Collage made from 2011 calendar images.
A collage is a work of art that is made up of a combination of different forms in order to create a new piece. Techniques of collage date back to ancient China, however it wasn’t until 10th century Japan that they became a widely used artform. In the west, they began appearing in the middle ages in Europe. Collages entered photography in the form of photo albums in the 19th century, and today exist in tow main forms in photography – the photomontage and the more simple overlaying of a number of images.
A photomontage uses different photographs or the parts thereof to create an entirely new design, that often ends up looking more like a painting than a photograph. The more common overlaying method however is what I’m going to look at today. Traditionally, this would be done by simply gluing different photographs to some kind of background – paper, cardboard etc – in some kind of arrangement. It is often a feature of scrapbooking. The digital age has made things even easier for those who want to create a collage.
While there are a number of software applications that can be used to make collages, they generally require a bit of a learning curve. You have a lot more control and infinite options if you make a collage in Photoshop or InDesign but that comes at the price of needing to dedicate a lot of time to mastery of the programs to get the most from them. Easier are the myriad of options available online and one of the simplest and most effective seems to be Photovisi.
With Photovisi, you can create a collage in a couple of minutes. There are three basic steps required and you’re done. No advanced skills are needed, no specialist knowledge is necessary. The first step is to select the template you want to use. As I write this there are 48 different templates to choose from. You can see a few examples in the screenshot below.
Some of the possible templates.
Next, simply add your photos to it. You can choose to add photos from a folder on your computer, photos from your webcam and with some of the templates, you have the ability to use different shapes for effect. You can also add a background image or text if you want, as well as having the ability to crop and move items around. Once you’re done, hit save and it will generate your collage in a choice of resolutions. You can then download your collage as well as share it directly via the Facebook app.
A collage makes a fun gift for friends and loved ones. Head over to Photovisi and give it a go. It’s free to use and a lot of fun.
That was the 334th Daily PhotoTip. If this post was useful to you, why don’t you subscribe to my feed, leave a comment and share it with your friends. You can also get access to exclusive content and special offers by subscribing to my newsletter. Sign up today. Thank you.
