Good day!
I think that almost every person accumulates a fairly large number of interesting photos during vacations, holidays, and some significant events ...
Do you think these photos can become even more colorful and unusual? So that those people who will watch them just gasp?
One of the ways to colorfully and effectively decorate your photos is collage(note: photo collage)... Collage is something like a still life (probably, many people from school know what it is), when several photos are placed on one base so as to create a very interesting overall picture (example below). If everything is done with taste, it looks just great! 👌
👉 By the way!
Another cool photo design can be a colorful slideshow that will not leave anyone indifferent.
Moreover, if then such a collage is printed in some photo studio and hung at home. You can make entire collections: the birth of a child, a vacation, an anniversary, etc.
In this article I will tell you how you can make such a photo collage, what you need for this, what programs and online services. The article is designed for a novice user, so no complex graphic editors and techniques will be used!
Collage example - a trip to Paris
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With the help of specials. programs
Photo COLLAGE
Developer site: //fotocollage.ru/
The name of the program speaks for itself - "Photo COLLAGE" specialized software that will facilitate and simplify the creation of any photo collages. Even a beginner who sat down at a PC yesterday can cope (the program is completely in Russian with a clear interface - everything is done in steps). 👌
The program has a lot of different features (photo editing, frames, etc.), it is possible to upload photos to the cloud (thanks to which you can see your collages anywhere you have the Internet!).
Below I will consider the basic steps for creating a photo collage in this program of the same name.
1) The first thing we do is download and install the program (all actions are standard, I don't consider them). Further, after starting the program, select "Create a new project" then "Collage templates" .
2) There are plenty of collage templates in the program (even in the free version): simple, children's, wedding, New Year's, seasons, travel, vintage, abstract, invitations, cards, etc.
In this window you need to select a template and click the "Next" button.
3) After that, set the page format: width, height, resolution, etc. Roughly speaking, this is the size of your future photo collage.
4) Then everything is simple: open the folder on your hard drive where your photos are, and just transfer them to your collage (example below).
By the way, please note that in the program you can customize the background, set effects and frames, write text, add decorations (all this is not considered in the article).
5) The last step is to save the photo collage. To do this, press the button "Save / Save as Image" , or just press the buttons Shift + Ctrl + S .
6) The finished collage "journey of the robber cat" - in the screenshot below!
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PhotoScape
Website: //www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php
An excellent free photo editor that can be a good replacement for Paint, and even Adobe Photoshop (for users who do not work professionally with graphics).
With this editor, you can create collages, edit photos (lighten, darken, rotate, crop edges, apply various elements (arrows, dots, lines, etc.)), view photos, convert and much more.
By the way, the program supports all popular versions of Windows: 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits), completely translated into Russian. In general, I recommend reading it.
Collage creation in PhotoScape
1) After starting the program, select the section "Page" , see the screen below.
2) Next, select the type of cutting (design) of your page - how the photo will be located, a kind of layout (arrow-1 in the screenshot below).
Then open the folder with your photos and transfer them to your layout. By the way, you can easily crop pictures and arrange them more successfully on the page.
3) Then provide a frame for each photo. For example, I chose the "notepad" frame type for my travel cat collage. See example below.
Then press the button "Save" - and woo-a-la, the collage is ready! By the way, it will look 1 in 1 as it is shown in the PhotoScape editor.
4) My photo collage, made in a couple of minutes, is shown below. In my opinion, not bad at all (and if you fill your hand, collages will be even better!).
In general, there are a lot of programs for creating collages (this was 20 years ago - there was practically no choice of software). In my opinion, the above couple of programs are some of the best for beginners to create such a "still life" from home photos.
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Using online services
👉 Important!
Most services do not work if Adobe Flash Player is not installed (disabled) in your browser. Basically, if the site throws an error, then a link to Adobe Flash will be provided to you automatically so that you can update your plugin.
Service number 1 - //www.pizap.com/
In my humble opinion, this is one of the most convenient and worthy services for creating online photo collages.
Despite the fact that the service is in English, the site interface allows you to perform all actions in order (intuitively), and with just one mouse. By the way, the service has a PRO mode that allows you to create even more beautiful and cool collages.
I will show below what I got ...
1) After going to the site - you need to press the button "Start" (example below).
2) Next, you need to select the option "Collage" .
3) Then you will be offered a choice of several dozen layouts: in the form of circles and hearts, rectangular, mixed, etc. I decided to stop at circles ...
4) Next, an editor window will appear: first add a photo (the "add photo" ), adjust the background (Frame Color), change the size of the canvas (Spacing), put a shadow for each background (Drop Shadow). In general, everything is intuitive (an example is shown below).
5) To get a ready-made photo collage on your PC - just press the button "Save" ... The finished version is presented below (the work in a couple of minutes looks pretty good, although, of course, the background could be chosen more successfully, and add all the photos so that there are no black circles).
Service number 2 - //www.befunky.com/
An excellent service for creating high quality photo collages (which can be up to several megabytes in size!). Many similar services require a paid subscription to create such high-quality collages, here everything is free!
In addition, using the service is very convenient: in the process of work, you can use the usual keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl + Z (undo the last operation), Del (delete the picture), etc.
I would also like to note that the service supports the Russian language (special thanks to the developers who have added several languages).
Create high quality collage with befunky
1) The first thing we do after opening the site is press the button at the top "Collage Maker" .
2) Next, select the language. Usually, by the way, it is correctly selected in automatic mode, you just have to confirm your choice.
3) Next step: choosing a layout. To do this, use the 4-square icon on the menu bar on the left, and select the one that suits you. In general, there are a lot of layouts here: with large photos and small ones, the same, with a different arrangement of photos (for every taste!).
The screenshot below shows how to select and change the layout.
4) Next step: add photos and pictures to your layout (collage). Everything is simple here: open the image manager (the icon is like this - 
) and upload your photos.
5) Optionally, you can add text, various patterns, elements (cool sheep, glasses, various birds, etc. decoration can make your photos funny and even more amazing and unique!).
In general, I leave the design of the photo collage at your mercy, there is nothing complicated here ...
6) The final touch: saving the project (for this, there is a special button in the menu above "Save" , shown in the screenshot below).
You can save a photo collage in different formats (JPG, PNG), in different quality. Please note that a collage can be quite a lot: one picture can be up to several megabytes!
7) The collage I received using this service is presented in the screenshot below. Not bad at all ...
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👉 By the way!
Do you want to create cool art? If anyone does not know, then this is an unusual (often funny and amusing) drawing from your photo. As in the picture above with Yuri Nikulin (if someone did not know).
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At allThere are dozens of similar sites now, I have cited only those that are user-friendly and offer very good functionality that will suit most "average" users.
By the way, I will be grateful for the additions on the topic: new sites appear every day, and for sure, there will be services that will be more attractive over time. 👌
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This completes the work with the photo ...
Good luck to everyone and good collages!
👋
First publication: 09.04.2017
Correction: 01/30/2020
