Photo Mosaic Tutorial
Step 1
Start by copying photos into a new folder called
Mosaic. I just copied and pasted images at random and
ended up with 550; If thats too much for you... try 100
of them first. Be sure the images in this new folder are
copies and not originals.
(Copy this new folder onto your desktop.)
Step 2
Next, you want to start an action. To do this, open up
the first image in your new Mosaic folder and open
the Actions palette. (Windows>Actions) Now click the
arrow in the upper right hand area of the palette and
select new action. Go ahead and name the action, I named mine re-size. It will start recording now.
Step 3
Now go to Image>Image Size and
check Resample Image, make the
image size 1cm X 1cm at 200
resolution and click OK, save the
image and close it. Now go back to
the Actions Palette and click stop.
You’ve just recorded the image size
adjustment!
Step 4
The next step will be to turn
your action in to a droplet. Go to
File>Automate>Create Droplet.
Click the Choose button and
decide where you want to save your
droplet, select the re-size
action you’ve just created and
click OK.
Step 5
Now go back to the new folder of copied
images you created, select them all and drag
them over the Droplet icon. Make sure you
are dragging the copies! This will convert
each image to a 1cm X 1cm square.
Step 6
Now that all the images have been
reduced to their smaller size, it’s
time to make the mosaic.
To do this go to
File>Automate>Contact Sheet II.
Step 7
Select the images you want to you use by
clicking Choose and then enter the
measurements you want to use. I used
55cm X 40cm and 200 resolution. Now
decide how many rows and columns
you’ll need. I chose 50 columns and 30
rows and made sure to uncheck Auto
Spacing so I could make sure there is no
spacing between the images.
Since the images are square they will fit
together nicely.
Check the Flatten All Layers box and
click OK.
Here are the small images put together in the contact sheet. If you didn’t have enough images, simply copy
and paste them to fill the canvas, you may end up with alot of layers so just be sure to Flatten the image after
you do by clicking Layer>Flatten Image.
Step 8
Now decide what you’d like to use as the main image, (possibly a selfie?)
but be sure it’s at least the size of your canvas. Now click File>Place and
find this image. This will place the image in a new layer above the
smaller ones. Set this image layer’s options to Hard Light or whatever
works best for your pic.
That’s it! You can play around with the Curves on the
bottom layer if you want to adjust the contrast a little.
That’s up to you.
There are so many ways to do things in Photoshop. This method is one of the many I may use for a given
project. You may have a better way. Always do what works best for you.
Save as a .jpg > First name Last name Mosaic