Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Creating Collages: A Quick Tutorial


This may be a redundant post, but someone recently asked about making collages so I'm doing a quick tutorial with my limited expertise.

I use Picasa for viewing and editing my photos, it's free and easy to download. I store my photos on my computer, not on Picasa Web Albums.

To begin, open Picasa and choose your photos.
The green push pin icon in the bottom toolbar holds the photo, allowing you to select a number of photos. The red circle will take away any you don't want.

Click on "collage," found in the bottom toolbar.

The left window allows you to choose whether you want a picture pile (as above) or a mosaic, grid, etc. 

In this picture pile, each picture can be rearranged. Right clicking on the photo gives a number of options.

To set one photo as background, click "set as background." 

To change the border, click "change border," then "white."

Each photo can be manipulated as to size by clicking on the photo and scrolling up or down. When you click on the photo a circle will appear. The little orange button to the right of the circle enables you to change the angle of the photo.

When you're happy with your work, click "create collage" and voilĂ , you have a beautiful work of art!

Since my house is not yet decorated for Christmas (it's hard to decorate a dusty construction zone), these are photos pulled from 2008.



10 comments:

  1. Thank you! (Or maybe not, I was going to get a few things, but now I'll be playing. :D )

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, by the way, this is a very pretty Christmas mosaic!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lorrie - Your collage is lovely. Thanks for this - I am baking cookies now but will enjoy going over your instructions tonight. I haven't been having much luck with mosaics lately but did play around with a few sunrise pictures this morning. It was so cold that the deck door wouldn't open and so I took them through the window. When they didn't work out I tried doctoring them up and was pleased with the results. Did you enjoy scrolling down through Sew Retro?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful mosaic, love the christmas plate.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I store mine on my computer too, but then blogger won't let me upload mosaics except from Picassa Web albums. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Any tips?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the tutorial, I actually needed it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You have made some great collages! Thank you for sharing.

    Wishing you a wonderful week!
    Sharon

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aren't you the clever blogger! And thanks for sharing your secret! Both this one and your last post are beautiful collages.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am curious, Lorrie, as I use Picasa, too, but your instructuons seem different from what I am used to. Do you have the 3-0 version or a later version?

    My version of picasa does not allow me to add an outside boarder to my collages and I'd really like to do that.

    Your collages are beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ohhhh...I need to do a photo collage! Thanks for the tutorial! I'll be doing one...soon I hope!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment. I read and value each one, cherishing the connections we can make although far apart. Usually, I visit your blog in return, although if you ask a question I try to contact you directly.

Life These Days

  I only listen to the radio while driving. Occasionally I'll sit in the driveway for a few moments to finish a segment. Last Saturday I...