Putting photographs into collages is a fun way to display a grouping of photos. In the grouping above I show a simple collage with a group of my bird photos.
Create a Simple Collage in Lightroom
The above collage is one that I created in Adobe Lightroom. To make this collage I moved several of my bird photos to the Print option at the top left of the Lightroom screen and then followed the directions to add the framing and sizing. You also have options to change the color on the frames and the background and to add some text.
Here is another collage that I made in the same way.
Composites
I belong to a Facebook group called "Create 52" where each week we have a theme to create a photograph and post it on the page. One of our recent themes was called Collages/Composites. I posted one of the collages that I made on Lightroom. I then decided to try to stretch my knowledge and try some of the composites. Many of the other members were posting some very interesting composites. Composites are a very creative way of using your photographs. For my first try I went to Photoshop and opened the collage of the Cardinals and then opened a texture that I had of snow. I combined the two into one photograph and then changed the opacity to get the desired effect. Here is the resulting photo.
More Advanced Composites
After seeing some of the other posts in our "Create 52" group, I decided to try some composites using multiple photographs. I had been on a field trip with a group I help mentor in photography and we went to a local college and several students displayed their musical instruments for us to photograph. I took several of the photographs and combined them into one design and then used a photo of some sheets of music for a texture. Here are two of my designs. Remember, I'm just learning but I think you can get the idea.
Creating your own Collages and Composites
If you are interested in trying one of these procedures there are a lot of tutorials that will help you online. If you have Photoshop just search for tutorials for creating composites in Photoshop. If you use other editing software just search online and I'm sure you will also find tutorials for them. Many of the tutorials are on YouTube and are free. You can watch them and pause whenever you need to review a step. I have learned a lot on YouTube.
Zazzle Design from my Collage
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Lovely Mary Beth! I am still learning how to use the camera (Canon Digital) that my hubby doesn't use too much. Photoshop is something I haven't tried yet, but I just might. I have lots of pictures that would be beautiful to make collages from. Thanks for the tips on how to!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how many things you can do with good photographs (especially your excellent ones of birds, Mary Beth) and the photo editing programs available today. The results are outstanding.
ReplyDeleteYou always inspire me to think outside the box! Your collages are lovely and I really like the instruments with the music overlay. Really creative idea!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to be able to do some of these things, but I never seem to have the time to experiment just because I want to see what I can do. I just do basic editing to prepare my photos for blogs posts or Zazzle. Photoshop is over my head. I really like your composite photos with the music notes and the hand.
ReplyDeleteHow fun! Am finally going to learn Lightroom in March - can't wait :)
ReplyDeleteYour photography and tips are always so beautiful and interesting. I'm not much of a photographer, but I always pick up something useful from your articles.
ReplyDelete