Adriana Bella asked:


A collage is a form of art that primarily consists of putting together different forms to create another whole new work of art. Traditionally this type of art assembled different textures, colors and many other types of items in making the new work of art. It is the same principle that is applied to photographs that make digital collages. Other uses of digital collages are to enhance photographs and bring out true character of a photograph. This is a lot of fun and simple once you know the method. All you will need are the tools for the process.

A computer, a digital camera and Adobe Photoshop software is all you need. Adobe Photoshop software will allow you to manipulate the images and present them in a different light. It is up to the artist to decide exactly what he needs and though there is no set way to do this, basic methods have to be adhered to.

To start with you can take a ton of photographs. It is always better to have more than less of these. Then you can choose the best out of the lot keeping in mind the theme of your collage. The pictures you choose should be related to the theme that you have in mind. Then it is time to build up the collage using as many methods as needed such as cutting out the background, adding new backgrounds and positioning photographs to create an aesthetically pleasing visual. This is a lot of fun as you are able to experiment with different settings and backgrounds to suit the collage.

The layout and all the visual effects that are used to make the collage will give you a chance to be creative and will help to bring out the essence of the new collage. Try out different options till you are perfectly satisfied. If a date is important to the collage you can insert it at this point. The pictures that will grace the final collage can be kept on hand to be used as needed. Each picture can be cropped or have the background cut out of it in order to make it more dramatic, action packed and visually interesting. The best thing with a collage is that it does not have to use pictures which are perfect in order to convey a certain feeling or event that the collage is trying to convey. Very often these imperfect pictures will add character to the collage.

The secret of a good digital collage is the way it is merged and the way different aspects of the theme are brought together. Adobe Photoshop allows us to use many different methods with a variety of tools to do this. By layering, merging, coloring, blurring, feathering and highlighting edges or softening them a wide range of visual effects can be produced. The visual impact that we can create is one of the most powerful communication methods known to man. Digital collages use this to communicate so much more than just an image for the onlooker. As an art in itself and as a way of communicating feelings and moods there is no better way than digital collages.