I love making photo collages. Recently I have started creating a different kind of collage: one that looks like a single photo. It is a really neat effect that requires a little preparation, a lot of patience and some Photoshop skills, but it is worth it. I am going to use a photo I took for a recent engagement session to show you the end result.
The first thing I do is find my location for the picture. I look for a spot that has visual interest and plenty of areas to pose my subjects.
The next step is to set up my tripod and camera settings. A tripod is necessary because the camera cannot move between shots for this to work. For best results, you should also set your camera to manual mode, because if your settings change between shots, the photos won’t match up very well when you overlay them. I set my camera to a high aperture; preferably 11+. That ensures that the subjects and the background are equally in focus in each shot.
When taking the photo, I divide the shot into 4 sections in my mind. I try to keep my subjects within each of those sections for each pose. Alternately, you can divide the shot into two or three sections. It all depends on how many times you want to duplicate their image in the final photo.
Once I load the images onto my computer, I open them all up in Photoshop and stack them on top of each other. I then set the opacity of each layer to about 50% so I can make sure they are lined up properly. It’s easy to see if they are lined up because the photo will be in perfect focus when they are.
The bottom layer I leave untouched. I then go through each of the other layers and erase any background that is covering the subject in the other layers. I try to follow the natural lines in the photo to reduce any appearance of seams.
Once I am happy with the composition, I flatten the image and apply any other filters or effects that I want before saving the photo.