How to Make a Video Collage from Your Photos

Give your photos some added flair or turn your plain photos into something exciting and share-worthy with an eye-catching video collage. We’ve put together a tutorial showing you how to use Animoto’s drag-and-drop video collage maker, along with some best practices that’ll make sure your collage looks its best.

So what’s a photo collage anyway?

A photo collage is a series of images put together in an appealing way. Adding a collage to your video can add visual interest and shorten your video’s runtime, as it does in the birthday slideshow below.

In Animoto, you can create a photo collage using our layouts. You can use this feature whether you’re using a template or starting from scratch. Here’s how you can use our layouts to add a photo collage to your next video.

How to make a video collage

Step 1: Log into Animoto

If you don’t have an account yet, register for an account right here. Once you’ve registered, click the Create button in the upper-right-hand corner to begin your video.

Step 2: Start a project

You can begin with a template or start from scratch. If you want to choose a template, our Digital Album, Vacation Recap, and Album Preview templates all feature multiple collages and would be good jumping off points for your video.

Pro-tip: Try a "Picture in Picture" layout to share two photos or videos side by side or overlapped.

Step 3: Choose a layout

First, click the plus sign in the lower-left corner of your workspace. This is the Add a Block icon, and it’ll open a pop-up window, showing you all of the layouts you can use in your video. Many of these layouts feature collages, where you can mix multiple images or videos in one frame. Click the one you prefer, and the collage layout you selected will be added to your project.

Step 4: Add images and video clips

Once you’ve decided on a layout for your collage, you can drag and drop images and photos from your Media Library on the right. Upload your own images and video clips or use our Getty Images library of stock.

Step 5: Edit your video collage

Want to adjust the way photos look in your collage? Click on the image you’d like to adjust. You’ll see a scale slider, a rotate icon, and a trash icon appear. You can enlarge or reduce the size of your image using the scale slider, or move your image around by clicking and dragging it where you want it to go.

If you decide you’d like a different collage layout, just click the Layout icon on the upper-left-hand side of your block. All the available layouts for your block will pop-up with a preview of your images.

You can further customize your collage by adding text or changing the length of time the collage appears on screen with our timing tools.

Pro tip: Animoto offers multiple video styles, and these styles can give your collage a different look. If you change your video style in the middle of your project, you may need to adjust your collages slightly.

How to make your video collage look its best

When you turn photos into a video collage, there are a few simple tricks that’ll help your video look its best. Take a look at some tips for making eye-catching video collages.

Choose photos that relate to each other

A video collage works best as a set of photos with one message. Before you start putting your video collage together, think about what pattern you use to connect all the images. Here are a few ways you can combine photos to create an eye-catching visual effect.

1. Color: Try selecting photos that are all one color
2. Texture: Choose photos that have a similar texture or feel
3. Content: Find photos that are related by topic or theme

Use negative space in your video collage

Negative space is the space around the main subject of your photo. In a video collage, it gives all your images a little room to stand out and makes it easier to see what each photo is and how they all relate to each other.

Add text to your video collage

When you include text with your video collage, it can help you support the story you’re telling with your photos. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you’re adding text to your collage.

• Center your text to make your words the focus of your collage.
• Go big with a sans serif font, like Work Sans or Roboto for can’t-miss-it text.
• Head to your Design Settings and switch to a text style with a background. Brush Strokes or Jump Cut would be good choices that’ll make your text stand out against a busy collage. For text styles that don’t include a background, you can add some contrast by selecting your text and clicking the Legibility button that appears.

Ready to turn your photos into a beautiful video collage? Jump right in and give it a try!