Collage in Photoshop is simply digitally cutting and pasting without the need for scissors and glue.
Adobe Photoshop allows computer users of all skill levels to put together collages. The image editing program is designed for combining photos into one document. The basics of collage in Photoshop are similar to traditional collage: cut and paste. Instead of using scissors and glue, simply use Photoshop's more sophisticated tool set for cutting out your images and pasting them together.
Traditional and Digital Collage
Photoshop allows you to combine colors, shapes and photos without using glue.
Collage, in all its forms, is taking pieces of some material and combining them to create a new whole. In elementary school, perhaps you cut out various pictures from a magazine with a scissors and pasted the pieces together to create an art project. This same process in Photoshop, called digital collage, allows you to use digital photographs and tools to select pieces of a photograph and paste those pieces wherever you want.
Digital Scissors in Photoshop
Photoshop "selections" are the digital equivalent of using scissors for cutting out a photograph.
To cut out pictures in Photoshop, use a process called "making a selection." It is Photoshop's version of "scissors" and involves picking what parts of an image you would like to use. Selection methods include the magic wand tool, quick select tool, color select tool and channel selectors. Use your selection as an element in your collage.
Pasting in Photoshop
The "Move" tool will help you arrange your photo pieces into a collage.
Start pasting your collage together in a new art file by clicking on the photo containing your first selection and going to the Edit menu. Copy and paste your selection by choosing "Edit" and "Copy." In a new, blank file, choose "Edit" and "Paste" to place your selection into the document. You will see it appear on a new layer inside of Photoshop. Paste as many selected pieces as you need into your new collage.
Arranging the pieces
This image involves combining the original photo of the road landscape and pasting another photo of the television into the scene.
In a traditional collage you would have glued your pieces into place. However, with Photoshop, you have the luxury of moving around, resizing, rotating and arranging your photos without the sticky mess of glue. The move or transform tools allow you to choose each photographic piece and resize and arrange it as desired. There is no actual glue in Photoshop. Once you have arranged the photo pieces into a placement you are happy with, save your Photoshop file, and you are finished.
