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Tag: Photo Montage

Easy-To-Make Instagram Photo Collage

With the 2000+ pictures I took & shared on Instagram (follow me if you’d like) last year, somehow + someway I wanted to enjoy them more than viewing them on the 2.5″ x 2.5″ screen of my phone.

As the new year rolled around and I was reflecting on 2014 and looking towards 2015, I got to reminiscing on all the personal + professional pictures I’ve showcased on my Instagram account and thought creating a photo collage would be the best way to enjoy those precious moments of my life from the years past.  There are plenty of sites out there where you can create posters and/or other fun creations using Instagram pics (or digital pictures too), but they’re pricey and spending bucks just doesn’t jive with me when I know I could make something comparable (or better) for mere dollars.

I got to thinking & creating and with a bit time, I created a 4 photo collages that captured some truly great moments from 2014…

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

The best part about this 80 picture photo collage is that it cost about $5. How much better does it get?!  more details on the $$$ below…

So obviously this photo collage doesn’t have to be created using only photos from Instagram.  Images from your phone or digital pictures from a snap & go camera can also be used to create a similar photo collage.  Since there are multiple ways to make this collage, I am sharing tutorials for all…

Creating a Photo Collage using Instagram Images

1. Go to your Instagram page.

2.  Choose a picture and take a screenshot of the image. If you are unfamiliar with what a screenshot is (as I was only a few years ago), you can capture a “shot” of your screen with a click of a button.  On my computer the button is towards the top right corner and it says PrintScreen (your computer might be different, but with all computers it’s possible).

3. Using a photo editing program – I use the free program, Picasa – crop your screenshot image so it is square.
Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram photos

if you don’t have an instagram account and want to create a similar photo collage using images from your phone or camera, follow this tutorial…

Creating a Photo Collage using a picture from your phone or Digital Image from your computer

Phone: Download the picture to your computer and crop it to a square size. Then save a copy.

Computer: Crop your picture of choice to a square size and save a copy.

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram photos

The reason for cropping?  An image downloaded from your phone or a digital image on your computer doesn’t have to be cropped as showed above, but be sure that the image is fairly close up or “cropped” close so it shows detail.  Because the pictures on the final collage are small, a close-up/detailed image is best.

Next up… Creating the photo collage. 

For the collage, I used the free program of PicMonkey.  They offer different collage layouts, one specifically being a square template. When you go to PicMonkey, click collage.

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

After clicking collage, you’ll be able to open & choose the 20 images (I think 20 images per 8 x 10 looks best) you want to use to create the photo collage. After choosing the images, click layouts (2nd button down on the left) and choose the template with 5 across & 5 down.  Then remove (by clicking “X” on the box) the boxes on the end row so you are left with 4 boxes across and 5 boxes down.

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

First go to the bottom and set the size of your image to 2700 x 3379, which creates an 8 x 10 image.  Then click Autofill at the top and the 20 images will be inserted into the boxes.  If you want to move the images around to different locations, you can.

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

Save the collage to your computer.  Depending on the amount of collages you want to create, follow the steps over and over again.

I chose 80 of my favorite images (out of 2k instagram images, it was very difficult to pair down and choose, but I did it) and then created (4) 8 x 10 collages – each collage has 20 pictures with 4 across and 5 down.  It was trial and error figuring out how many pictures would be best on each page so each image wouldn’t look too big or too small.  In the end, I am happy that I chose 20 images per page and the size of each image is about 2″ high x 2″ wide.  The images are not exactly square, but almost.

The result of my 4 photo collages which cost about $5…

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

Once the 8 x 10 photos were created, I uploaded them to Snapfish to have them printed.  Typically an 8 x 10 image is $2.99 but they’re often on sale (right now there is a 50% coupon).  Other online retailers or local stores where you can print pictures works too.

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

A photo collage like this is also a great way for capturing and enjoying kids artwork.  Kiddos come home with SO MANY beautiful creations, but it’s impossible to keep everything.  Instead of tossing them putting them in a box, snap a picture and then create a collage like this using the same steps.  Your child(ren) will feel so proud that their work can be displayed on the walls of your home!

The new photo collages that I created now deck the walls of my office / living room and replaced the travel subway art, which I moved to another spot.

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

The frames that I used for the collages are a simple white style that I picked up at AC Moore for $6/per frame.  Inexpensive frames from Ikea would also make this project creation super inexpensive.

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

Easy-to-Make Photo Collage using Instagram or digital photos for less than $5.  Tutorial by Jenna Burger, www.jennaburger.com

The walls of our home are adorned with pictures & meaningful art.  These new photo gallery creations just add another layer to our family’s story…