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I thought you might want to see how I composed a recent photomontage.

First, I had no plan to make this composition. I didn’t think “Gee, I’m have this composition in mind with a woman in a gown standing in the desert with a coyote.” No, with this, as with most of my compositions, I saw an image that grabbed me and it grew from there.

I was browsing an online fashion and home decor catalog (Stylehive, if you really want to know), and I came across this image that really caught my attention.

I usually try to use my own photographs whenever possible, but since I have no plans on selling this piece and I composed it as a mere amusement for myself and a few others, I grabbed the image. As you will see in the finished piece, I heavily manipulated the image using Photoshop.

Next, I needed a visual context for the woman. I reviewed all my personal photographs and found nothing suitable, so I opened up Terragen, a landscape generating program, and crafted this background. This was perhaps the hardest part of the composition.

Next I pulled up two of my own photographs that I took at a local nature reserve that seemed to be an appropriate fit for the desert background. I extracted the foreground shrubbery in one and the background trees in the other.

I started putting these images together in Photoshop, moving around the layers until I was satisfied with the balance. However, it seemed a little unexciting. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that the woman needed a mascot and that the desert scene suggested some sort of desert animal. The coyote popped immediately into mind. So I started googling coyote images until I found one that would fit the composition.

After putting together the elements, making sure that shadows were all falling in the same direction, I began applying Photoshop filters to give the feel of a painting. There came a moment when I thought, “that’s it; it’s finished”, and I was left with this final composition that I entitled “Desert Muse.”

I hope this little demonstration has been helpful to you as you construct your own compositions.

L.Gloyd (c) 2008

Here is my first attempt at digital watercolor.  I don’t have Corel but I do have Photoshop.  Photoshop is far inferior to Corel in terms of painting, but I managed to figure out the Photoshop brushes based upon Genece’s excellent instructions for Corel.  I think I might get the hang of this eventually.

 Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

These instructions were provided by Shewolfy. 

“On the Write page, go down underneath the area for writing, and you find the photo upload area.

Beside the file  area is  a Browse button. (Do not use the one in the blue bar at this point).  Click and go to the documents on your computer where you store your photos. (They should be saved for the web at 72 dpi and no more than 400 pixels wide)

Then upload the image by using the upload button underneath it, not the one in the blue bar.

When you are ready to publish them on the page, make sure that you click on “full size” so I don’t get thumbnails.

Make sure “link to file” is clicked. 

 You get 50MB of storage for free.”

Thanks again, Shewolf! 

“Tree of Life”

Digital Construction using Photoshop 7 and Illustrator 10

Center image is Dover Clip Art, Art Deco series

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

“Journey”

This is one of my very first creations using Photoshop. I’ve learned so much since 2003.

Lori Gloyd (c) 2003, 2007

“Our Lady of the Nile Lilies”

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

Digital Construction

This was constructed from excerpts of these photographs.

“Sea Foam Mandala”

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

“Chrysanthemum Mandala in Blue and Gold”

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

Digital Construction

“Where is the World is Lemuria?”

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

Digital Construction

The photographic elements are the map and the raven, to which various filters, color adjustments, and type were added in different layers.  The bamboo wall is a custom pattern fill.

“Mystic Madame”

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

Constructed in Photoshop and Illustrator

“More Bougainvillea”

Lori Gloyd

(c) 2007

Here’s the same bougainvillea trellis.  I did not adjust color hue or saturation.  This appears as vibrant as real life.

“Bougainvillea”

Manipulated Photograph

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

This photograph is of an outdoor seating area at my local coffeehouse. It is adjacent to a supermarket parking lot. In Photoshop I airbrushed out some cars and a shopping basket. Then I created a second layer to which I applied a filter called “underpainting” which I reduced to a 50% opacity. Then I merged the layers and applied various artistic brush filters and noise filters until I acheived a “painted” effect.

“Qi, or Vital Energy”

Constructed in Photoshop and Illustrator

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

I created this montage of images in Photoshop and Terragen.  In Terragen I created the mountain, sky and lake, which I then copied into Photoshop as a background layer.  The woman, cat, tree, pillows, rug, and wallhanging were photographic elements.  The walls, floor, and curtains I drew by hand.  I used a number of texture filters to create the fabric, tile and plaster textures.  The woman was a black and white image that I hand colored.   This image was created in over 30 layers and took 8 - 10 hours.

Lori Gloyd

(c) 2007

One of the hardest things to master in Photoshop is using the lasso function to make a selections.  Whenever possible, I try to avoid lassoing.   Here’s a way to select a portion of an image using the Magic Wand instead of the lasso.  This will only work if the portion you want to select is against a solid or almost solid background (for example, the butterfly image provided in the collage tutorial.

1) In the toolbox, the second tool in the right column is the Magic Wand (it looks like a little magic want).  Select the wand. Along the top bar click make the Tolerance 32, click anti-alias, and click Contiguous.  Leave the layer box unclicked.

2)  Now, using the magic wand, click the background of the image.  The selected background will have “marching ants” around it.  Now, go to the menu bar at the very top of the screen and click Select.  From the Select drop down menu, click Inverse.  Now, the butterfly is selected (should have marching ants around it).  You can now go to Edit and click Copy, then go to your new file and click Paste. 

Here is the process by which I created “Woman in Blue Shirt”.  I made it in Photoshop, but I believe that the same principles will work in other graphics programs.

First, I created a new layer and blocked out the image using shapes.

Next, I created another layer over the shapes.  I used the brush tool with a 5 pixel tip and painted in the outline of the image.  I created another layer behind these first two layers and filled it with a green background.  Then I deleted the shapes layers.

I created another layer and named it “Eye” (Rename a layer by double-clicking it and typing in the name).  Then I zoomed in and painted one eye, then copied the eye layer and flipped it with the Transform function (Edit>Transform>Vertical Flip) and adjusted the placement. 

Next, I created separate layers for the lips and nose.  I painted half the nose and then duplicated that layer and merged the two sides of the nose.   By doing this I got a symetrical nose.  I painted the lips on the Lips layer.   Note:  in all of the detail work for the eyes, nose, and lips, I selected different size brush tips and various colors.  I used the Smudge tool with an Airbrush tip to blend the colors.

I merged the eyes, lips, and nose layers with the face layer, then picked a larger brush tip and applied various colors.  I used the Airbrush smudge tool to blend the colors.

I made separate layers for the shirt and the hair and applied the appropriate colors and blendings.  

Finally, I zoomed out, made some final adjustments to the hair, face, clothing and background, added a texturizing filter to the blue shirt to make the “weave”,  merged all the layers, and  then cropped the image.  Here is the finished product:

Image and tutorial by Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

Woman, Sideview

Digital Sketch

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

This started out as a simple sketch with a stylus straight into the application with no help from another image.    It’s been awhile since I’ve actually drawn on a wacom tablet and I was just fooling around.  Then I started to apply the color using soft brushes and air brushes.  I still need to perfect hair (I have trouble with hair in traditional media too), but I am pleased with the other details.

“Indigo Waters”

I created a “sketch” of the mountain and moon in Terragen to block out the image. Then I applied layer after layer of “paint” to create the waterfall, mist, clouds, and shrubbery using a wacom and stylus.

Monika’s e-mail label, “Indigo Moon” inspired this piece.

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

“Pharoanic Moonlight”

constructed with Terragen and Photoshop7

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

To create this image, I started by copying and pasting the lassoed image of the pyramids and foreground, then manipulating this layer by adjusting the levels, color balance, hue and contrast. The basic sky background I made in a free downloadable program called Terragen (Terragen is a landscape/skyscape building program). However, I could have also made the background by making a gradient fill in the appropriate colors and adding a highly feathered white circle for the moonglow. I added the starfield by making a separate file of a black background and applying the “Noise” filter to add the “stars”.  Then I adjusted the black background to a blue to match the sky and then added them as a layer. Then I added the moon and Orion constellation as separate layers. Finally, I added a lensflare to the moon and the star Sirius.

1. Open two browsers. One will be for Flickr and one will be for WordPress.

2. In one of the browsers, go to http://www.flickr.com. If you already have a Yahoo ID, you would sign in using the Yahoo ID and password. If you are not a Yahoo member, then you need to sign up for an account (it’s free). When you have signed in, minimize the browser.

3. In the other browser, go to http://wordpress.com and sign in to the blog where you want to post your image.

4. Click Write. When the empty Write screen opens, then minimize WordPress but don’t close it.

5. Go back to the other browser with Flickr and maximize the screen.

6. Click “Upload photos.”

7. Click the Browse button next to the first box. Go to the directory on your hard drive where you have your image and select the image. Click open. You will see the name of the directory and image in the box. You can do this for six images. Make sure your images are JPG files with a low (72 dpi) resolution. Files that are too big may not upload.

8. Select a privacy setting. I usually choose “Private”.

9. Click upload. The uploading process may take a minute or two.

10. When the pictures have been uploaded, you will be asked to give new titles or descriptions to each. You can edit the names of images or you can ignore this if you wish. Just click Save at the bottom of the screen when finished.

11. Your newly uploaded picture will appear on the screen. Now, click the image you want to insert onto WordPress. It will open up on a screen of its own.

12 Just above the picture are several small icons. Find the one that says “All Sizes” and click that.

13.You’ll see the picture again with several size choices listed above it: thumbnail, square, small, medium, large. You don’t want your picture any wider than 400 or so or it will cut off on the blog. For most of my images, I pick Medium. Click the size you want. (Do not click the “Download” link.)

14. Now, scroll to the bottom of the page to item # 1

15. Highlight all of the coding in the #1 box.

16. Right click on the highlighted code and select copy.

 17. Now minimize Flickr and maximize the other browser with your WordPress Write screen.

18. On the top of the Write box, you will see a bunch of icons. If you want to center your image, click the “centered” bars.

19. Now, click the Code tab.  Hold down the Control and press V.  This will paste the coding. 

20.  Click the “Visual”.

21. Finish your post by typing in your text, etc. Then click Publish and you’re done.

The following tutorial will show you how to combine images to create a very simple montage/collage using Photoshop 7. We are going to create this collage:

I don’t know how to use any other imaging program, but I am assuming that the principles are similar and you can parlay these into the program you use. If you have Photoshop 7 and want to work along with me, then save the butterfly image at the end of this post to your hard drive and follow along.

Photoshop uses Layers to build images. A layer is a component of an image that you apply on top of or under another component. Imagine placing several pieces of transparent plastic on top of each other. The images of all the plastic layers will show through. The idea is similar in Photoshop.

When you open the Photoshop application, you want your screen to look like this:

Notice the Toolbox on the left and the Layers Palette on the right. If you don’t see them on your screen, then click Windows on the top menu bar and click Tools and then click Layers.

We are going to be using only a few tools on the Tool Bar: The Move Tool, Lasso Tool, the Type Tool, and the Set Color Tool:

1) The Canvas. First, we want to create the file where we will build our image. Click File on the top left of the menu bar and then click New (File<New). A dialog box will open. Leave the name Untitled for now. In the Preset Sizes box, click 4×6. The Width and Height will appear the boxes immediately below. Change the Resolution from 300 to 72. (72 is the best resolution for posting images on the web.) Set the Mode to RGB. Set the Contents to White. Then Click OK.

If your canvas is not in the middle of the screen, click the Move Tool (the top right icon in the tool box that looks like a pointer and a cross). Then click the canvas and drag it to the center of your screen.

It is important to frequently save your image as you build it for obvious reasons. Click File<Save As. Select a directory on your computer where you want to save the file. Give it a name. I named this one “Lemurian Butterflies”. In the Format Box, make sure you are saving it as a Photoshop File (.PSD). (Note: You will keep this as a Photoshop File while you work on it as this will retain the Layers. When you are finished will will merge all the layers and save it as a JPG file)

2) Layer 1—Textured Paper effect.

In this image, we want to create the image of textured paper. Look at the Layers Palette on the right. On the bottom of the box you will see a several little icons. The second icon from the right is a little square with a corner turned up. This is the Create New Layer button. See the icon circled in red below:

Click the Create New Layer icon. You will see in the palette above that Layer 1 has been created. Click Layer 1. (Whenever you want to work on a particular layer, you need to highlight that layer in the Layers Palette.)

Look over to the Toolbox on the left side of your screen. We want to set the color for our textured paper effect. Click the large white box on the Set Foreground/Background Color Tool. A color palette will open up. On the rainbow slider in the middle of the palette, move the slider to the yellowish-orange area on the slider. Then in the large colored area to the left of the slider, click a place on the palette in the beige range. In the image below, I’ve selected a beige area near the top of the palette (the tiny circle).

Click OK. You will see that the White box in the Set Color Tool has turned that Color. This is called the Foreground Color. (The black box behind it is the Background Color)

Now, making sure that Layer 1 is still highlighted in the Layers Palette, click Edit from the menu bar at the top and then click Fill (Edit>Fill). Make sure the Content Use Box says Foreground. Leave the Blending Mode at Normal and the Opacity at 100%. Click Ok. Layer 1 should be the beige color.

Next, with Layer 1 still highlighted, click Filter from the menu bar at the top, then Texture, then Texturizer. (Edit>Texture>Texturizer). In the Texture Box, change the texture to Sandstone. Click Ok. You should have something that looks like a piece of rough paper.

Save your file now (File>Save)

3) Layer 2. We are going make a selection from another image file and place it onto the new canvas. Click the Create New Layer icon to create Layer 2 where we will place a new image.

Click File<Open. Select your image and open it.. In this case I have opened an image of a yellow butterfly. Click the butterfly image to highlight it. If you want to make the image a little bigger on your screen click the Zoom tool on the toolbar. If necessary, use your cursor to drag the borders of the image wider so you can see the whole image.

Click the Lasso icon in the Tool Box. Place the tail of the lasso on any part of the edge of the butterfly and drag the lasso around the outline of the butterfly. When you bring the lasso around to where you started, touch it to the point where you started outlining. The line should turn into “marching ants” This means you have completed the selection. If you make a mistake and want to start over, go to Select on the menu bar and click DeSelect and then start over. Your screen should look something like this:

This selection process is the most difficult part of combining images into a montage/collage. You will need to practice your “lassoing”. There are a number of shortcuts to selecting images, depending of the nature of the images, but lassoing can be used in most instances.

When you are satisfied with your selection and you have “marching ants” around the selection, click Edit from the menu bar and then COPY (Edit>Copy). Click your canvas to bring it forward. Click Layer 2. Click Edit, then Paste (Edit>Paste). The selected image should now be on the canvas.

You can close the source image (the yellow butterfly) by clicking the image to bring it forward and then clicking the X. You will be asked if you want to save changes to that image. Click NO or you will ruin your source image. After you close this source file, you should see only your canvas on the screen. Your screen should now look like this:

You can add many more layers if you wish. I’ve used as many as 25 layers in more complicated collages.

Save your file again.

4) Transforming the image. We want to resize and rotate the butterfly image. Making sure Layer 2 is highlighted, click Edit, then Transform, then Scale. (Edit>Transform>Scale). A bounding box will surround the butterfly. Click one of the little boxes on the corners and drag the image to make it larger or smaller. In this case, I have made the butterfly larger. When you are satisfied with the size, hit the Enter key. To rotate the image, go to Edit>Transform>Rotate. Place the cursor near one of the little boxes on the bounding box until you see a curved double arrow. Move your cursor to rotate the image. Again, when satisfied, hit Enter. Finally, if you want to move the image, click the Move Tool in the toolbox and drag the image.

Next we want to create a Drop Shadow effect to give a slight 3-D effect. On the bottom left of the Layers Palette is a little icon that looks like an “F”. This is the “Add a Layer Style” button. See below:

Making sure Layer 2 is highlighted, click the “F” icon. A drop down menu will appear. Click Drop Shadow. A box will open up. In the center of the box are some sliders to adjust the appearance of the drop shadow: distance, spread, size. I have set each one to 5. Leave all the other settings alone. Click OK.

The canvas should now look like this:

Save your file again.

5) Copying a Layer We are going to copy Layer 2 and transform it. Highlight Layer 2. RIGHT click it. You will get a drop down menu. Click Duplicate Layer. A new layer will be created called “Layer 2 Copy”. The duplicated image is directly over the Layer 2 image. Use the Move Tool to move the copy to a different place. Now go to Edit>Transform>Scale and resize the new image smaller. Then Edit>Transform>Rotate and rotate it slightly. Hit Enter. You should have something like this now:

6) Adding Type. Create a new layer by clicking the New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers Palette. On the Set Foreground Color Tool, click the curved double arrow to make the black square as the foreground color. This will make the Type black. You can make it any color you want by following the steps above for setting color.

Next, click the Type Tool in the toolbox. Select a Font Type and Size (I selected BrushScript at 36). Click on the canvas and type the text. I take “Lemurian Butterflies” Use the Move Tool to position the Type.

Create another New Layer. Click the Type Tool again. Type another line (I typed “fly free”). Use the Move Tool to position that line.

To add any embellishments to the type, such as drop shadow, it must be converted from Type into Image. This is called “Rasterizing”. RIGHT click one of the Type layers and select “Rasterize Layer”. Click the Add Layer Style (the “F” icon) and do a drop shadow.

Do the same for the other Type layer.

It should look like this now:

Save your file again.

7) Saving the image as a JPG. When you are finished building your image, save it once more as a Photoshop file in case you want to work on it again or use elements from it for another creation. BUT, this Photoshop file is enormous. If you use Flickr to store your images, it is too big to upload. You must save it as a JPG. To do this we must “flatten” the image, that is, merge all the layers. Highlight the topmost layer. Click “Layer” from the menu bar. Click Flatten Image near the bottom of the drop down. Now, click Save As. Select JPG in the format box.

We’re done! In this tutorial you have learned to use Photoshop 7 to create a canvas, create layers, use the Move, Lasso, Type, and Set Color tools, as well as learn to employ a drop shadow layer style and use the Texturizer filter. You also learned to use the Transform feature to re-size and rotate a layer. And finally, you learned to prepare the image for uploading by flattening. These very basic tools should allow you to make some simple digital collages.

A caveat: I am not a Photoshop expert. There are functions in Photoshop that I know nothing about. I’m sure there are other ways to combine images into a collage. This is how I do it, minus a few shortcuts. You can make some simple collages, but if you wish to go further, I would recommend that you sign up for a Photoshop class at your local adult school or get a good tutorial book.

But once you get started, it’s addicting! I look forward to seeing your finished products posted here.

If you want to make this project described here, right click and save this image to your hard drive by right-clicking and save as:

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

The images in this series are simple collages made with Photoshop 6 largely using free-use images from Art E-Zine Vintage Resources and Dover Art.

All images were created by Lori Gloyd (c) 2007 and may not be used for any purpose without written permission from the artist.