Gift idea: how to make a simple digital photo collage

With Christmas approaching fast, gift guides are popping around everywhere. I thought of writing a post with my own gift guide, but this holiday that I love so much has become more and more an ode to consumerism, and I don’t really want to add to this madness…

Don’t get me wrong, I love giving gifts, but I don’t subscribe to the theory that we have to spend a fortune to show our love to friends and family. So instead of a list of gifts to buy, today I’m sharing with you how to make something for your loved ones: a photo collage.

You can make a digital photo collage,  then have it printed and framed; you can even print your collage on canvas, if you want.

A photo collage is a great way to actually display and enjoy photos, rather than leaving them in your computer and check them only when you need to clean up  your hard drive.

Just think of all the lovely photo collages you can make, and the many different themes you can choose: holidays, celebrations, funny or sweet family pictures, pets, beautiful views…

Last year, for example,  I made two photo collages for my then 4 year-old nephew; I chose the most beautiful pictures of him, either alone or with his parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts (me included!), from the day he was born to the day his little sister was born. The two collages are lovely – not because I made them but because you can see him in different stages of his life, surrounded by all the people who love him. Nice idea, don’t you think?

So let’s see how you can make a simple photo collage using GIMP (free software), using a simple collage of pictures of flowers as an example.

1 – Choose the photos you want to use, then decide how you want to arrange them and sketch a layout on a piece of paper. This will give you an idea of the size & scale your pictures need to be.

You’ll probably have to crop a few pictures; here’s a tutorial on how to crop images with GIMP.

2 – Once your images are cropped and you know the layout you want, you can go ahead and make the collage:

So what do you think? Did I tempt you into making a photo collage?

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Thank you!

Tagged as: collage, photography