How to make your own collage using Microsoft Publisher
Do you want to place an order for a digital collage on one of our products but not have to pay extra for multiple images and us doing the art-working? Well, you can create your own montage and then place an order with us only paying as if you were using a single image!
You may think the idea of creating a digital montage would be a complicated task which you would never even attempt. It does not need to be, and can actually be a simple enjoyable process using software which you may already have on your computer like Microsoft Publisher. If you have that and some spare time, why not give it a go?
This tutorial is based on Microsoft Publisher 2003 and may vary according to newer/older versions.
Remember to save regularly as you go along - you don't want to loose 2 hours work! Save as a publisher document so you can return to it later.
You can use as many images as you want but remember not to make them too small or your collage will not end up looking as good as you hoped. The smallest dimension of your photo should never be less than 10cm otherwise your image will not reproduce well onto canvas. Take this into consideration when deciding how many photos you would like on a particular size canvas.
If you will be scanning original photos, you can use our scanning instructions.
We will be referring to the "Menu Bar" which is the bar at the top:
We divided this tutorial into 6 steps:
1. Find out the size for your collage
You firstly need to decide what size canvas or blanket you would like to order. For example 80cm x 60cm canvas
Next you need to find out the dimensions required to create your artwork, which you can find in the below table. (We work in cm)
Canvas prints
| Desired Size (cm) | Desired size (in) | Actual size needed (cm) |
| 30 | 12 | 31 |
| 40 | 16 | 41 |
| 50 | 20 | 51.5 |
| 60 | 24 | 62 |
| 70 | 28 | 72.5 |
| 80 | 32 | 82.5 |
| 90 | 36 | 92.5 |
| 100 | 40 | 103 |
| 110 | 44 | 112.5 |
| 120 | 48 | 122.5 |
| 140 | 56 | 143 |
| 150 | 60 | 154 |
| 200 | 79 | 200 |
Blankets
| Desired size of blanket | Actual dimensions needed (cm) |
| Small | 67 x 102 |
| Medium | 98.5 x 148 |
| Large | 148 x 201 |
If you would like to order a canvas sized 80cm by 60cm, the document size we need to create would be 82.5 x 62cm.
Back to contents 2. Create and size the document
We now need to create a new document in Publisher and size it to the dimensions which we just found out. We can do this in the following steps:
1. Open Microsoft Publisher
2. Create a new document: Menu Bar > File > New
3. Select "Blank Publication"
4. Double click on "Full Page"
5. Go to: Menu Bar > File > Page Setup
6. Change publication type to custom
7. Enter the size required
8. Select whether you would like the orientation to be portrait or landscape
9. Press OK
Click the images to see larger versions.
Back to contents 3. Import pictures and then move, rotate and size them
We have now sized our document and are ready to start importing our images.
Remember, the smallest dimension of you photo should never be less than 10cm To check the size you can use the rulers tool (Menu Bar > View > Rulers) or right click your image, select "format picture" and then select the "size" tab at the top.
There are two ways to import images:
"Drag and drop" or: Menu Bar: Insert > Picture > From File
The "drag and drop" method means to simply click and drag the file(s) from your desktop, folder or any device and drop them into our open document in publisher.
Try to keep all the main detail at least 1.5cm away from the edges, this is just to avoid any upset in case a head or text is slightly wrapped around.
Back to contents 4. Make adjustments to your image
If you left click once on an image you have imported, there are various ways you can manipulate the image:
- Click and drag on white circles in the corner to resize your image.
- At the top of the image should be a little stick with a green circle - click and drag this to rotate your image.
- To move the image, click on it and drag it.
N. Remember to save regularly as you go along!
When you click on a picture, there should be a little picture tool bar that appears, if there isn't, go to: Menu Bar > View > Toolbars > Picture
a. Colour- Allows you to change your image to greyscale
b. Add more contrast to selected image
c. Add less contrast to selected image
d. Add more brightness to selected image
e. Add less contrast to selected image
f. Crop tool - crop your image to remove some background
g. Allows you to add a border
h. Format Image
- Advanced control for adjusting some of the above
- Allows you to reset you image
- Re-colour - Add a colour tint to your image
i. Reset Image
Back to contents 5. Organize the layers (order of the images)
This is an important feature for a montage, layers are used in digital image editing to arrange the order of the images to determine the appearance of the final picture. In Microsoft Publisher this feature is referred to as "order".
The order of images can be controlled in 4 ways: "Bring to front", "bring to back", "send forward" and "send backward". This can be achieved by right clicking an image, highlighting "order" and selecting one of the previously mentioned 4 options.
Using your knowledge of Microsoft Office you can create a really cool montage with great effects using tools such as clip-art, shapes and word-art.
Don't worry about red eye, we can remove this for you. After completing your digital collage, simply place your order online, upload your image and make a note for us to remove red eye.
Back to contents 6. Save as a jpeg
After all your hard work we now need to save your montage as a jpeg so you can place an order with us.
To do this we need to go to: Menu Bar > File > Save As A "save as" dialog will appear. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Firstly, we need to change the save as type at the bottom to JPEG Image. Secondly, we need to make sure the resolution is set to "Desktop Printing (150dpi)" And finally we need to enter a file name and save it somewhere.
Your montage is finally complete and you are now ready to place an order via our website.
Back to contents