How To Make Product Collages For Your Blog

We often get asked how we create the collages we share here on the blog. Honestly, there are a lot of different ways you can make a collage. They are super fun to make! Today I want to share a basic method that you can use with Adobe Photoshop Elements. 

Step 1. Shop! My favorite part of the collage making process is the shopping part! For this collage I picked our some items from my favorites list on Etsy to share. As a general rule, white backgrounds will make your process much easier. Don't worry, you can erase the background if you need to it's just a little bit more time consuming. 

Step 2. Save images and links. As you are gathering items for your collage keep them organize. I like to keep mine together on my desktop, for quick referance. Be sure to also save the links as you go along! 

Step 3. Open all your images in Adobe Photoshop Elements. 

Step 4. Begin a new file. Choose File>New>Blank File. This pop-up menu will appear. You can choose the size you want your file to be. I generally make my images 1000 pixels across for web stuff. If you plan to print your file out in the future, you will need to make it larger. 

Step 5. Crop & Resize. To crop you select the crop button. (Seen here in the left hand column, it's the third one down to the farthest left.) Then simply crop around your photo, freeing your image of any extra white space. 

To resize: First, be sure you have checked the buttons pointed out here. Then, change the width or the height. (the other will change automatically) Press OK and you're good! 

6. Copy/Paste. To copy your product image first crop around it, then press Edit>Cut. Next, move over to your new/blank file. Press Edit>Paste. 

7. Use key pad arrows to move your item. First select the top left button. Then, move your item with the arrows on your keypad until you are happy with it's placement. 

Tip: I usually place the larger items (or focal points) on my collage first. This makes it a little easier to create a balanced design. 

8. After you are finished pasting images choose Layer>Flatten. 

9. Erase the backgrounds. The tools pointed out on the above image are 1- The eraser tool. Choose this to erase the background. Also make sure white is the bottom color selected on your color swatches below. 2. Brush menu. You can choose from different brushes on this drop down menu. Choose something basic for this step. 3. Brush size. This is important. I use a very large brush to erase most of the background and then switch to a small brush to clean up the edges around a product. 

You can see that my pink arrow is pointing to a section I had already erased. This process is a little bit tedious, but much quicker than a lot of other methods! 

10. Add Fonts. 1. Select the font tool. 2. Choose a color for your font. (top swatch- I chose mustard yellow) 3. Choose a font. Adobe Photoshop Elements comes with fonts. You can also download fonts from the internet and install them. 4. Choose your font size. After you have done these things, click anywhere on the photo and you can start typing. You can move your font around with your mouse until you like the placement. 

I used a different font and color to add numbers. This time I typed my numbers out, normally I use actual numbers. When you are putting the numbers on your collage be sure to open a new layer for each number. This is helpful because you can go back and move them around while you are still adding. After you are happy with the placement of all the numbers you can flatten your image. 

11. Use periods to point to products. Before I had a tablet to draw arrows I made dotted lines on my collages using periods (or dashes). It's simple and cute. 

If you want your dashed lines to curve, simply rotate the photo to add more! 

Done! Now you're ready to save your photo and post it on your blog with links! Maybe a little something like this- 

THINGS I LOVE:one.two.three.four.five.six.

Cool! I hope this has been helpful. Like I said before, this is just one method. Collages are really fun to make and the more you practice, the more creative you will become! XO. Elsie 

Thanks so much to Adobe Photoshop Elements for collaborating with me on this article! You can follow them here...Facebook/Twitter/YouTube/Pinterest

Comments

[Zoe]

Thanks for sharing, Plus i have some of those tucked away in my faves, love them.

Zoe
http://gypsiesister.blogspot.co.uk

[beth-ann]

thank you for quick the lesson. i have been meaning to figure out how to do these. you just made it so much easier. you ladies are the best.

[Megan]

Awesome tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing; your collages always look amazing!

[Hannah]

Thanks for this, I've been wanting to do this for a while now but hadn't got around to working it out yet!

[Natalia P.]

Thank you for sharing! :)

[call me debbie]

I was thinking, while doing my collages, that these dot lines were a type of lines in photoshop, but HEY are JUST DOTS that YOU TYPE with YOUR CENSOR. Maybe this was my stupidest question about photoshop!

http://inwhirlofinspiration.blogspot.com

[Catherine Denton]

This is so cool. I don't have photoshop, but you make me want to get it. And as a seller, it's good to know white backgrounds make it easier for bloggers to collage.
Catherine Denton

[Natasha Fatah]

Oh you guys are the best!! I'm going to give this a try this week!

http://natashafatah.com

[elsie]

Call me Debbie,
Yes- the dots in this collage are just periods typed in a row (handwritten font, so they are chunkier)

[Sarah @ Just The Bee's Kneez]

Thanks for the great tutorial! I just bought photoshop elements and this article is a great learning tool. I always wondered how everyone made the dots......never thought it was as simple as using periods and rotating your picture! Who knew!

[Loulou]

Thank you for that! I love any photoshop tutorials especially well explained ones like this :)

Loulou

[Allison]

So helpful! I've been wondering how you do this for a while. Thanks for sharing.

http://www.thrifted.ca

[Lauren]

I always see these product collages in different blogs, never quite knew how to do one myself, thanks for sharing!

http://rivercitysammon.com

[Agnes Deer]

Great tutorial! I thank Adobe for it's background eraser tool! :)

http://fromheretofashion.blogspot.com

[Jessica]

These tutorials are so useful, Elsie. Thank you! Is there a link / tag for all of them?

[Lara]

I always need to make lots of collages and moodboards, for my blog as well for school. So this is really helpful! Thanks for sharing this Elsie. x

http://bravebrunette.blogspot.com

[Miranda]

Thanks for sharing a different way of doing this, I always use just regular Photoshop, but this seems good in a bind!
-Miranda
http://paperthoughtsfabricdreams.com

[Sabrina]

This is wonderful! I've tried making collages in Polyvore but didn't really like it... Maybe I'll try again in Photoshop now :)

x
Sabrina
http://apixiesviewonfashion.com

[Allie]

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed for one of my upcoming posts! :-)

-Allie. :-)

http://www.alleycatsandroughdrafts.blogspot.com

[ftashion]

This is just useful! Thank you thank you thank you!

Fang Ting
http://ftashion.blogspot.com