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 Photo Collage Tutorial

 Making collages in PhotoShop 5LE (or similar editing programs)
By Lori Miles

[ Editor's note: Because this tutorial is an excerpt from a post to the PhotogForum, an introduction is not included here...Lori gets straight to the point.]

 First of all, you want to open a new file under FILE~new, then choose the size you want. Depending on how many images you want to place, you can play around with sizes. For 2 or 3 photos, try 12" x 12". I usually also select 72 dpi. Your next step is to open the images you want to put in your collage under FILE~open. Then, using the Photoshop tools on the left, use the MOVE tool to select the images one at a time and click and drag them into your new file. Once you've placed them all into the new file, you can move them around and place them where you like by either right-clicking to select them and move them or under WINDOWS~show layers you can display the layers then select and move them from there. If you want to add text, click on the bold "T" symbol on the Photoshop tools on the left and select the font and size of the text you want to add and type it in. It becomes a layer that can also be moved and placed. Before you save your collage, you can re-size it to a manageable size under IMAGE~image size. Lastly, you must flatten the collage to save it as a jpg file under LAYER~flatten image. Once you do this, you cannot move the images individually anymore! But remember, at any point you can select EDIT~undo to undo your last action. I've had this program for more than a year and I still spend hours playing and figuring out the best way to use it and try new things - so, be prepared to play around with it a bit at first. Hope this helps - can't wait to see some collages! --Lori.

Lori Miles' Website: www.sweetpeaphotography.com

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