How to make a photo collage for ebay or your website
A basic familiarity with photo editing programs is helpful when you want to learn to do some fun effects with your pictures. I am not very photo editing savvy, so I have stuck with the same easy method for years, with the simplest program I can find. Although it is a basic method of making a photo collage, it has served me well on my eBay auctions and my websites.
While this tutorial is specific to MicroSoft Picture It, the techniques can be adapted to other software applications with a little ingenuity. Most photo editing software has somewhat similar features, with some being more complicated, such as PhotoShop. These programs are far above my area of knowledge, so I stick with the older 2001 version of Microsoft Picture It that I bought years ago. I just move it from computer to computer as they die over the years...LOL! A lot of PCs now come with Picture It on it already, but these new versions are different and this tutorial may seem to vary slightly from the current program. That being said, I hope you will find this of some benefit when designing banners for your website, or editing photos for your sales. Feel free to print out this page if needed.
Start Microsoft Picture It
How to make a photo collage
PART ONE -----
Go to File- Open Picture or Projects
Locate and click on photo you want to start with
Photo is now open and you may edit it if needed by adjusting contrast,
brightness, etc.
To begin making your collage Click on the photo to select it
Click on Crop or Trim button
Click the "create a cutout " button
When new screen opens click on "By tracing an area on my own"
Follow on screen instructions for tracing around photo to cut it out for your
collage
Click NEXT
Click LEAVE IN ORIGINAL PROJECT
Click DONE
Click on photo to select it- & Drag your original photo away to the side-
your cutout photo will be there on the screen behind where original was.
Click on the full photo and hit delete- it is no longer needed on screen.
Now you have just the " Cutout" of your photo on your screen
Click on the photo to select it
Click on the FRAME and EDGE EFFECTS button- Then the SOFT EDGES button
Drag arrow till the background edges of your photo fades away.
Click DONE. This is the end of the first part of your collage-
Now we need to add more photos.
PART TWO -----
Leave your photo as it and click "ADD SOMETHING" Button ------> Picture or
Cutout from Computer
Select the NEXT PHOTO you want to add to your collage
New photo will open on top of your old one---This is as it should be
REPEAT ALL PREVIOUS STEPS as you did when you EDITED the FIRST PHOTO
After you have edited and cutout the second photo you can resize it and move it
around your screen to see how
it fits with photo #1. You will be arranging these a few times till it looks
right. A selection of several different
shots in different poses is best to make the most interesting collage.
Repeat these steps till you have all the photos you want for your collage cutout
---
So now we can add the background!
Click on ADD SOMETHING -----> Picture or Cutout from Computer
( Same as you did before when adding photos )
This time you will be selecting a background that flatters your photos without
detracting from them.
Chose your background.
When the background appears on TOP of your doll photos Drag the edges to enlarge
it until
it COMPLETELY covers the doll photos.
Drag it slightly LARGER than the work area.
Now CLICK Position, Delete or Duplicate
CLICK Move Forward or Backward
CLICK SEND TO BACK
Okay! Now your doll photos are ON TOP of the Background.
You can now further arrange them as you please.
If you want to add a colored border to the final project
Click on Frames & Edge Effects then Click on HIGHLIGHTED EDGES
Follow Instructions on screen.
That's it! Hopefully it worked : ))))
Practice this..its gets very very fast in time through repetition.
The End : )
Here are some examples of my photo collages
