Author: Joanne Shipman
A few months ago I wrote about a mobile application called Snapseed for easy and fun post-processing on your cell phone, but now I’m going to show you how to take those photos and arrange them in a beautiful and inspiring collage to print or to post to social media. Just like Snapseed, Pic Collage is a free application that can be downloaded to both an iOS or Android mobile device and includes editing features in an easy-to-understand format.
Let’s get started! When you first open Pic Collage, you have three options: Grids,
Templates and Freestyle. For all three options, the application will ask to access your photos where you will select “ok”. You’ll be taken to the photos that you have on your mobile device and will select the photos that you would like in the collage.
For the Grids option, your photos will be auto-populated initially in a default grid. At this point you have a few options: move the photos to where you want them in each shape of the grid or choose a different grid. At the bottom left of your screen you can click on the icon to select a different collage grid or select the plus icon in the bottom center of your screen to add a few items: more photos, web search on key words, text, stickers and backgrounds. For the Templates option, you can insert your photos into various backgrounds such as Christmas, Happy Birthday or Love. Finally, the Freestyle option is a blank canvas – sometimes the best for true creativity.
What’s really helpful is that if you select the “?” at the top of the screen while you are creating your collage, you’ll see a screen like the one shown below with brief explanations to help guide you.
Within each collage option (Grids, Templates and Freestyle), simply double-click any photo for even more inspiring options such as: effects, clip, duplicate, back, set as background, border and remove. At this point let your creativity take hold and just have fun!
- Effects can add various techniques such as changing orientation, enhancing your photo or removing blemishes.
- Clip will arrange your photo into a shape such as square or circle.
- Duplicate will create a second exact copy of your original photo.
- Back arranges the photo layers from back to front or vice versa.
- Setting a background takes your photo and creates a background in the collage.
- Border will place a frame around your photo in a chosen color.
- Remove will delete your last action, but don’t worry, you can always click on the Undo icon in the upper right of the screen to bring back your photo.
Once editing is complete, click Done then Save to Library. If you have the free version, your collage will have an application watermark. You will find your photo in Photos for iOS or Gallery for Android then within the Pic Collage folder. Just like Snapseed – and taking it a bit further creating a beautiful and fun custom collage – you’re ready to post to social media or text your family and friends!
Have you ever created a photo collage? If so, what program did you use whether on a mobile application or on your computer?
Joanne is a trip leader for Arizona Highways Photo Workshops