banner made with Shape Collage
Want to know a secret? When you have a lot of photos, nothing is easier than using a software program with a built in collage feature. Both Steph and I (Katie) have written about a few of our favorite collage tools before, but we thought it would be fun to round them all up into one post so you can see some examples and comparisons.
PICASA:
Picasa is by far one of my favorite tools just because of the collage feature. I love that I can make digital piles of photos look great with the click of a few buttons. Even better, Picasa is a FREE program!
To create this collage with hundreds of Disney World pictures, I selected the folder of photos I wanted to use, and then chose“Create” and “Picture Collage” from the top bar menu.
I’ve used collages like this on layouts. They export as jpeg images, so you can remove the white background using a magic wand tool, or just use the white on your layout like I did in the sample below:
Some resources to help you use Picasa:
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FOTO FUSION:
This is the program that Steph has called her “Secret Scrapping Weapon” and after purchasing my own copy, I now know why! This is the most customizable of all the collage software programs that I have used.
Both of these collages were made with a folder of photos from a 2008 vacation to Oregon. Each one of them took only minutes to create! Just use the auto collage wizard tool in the top menu under “TOOLS” and play around with the different adjustment settings.
I think each one of them would be a great digital scrapbook page!
Some resources to help you use Foto Fusion:
- Foto Fusion tutorials
- My Secret Scrapping Weapon
- Doing My First Layout – scroll down to the FotoFusion section
- More Tutorials – again scroll down to the FotoFusion section
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PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS:
Photoshop Elements has a basic collage creating tool to help you combine several photos together. Use the “Create” tab and follow the step-by-step instructions in this post to put together easy collages in PSE.
I chose a white background for this collage and turned it into this simple layout by adding a fun font. (Fontologie Empty Wrapper font)
Some resources to help you with Photoshop Elements collages:
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Shape Collage is another great program that some of our readers have mentioned to us. It automatically collages your selected photos. The free version is not as customizable, but if you upgrade to a paid version you can save as a PSD/TIF file so that you can move around photos.
To create a collage just drag your photos into the work space and click a selection. Incredibly easy!
I especially love the shaped collages! I think they would be so fun to use on blog posts or digital layouts.
My very favorite part of Shape Collage IS available in the free version: you can create a collage in any shape you wish (letter of the alphabet; symbol; number; shape, etc.).
Those are all pictures I took in 2007 formed into a collage of the numbers 2007. Cool! 
Some resources to help you use Shape Collage:
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I hope you are ready to have some collage fun with your photos. You can make fun images for blogs and scrapbook pages, or even create some frame-worthy collages.
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Excellent timing! Went to a pumpkin patch today and I tried the collage in PSE8 and it worked great. Have not decided what kit to use to scrap with yet but I have the photo placement already done without using a template (also easy but still work!). THANK YOU!
thank you for your information, I love collages! Am thinking of using them for my daughter’s graduation albums and you gave me some great ideas!
I tried Picasa for a collage for the first time yesterday, and it really was easy. I will definitely use it again, it’s great to display all those photos that don’t fit anywhere else in an album!
Thanks for the information and fun layouts. I know have a few more things I want to try!
Such an awesome and useful article! Thank you! I was wondering-which version of foto fusion do you recommend? I saw 3 versions on the website.
I don’t know which version Katie got, but I started with the Enhanced and then upgraded to Extreme. The biggest thing to look at is the size of the file you can export (this is also how you would save a png or jpeg to print or bring into another program to scrap). If you want to have a 3600 pixel image or 2400 pixel image (which would be a 12×12 or 8×8 at 300 dpi), then you would need at least the enhanced level. Here is a guide that compares each version:
http://www.lumapix.com/essentials/ess_product-comparison.shtml
I bought the enhanced version and I’ve been very happy with it. Steph talks about the limitations of the cheaper version in her article about Secret Scrapping Weapon linked in this post.
I love Picasa! The collage feature has allowed me to quickly create a 8×10 page to take advantage of the free prints I see sometimes on the web. Now I’m intrigued to try Shape Collage for the letter collages. That looks really neat!