Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and there are probably a lot of projects you might have on your mind to create.  But why not create a simple photo collage (using  a free, easy and  intuitive online photo editor)  that you can share with family, friends and of course all your loved ones.

The following steps should get you started quickly.

*Remember: Picmonkey is free to use and requires no registration.  (Of course,  PicMonkey tempts you with all the goodies and bells and whistles in the paid Royale features but their basic tools work really well.)

Steps to Create a Basic Photo Collage

Go to the Picmonkey website.  Go to Your Main Menu and Select the “Create A Collage Feature”.

In this tutorial, we will be using  Picmonkey’s current “Sweetheart” theme sample pictures and include one of my own, so that I can show you how to include your own pictures as well  as use Picmonkey’s options.

Photo #1 shows the basic template layout and the main menu options on the left hand side.   Go to the “Photos” option and you can select  your photos from the drop-down menu.

Photo #2 shows the picture of the vintage kitten valentine card image that I uploaded and the option now should read “From My Computer”. Your photos will be available to you by toggling between these two options.

Photo #3 –  To create the layout for this example, select the “Layouts” option from the menu and then select the “Square Deal” option and choose the 2 x 2 square photo layout, four squares total.

Photo #4 was included to show you the “Fabric Swatches” option on the menu in the event you wanted to use a fabric swatch image rather than a photo, but for this tutorial we will only be using the pictures shown.

Photo #5 shows the template filled with the pictures which I just dragged and dropped into the template.  Notice the small grey rectangular area  that it is shown in the screenshot as I dragged over the kitten valentine card. When you see this on the template, it means that Picmonkey will be creating a new square or rectangle to make room for the additional photo being added to the layout.    Picmonkey will automatically adjust the template to the new photo I have dropped in and the photo template now has five photos.

Photo #6 shows what the template looks like once I have completely dragged and  dropped in the photo of the vintage valentine card. So, the basic template with a white background (the default) has been created.  Adjust the images to your liking.

Photo #7 shows the “Background” option on the Main Menu. You have four options in this menu, you will have to preselect or adjust:

The following are the options included in this menu:

• Spacing – This slider gives you the option to adjust the spacing between the photos based on pixels.  For this tutorial, we chose 12. (Which stands for 12 pixels)
• Corner rounding – this option allows you to adjust the corners of your photos if you like by a percentage. I chose 15% for this example.
• Color – Picmonkey allows you to choose the color for your background based on the rainbow like selector, the color picker tool which looks like an eyedropper, and by the hex# (a six digit number that graphic designers use to identify specific colors).  For this example, I used the color picker tool and picked the color from the vintage kitten valentine heart, and “Voila!” the background is filled with the matching color.
• Transparent Background – Choosing this option would knock out your background and make it see through or transparent .  Keep this box unchecked for this example.

Now that you have finished your  creation,   you can adjust it to your liking.  When you have made all your adjustments, you will now save your photo collage to your computer.

Photo #8 shows you what the menu option looks like once you click the “save” button above your template.  Picmonkey usually gives you a standard file name for your photo and will save it to your computer. To save time,  I usually add a letter to the end of the name and rename it later, but you can name your photo whatever you like.

A photo collage template at 1024 x 1024 pixels will print out at 14.2” by 14.2”, so you can use the change option to resize your photo at this point or you can save the photo to your computer and go back into Picmonkey and resize it with the “Edit a Photo” option.

And that’s it, you now know the basics of creating a photo collage.  As you play with the options, you will be able to adjust the photo collage to your liking and create a wonderful image to share with your loved ones!

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How to Use Picmonkey to Kickstart Your Photo Editing Skills

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Image Credit – Main Photo

Pictures were Picmonkey’s photo samples by C.Fisher Photography

Valentine Postcard

Vintage elements by Graphics Fairy

Fonts by Dafont “Susie’s Hand”

Heart Tape strips by PuglyPixel