5 Best Ways to Make a Collage

Wondering how to make a collage that will stand out and look amazing? Whether you want to create a collage for a professional presentation, an art show, a family photo album, or any other project, we tried out the top collage maker options on the market today. Read on to find the best choice for your collage-making needs.

PhotoScape X is a free-download program for Windows 10 or Mac OS X 10.12 or later. This all-in-one photo editor lets users do everything they need to edit images and create a picture collage. This comprehensive platform includes multiple features, effects, and tools. Users can pick from more than 1,000 filters and effects, frames, and objects to add to their image editing projects. PhotoScape X also has batch conversion, formatting, resizing, and renaming capabilities, which are convenient for users with big editing projects with multiple images. The ability to combine photos and cut out backgrounds makes this software especially attractive for collage creators.

But how user-friendly is it? You can be the judge of that. Here’s how to make a photo collage on PC or Mac in just a few simple steps:

1. Install Photoscape X on your PC or Mac.
   Download Photoscape X

2. At the top of the window, choose the Pages tab.

3. You’ll notice several Layout options to the right of the window. Select the layout that best fits your project.

4. Arrange your collage photos in your selected layout.

5. On the right, select the Background color you want for your collage and make any adjustments you want to the margins and spacing of your images.

6. Click Save at the top right corner.

7. If you want to make further edits, like adding a frame, you can go to the Editor tab and choose your saved collage image. You can then add filters, a frame, and other effects.

If you need to figure out how to collage photos but you can’t download a photo editor on your computer, you can also make a photo collage online with Adobe^® Express. This free online photo editor is designed specifically for creating a collage. It includes multiple templates, filters, and photo effects, and the user interface is pretty straightforward and user-friendly.

Let’s walk through the steps for how to make a picture collage with Adobe^® Express:

1. In a supported browser, open the editor.
   Go to Adobe® Express

2. Click on the dark blue Design your free collage now button.

3. Create a free Adobe® Cloud account, or use your existing account to log in. Once you log in, it will take you directly to Adobe® Express to create your collage.

4. Choose a template from the designs on the left. If you don’t see one you love, try typing in a related keyword or key phrase in the search box.

5. Click on the stock photos in the template and click on Ungroup in the menu bar that pops up on the right.

6. Click on one of the images and click the Replace button to upload your photo. Repeat this step with all of the photos in the collage. After this, you can select all of the photos and group them to keep them in the same configuration.

7. (Optional) Add any other effects, features, and/or text that you like. Change the background color(s), and make any adjustments you want.

8. Click on the gray Download button at the top right corner to save your collage, or you can click on Share to publish it or save it to Google Drive.

If you’re running Linux on your computer, you might want to consider PhotoCollage to make a collage of photos. This open-source software is available through GitHub and gives Linux users a user-friendly, GUI-based collage-making option. This software is specifically designed to help users create collage posters, by assembling multiple photos of different sizes and shapes into one big grid. Users have options to change the layout and dimensions of their collage, as well as increase or decrease the size of the border between images.

1. Install PhotoCollage on your Linux machine.
   Download PhotoCollage

2. Open PhotoCollage from your desktop menu or open a command line window and type in “photocollage”.

3. Click on the Choose input images button and browse for your images.

4. Click on Generate a new layout to generate your collage.

5. Click the Preview button to see your collage.

6. Choose the border width and color you want.

7. Save your collage.

For iOS users, one of the best solutions for creating collages on the go is Movavi Photo Editor. The app is very easy to use. Besides collage making, the app offers a bunch of photo editing tools: you can enhance your pictures, apply filters, crop and rotate images, and much more. Movavi Photo Editor is perfect for social media with its stories templates, stylish effects, and easy sharing options. Follow the steps below to learn how to create collages on your iPhone:

1. Download Movavi Photo Editor.
   Get the app

2. Open the photo editor and tap Templates.

3. Tap the template you like to select it.

4. To upload your photos to the collage, tap + icons.

5. After you’ve uploaded all pictures, tap Save.

6. Your collage will be saved to Photos. If you want to upload your picture to social media, tap the Share button.

Android users can quickly find out how to create a collage with Google Photos. Google’s official photo app is available through Google Play and gives users a single, mobile-accessible place to store photos, generate collages, and make edits on their mobile devices. Users get 15 GB of storage for free, and you can opt to pay for additional storage, as well, if you run out of space. Along with storage and editing, Google Photos also has smart album capabilities, enabling it to group photos based on quality, location, date, and other attributes. It also has automatic features for creating animations, panoramas, collages, and other effects with your photos.

So, how easy is it to create a photo collage on an Android device? You can do it in just a few steps:

1. Open the Google Photos app on your Android phone or tablet.

2. If you aren’t signed in already, log in to your Google account.

3. At the bottom of the screen, hit Library and choose Utilities.

4. Select Collage under Create new.

5. Choose the photos you want to add to your collage.

6. Tap Create at the top of the screen.

Now that you have a better idea of which software might be best to help with your collage pictures, let’s talk about how you can boost the quality of your collages and create really beautiful digital photo projects.

Choose your palette

Choosing photos that feature specific colors is a good way to ensure that your collage is beautiful and cohesive. If you’re getting artsy, you can mix and match themes and images but create a consistent look for the whole collage by sticking with matching colors. This is also a good way to build a branded collage if you’re creating a design for work. For example, if your company colors are royal blue and gold, you can find or take pictures that feature those colors. You can also add a filter that gives all of your images a more uniform color scheme, as well.

Pick a theme

If you’re creating a collage of pictures from a specific event, this step takes care of itself. For example, you wouldn’t include a lot of random pictures of your coworkers in a collage of photos from your sister’s baby shower. But, if you’re displaying a series of photos you’ve taken, or if you’re cutting up stock images to create something new, you might find inspiration in choosing images that fit a specific theme.

Create texture with patterns

Want to get a little more advanced as you make your own collage? Find images of different patterns, and use them to create texture in your collage. In a grid-style collage, you could use these images around the photos that you want to focus on. Complementary and contrasting images of fabrics, wallpapers, and even digital patterns can all add dimension and texture to the whole image without making it feel busy. And, when you use this trick to compose your collage, your viewers’ eyes will be drawn to the main photos that you want them to spend the most time looking at.

Use a photo editor to splice photos together without borders

With the right photo editor, you can cut out elements of different pictures and splice them together to make a more unique, artistic collage. This kind of collage is a good way to express yourself and tell a story with an image. You could explore impossible visions, like penguins walking on the moon, or Marilyn Monroe posing next to Billie Eilish. The possibilities are endless. And, once you’ve put everything together, you can give it a more finished, professional look by adding a filter, blurring backgrounds, or editing the colors and saturation on different layers to make the images fit better together.

Explore mobile collage apps

If you’re making a collage for a social post, or you just want to put together a few of the photos on your phone in a pleasing array, you won’t always want to take the time (and additional steps) to create a collage on your desktop or laptop. Explore your options for mobile collage makers, like Movavi Photo Editor and Pic Stitch. These apps are free to download, and they both have several free templates and tools to help you create cool photo collages. They also have several premium features that allow you to enhance your collages for a small price. Movavi Photo Editor is especially useful, as it includes collage templates specifically sized and designed for Instagram and Facebook stories.

Which software should you choose for creating a collage that you’ll love? Each of the programs we discussed in this article has its strengths and weaknesses, depending on the type of collage you want to make. If you want to create a picture collage with a simple grid layout, for example, you might not need the masking and layering tools of a full photo editing platform. At the same time, if you want to add filters, effects, and make your collage really unique, you’ll probably need a more robust program. So, as you decide how to do your collage, consider a few things: