Transforming and Moving Layers in a Collage

When you have a couple of images in your collage you can start transforming them to your liking. Moving and scaling are the manipulations you’ll probably do the most. Photoshop enables you to transform layers without affecting any other layer within the image. Here’s how to tweak images:
1. Choose File-->Open. Select your saved collage file.
2. Choose Window-->Layers to open the Layers palette.
3. In the Layers palette, select the layer you want to transform.
4. Choose Edit-->Free Transform.
Because you’re going to adjust the scale and rotate the image at the same time, choose Free Transform rather than Transform. Then choose a transformation type from the submenu. This way you are interpolating the image only once, rather than twice.
5. Shift+drag a corner transformation handle to scale the image down to the desired size.
Pressing the Shift key when you drag maintains the relative proportions of the image and reduces the amount of distortion.
6. Position the cursor just outside the handle until a curved arrow appears. Rotate the image the desired amount.
7. When you’ve transformed the selection to your liking, doubleclick inside the transform box or press Enter (Return on the Mac).
The transform box disappears. Avoid as much interpolation as possible to ensure less quality degradation.
8. To transform a selection that is on a layer mask, in the Layers palette choose the selection’s layer and follow Steps 4 through 7.
Be sure to click the selection’s thumbnail and not the layer mask thumbnail. Otherwise, you’ll transform the layer mask thumbnail instead of the selection.
9. When you’ve transformed the selection to your liking, doubleclick inside the transform box.
10. Choose File-->Save.

You probably already have a pretty good sense of the possibilities (which are infinite) available to you when you create and change collages. Of course, you can always add more stuff to a collage, and you can also rearrange the layers as needed. Just follow these steps:
1. Choose File-->Open and then select your collage file. Also open another supporting image.
2. Choose Window-->Layers to open the Layers palette if it isn’t already visible.
3. Select the desired element in the supporting image.
It goes without saying that making the selection accurate can only enhance your composite. I selected the boarding pass with the Polygon Lasso tool.
4. Contract and feather the image’s edges and use the Move tool to drag the selection into the collage file.
For the most professional appearance possible, make sure that the values you use are consistent with the values you chose when you modified and feathered all the other selections in this composite.
5. Position and transform the selection as needed.
6. In the Layers palette, select a layer and drag it above another layer.
7. Choose File-->Save.