From the course: Create a Portrait Collage in Photoshop

Choose images - Photoshop Tutorial

From the course: Create a Portrait Collage in Photoshop

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Choose images

- [Voiceover] Before you start to create a portrait collage in Photoshop, you have to choose the images for the project. Although the portrait images that you use do not necessarily have to be photographed in any special way for this type of work, there are some important things to keep in mind when reviewing photos for a portrait collage. The first step is to try to identify the primary image for the collage. This is usually a very strong image that could stand on its own as a portrait. In this example, any of these images of the little girl could work as the primary image, but there is such strong eye contact and presence in the one on the left that it works best in this collage. The primary photo is the anchor around which you will build out the rest of the collage. In these photos of the young woman, the closer views are the ones that would work best as the primary or anchor image. The full length shots where she's farther away would work well as secondary or supporting images. In these shots of the rock climber, the obvious primary image is the one where she's standing with all of her climbing gear, looking directly into the camera. The other photos are action shots of her scaling a rock wall and are not really portraits per se, but they would work well in a collage that is also a portrait of someone engaged in an activity that they love. In any photo story, there are always the main shots and then the secondary or supporting shots. The latter may not be the ones that are reproduced full page or used as the cover image, but they're important in that they help to round out the story and tell us a bit more. The same is true with a series of portrait images. Thinking of your portrait shots in this way will help you choose the best shots for the primary and secondary images.

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