How to Create a Photo Collage in Photoshop | Day 18

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Two photo collages, one Photoshop trick — build a grid of clipping-mask squares once, then drop in Smart Object photos that you can resize, swap, and rearrange without ever losing quality.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Loading all your images into one document
01:44 Building a 4-square Instagram grid template
04:25 Converting layers to Smart Objects
05:52 Clipping photos into the grid with clipping masks
07:44 Adding a white divider line
09:03 Building an 8x10 print collage template
11:56 Why Smart Objects protect your resizing

THE STEPS
1. Go to File, then Scripts, then Load Files into Stack to pull all your source photos into one document at once.
2. Create a new document sized for your collage, then use black squares and Free Transform's percentage fields to build an even grid.
3. Right-click each photo layer and choose Convert to Smart Object before resizing, so shrinking and enlarging never costs you resolution.
4. Drag a photo above one of your grid squares, right-click, and choose Create Clipping Mask (or press Option/Alt+Command/Ctrl+G) so it only shows inside that shape.
5. Transform each clipped photo freely — since it's clipped to its square, you can't accidentally cover the wrong area.
6. Add a thin white marquee selection, fill it, duplicate, and rotate to create simple divider lines between panels.
7. Repeat the grid-and-clip process at print dimensions (8x10 inches at 300 PPI) for a version you can actually print.

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#Photoshop #PhotoCollage #SmartObjects