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Help - Wedding Photo Collage!


J

jasonjeremiah

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Hello, everyone. While I'm not a complete Photoshop newbie (I have used it several times), I don't use PS enough to remember exactly what tools and commands do what. I'm wanting to create a collage of wedding photos inside the outline of a heart, with the background being another photo. I'm wanting to do this for my wife as a Christmas gift. I've attached a sample photo that shows exactly what I'm attempting to do. Could someone be so kind as to give me an outline of the appropriate work flow and steps I would need to take in order to achieve this. Also, when "collaging" the pics inside the heart, should I use another program to arrange the pics or paste them individually as different layers. Thanks in advance for your help!collage.jpg
 
Make your collage. Make a layer below from the basic shape tools in the heart shape. Doesn't matter what color it is. Hold your cursor between the 2 layers and alt/opt click and you will now "clip" the top layer to the shape below. It will cut off the edges and show everything within the heart.

If you need pictures to follow this (I probably would since I'm a visual artist), I would be glad to make pictures of these steps. Just let me know.
 
You might add that when you hover and click alt/ option an arrow with right angle at the top will appear. At that point is when you click. Be advised that as Clare says, the heart has to be a SHAPE. It won't work otherwise. You can also select the layer above the heart and click on the down arrow drop down and choose "create clipping mask" or Alt+Ctrl+G.
 
Ok, if your looking to recreate the image that you used as an example, a clipping mask is not your solution.

If you look closely, the heart has a transparent center allowing the background image to show through.

The collage layer is sandwiched between the heart outline and the background.

Chances are, a selection of one of the heart edges was used to create a Layer mask on the collage layer or group.

Screen Shot 2014-11-24 at 4.11.10 PM.png

Screen Shot 2014-11-24 at 4.10.19 PM.png
 
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jasonjeremiah said:
Hello, everyone. While I'm not a complete Photoshop newbie ... Also, when "collaging" the pics inside the heart, should I use another program to arrange the pics or paste them individually as different layers...
Click to expand...
Given your limited experience with PS, there are many, many programs that will do collages much more easily than PS. These will likely save you quite a bit of time. Personally, I like the collage facility built into Google's freeware program, Picasa.

HTH,

Tom M
 
IamSam said:
Ok, if your looking to recreate the image that you used as an example, a clipping mask is not your solution.

If you look closely, the heart has a transparent center allowing the background image to show through.
Click to expand...

Sam, In the example shown by Jason, the background does show through, so that is what I was going by. However, your method would work of course.

QUOTE=Tom Mann;1533699287]Given your limited experience with PS, there are many, many programs that will do collages much more easily than PS. These will likely save you quite a bit of time. Personally, I like the collage facility built into Google's freeware program, Picasa.

HTH,

Tom M[/QUOTE]

HI Tom, I'm sure that the program you mention is a good one. However, Jason said that he has used PS to some degree, so I imagine he would like to learn new techniques he can use there. However, I'm sure he will get back to us on the subject!

Of course, what I left out is that the very bottom layer should be the entire background so it would be below the clipping mask image and fill out the full picture.
 
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Clare said:
Sam, In the example shown by Jason, the background does show through, so that is what I was going by. However, your method would work of course.....

....Of course, what I left out is that the very bottom layer should be the entire background so it would be below the clipping mask image and fill out the full picture.
Click to expand...

Clare, I should have also stated that the background shows around the Heart shape as well, my fault. When I place a clipping mask from the Heart shaped ring to the Collage group layer.........

...this is what I get.

Screen Shot 2014-11-24 at 6.22.06 PM.png

That's why I used the layer mask.
 
Yeah I see what you mean. That was the purpose of the outline. OTOH, you could just do that by making the heart shape on top, putting on a border and reducing the fill to zero. PS has many ways to do things. You can still use a clipping mask is if you have a lot of photos or images at the edges, they will be clipped to the heart. But of course, the mask or even deleting around the heart works too. (which I would do on a copied layer of the collage and keep the orogonal photo collage layer hidden)

Lots of ways to do the same thing in PS. I guess I'm just a fan of clipping masks and I like the ability to put any background behind the clipping.
 
Yeah I see what you mean. That was the purpose of the outline. OTOH, you could just do that by making the heart shape on top, putting on a border and reducing the fill to zero. PS has many ways to do things. You can still use a clipping mask is if you have a lot of photos or images at the edges, they will be clipped to the heart. But of course, the mask or even deleting around the heart works too. (which I would do on a copied layer of the collage and keep the orogonal photo collage layer hidden)

Lots of ways to do the same thing in PS. I guess I'm just a fan of clipping masks and I like the ability to put any background behind the clipping. Also it is easy to move all the images around within the heart shape when they are clipped.

I just noticed that my example image didn't load. Try again.

heart-within.png
 
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I'm a huge fan of clipping masks! I use them all the time. In fact I set up the collage images in my example to be used with clipping masks. I need to add some images to it.

Screen Shot 2014-11-24 at 7.31.58 PM.png

I could see your image but I did have to click on the attachment link.
 
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Wow, thanks to you both! Sorry for not replying sooner, but Monday is a long day for me and wasn't even able to check back until this morning. As soon as I get a chance this evening, I'm going to start working on this project. I'll post my progress as I go along. Couldn't I assemble the collage with Picasa or some other collage making softare as a jpeg and add it as a layer? When I add it as a layer, what would be the easiest way of making the gaps between the images transparent? Would the heart need to be a clipping mask or layer mask? The image from Sam above shows what I'm trying to do to a certain degree. Thanks for your help. This forum is awesome!
 
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Couldn't I assemble the collage with Picasa or some other collage making softare as a jpeg and add it as a layer?

I don't see why not

When I add it as a layer, what would be the easiest way of making the gaps between the images transparent?

Not sure yet, I would have to see the final product. But I imagine it would be just a matter of isolating the photos and removing what ever background you place them on. If at all possible, place the collage on a white background.


Would the heart need to be a clipping mask or layer mask?

Probably a LAYER mask.
 
In order to make the layer mask, be sure and save the original shape/path of the heart before your alter it. You can then take that shape, make a selection of it, reverse the selection, then make the layer mask. Quick and easy.
 
OP: "...When I add it as a layer, what would be the easiest way of making the gaps between the images transparent?..."

Among the various options for collage-making, Picasa allows the use to select a (solid) background color. I would make the background some weird color that's not likely to be in any of your pix (eg, bright purple). Then, open Picasa's output with PS, rename the background layer something like, "collage", and then use PS's "select / color range" tool to select the background color. Hit "delete", and you should either be done, or very close to it (ie, you might need to go back and tweak the selection).

Also, don't forget that Picasa collage tool offers many other options, eg, borders, drop shadows, using an image for the background, many different arrangements of the component photos, etc. You may find some of these to be to your liking, or at least save you some time in PS.

HTH,

Tom M
 
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