Collage is probably the most popular technique in Digital Arts. There is no single standard method to produce it. You can simply work with the eraser tool to erase the borders of the images, move them closer and arrange them the way you would want to present the collage. It could be that simple, or could be as complex as using blending modes to blend different images.

Again, understanding images is the first step when you begin with a collage.

Original Images

This time you may have more than one image. If you have the choice to select the images, you are lucky, but if not you need to work to bring all the images on the same level in terms of size and appearance. You need to retouch the images before you start using it for the collage. Retouching will include resizing, sharpening and even adding some color or removing some parts of the images.

I had two images (placed in the beginning) with me and I wanted to prepare an Eid Card. The person's photograph was bigger in size as compared to the scenery, (bigger than the photo displayed above) so I had to trim the bigger image down to bring it to the size of the scenery. I was lucky enough as the images were just perfect to blend. No more retouching work was necessary. I brought the pictures on the same layers and worked with blending modes. I had to add some color for smooth blending.

After finishing the collage, if you want to add text, the choice of font, size and color plays an important role, for a wrong choice could harm a potentially good collage. I have used a simple font with white color, so that it can be easily read on the dark background.

In the next article, we will learn Image Processing techniques.