Have fun with your photos and memories by creating a collage
in just a few minutes
What you’ll need
Lots of photos
Shape Collage app
We used
Shape collage
You could try
Collagelt
What you’ll learn
How to use Shape Collage to turn lots of images into one
impressive collage
Create keepsakes
with Shape Collage
Do you have thousands of images stored on your computer and
don’t know what to do with them? If so, Shape Collage was created just for you.
This nifty piece of software can handle thousands of images and automatically
organizes them into a fun picture collage. There are basic preset shapes to
choose from, or you can create your own. You can have complete control over the
size, angle, spacing and borders of the photos, or you can choose to let the
software do all the hard work.
The software retains the quality of the photos (200dpi) so
the results are good enough to print at large sizes if you wanted to create a
poster or canvas. You can try the software for free at
www.shapecollage.com/download, but the upgraded Pro version of Shape Collage,
which is available on the Mac App Store for $24.99, offers the ability to save
the file as a PSD and edit each photo individually. It also removes the small
watermark which is a feature on the free version. Shape Collage is available on
multiple platforms including iPhone and iPad, online and on Facebook
(apps.facebook.com/shapecollage) so you can create photo collages for everyone
on the go.
3 of the best alternative apps for photo collages
PicMix ($0.99)
A collage app for your iPhone and iPad that lets you mix
pictures into a montage using brushes and semi-transparent layers.
Photo Collage (Free)
A Facebook app that creates a collage from your photos.
Choose from a variety of templates, including a heart and circle.
Photo grid (Free)
An Android app that lets you arrange your photos. Shake to
rearrange, add borders and share to Twitter and Facebook.
Create your shape
As well as being able to pick from some great automatic
shape settings, you can also create your own. Click on the More option under
the Shape and Size tab, and a new dialog box will pop up. Select your brush
size using the slider down the left-hand side then draw your own shape. Use the
Eraser to make corrections then hit Done and you have your very own collage
template!
Create a collage – a fun way to share your images
Step 1 – drag and drop
You can import photos into Shape Collage by either dragging
and dropping them from the desktop into the left-hand panel as above, or by
tapping the plus icon in the bottom-left corner. The more photos you import,
the bigger and better the collage!
Step 1 – drag and
drop
Step 2 – pick share
Use the panel on the right of the interface to select the
shape you want the collage to be in. you can chose from various options but
some nice ones are a circle or heart shape. Hit Preview to see the result of
your selection.
Step 2 – pick
share
Step 3 – edit settings
You can now hit Create and stick with default settings, but
in this right-hand panel you can also make some tweaks. Select the collage
size, the size of the photos and the spacing between each of them. Once again,
hit Preview to see the results.
Step 3 – edit
settings
Step 4 – appearance
In the second tab on this right-hand pane, tiled Appearance,
you can add borders to your images. Select the box next to Colour, click on the
swatch and then hit OK. Change the width using the Size slider or by typing in
the % box.
Step 4 –
appearance
Step 5 – advanced
In the last tab on the right-hand panel, titled Advanced,
you can customize your collage even further. Tweak the sliders to change the
rotation and angle of the photos as well as increasing or decreasing the amount
of shadow surrounding your images.
Step 5 – advanced
Step 6 – set the quality
When you are happy with your selections, hit Create and the
click Save in the dialog box. You can also adjust the quality by using the
slider. If your project is only intended for an email, then reduce the quality
to keep the image optimised.
Step 6 – set the
quality
Step 7 – sit back and relax
Once you’ve hit Create, Shape Collage does all the hard work
for you in a matter of seconds. When it has finished, check the place where you
saved your project and your JPEG will be there, ready to be printed or emailed.
Step 7 – sit back
and relax
