it is peeking up from behind the side of the canyon, so I made a selection in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon.
7. Choose Edit-->Paste Into.
If you use the Move tool to move the pasted image around the canvas, you see that the pasted image is invisible outside the boundaries of the selection outline. Don’t be concerned if your element isn’t the right size. The Layers palette shows a second thumbnail next to the compass thumbnail. This thumbnail represents the layer mask created automatically when you pasted into a selection. A layer mask allows portions of the layer to show and be hidden. In my example, the white areas on the layer mask are where my compass shows through. Those white areas happen to correspond to the selection I made in Step 6. The black areas represent where my compass would be hidden if I were to move it into those areas.
8. Choose File-->Save.
Creating Layers and Using the Paste Into Command to Make a Collage in Photoshop
![Creating Layers and Using the Paste Into Command to Make a Collage in Photoshop]()
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