{"product_id":"masonry-photo-collage","title":"Masonry photo collage, columns of your own pictures","description":"\u003cp class=\"opener\"\u003eA masonry photo collage: columns of one fixed width, pictures stacked down them, each picture as deep as its own proportions make it. Every photograph drops into whichever column is shortest at the moment it is placed, which is what keeps the columns level without anything being rearranged afterwards. On a two-by-three-foot print holding two hundred and twenty-five pictures that gives thirteen columns, every picture exactly an inch and three-quarters wide, and twenty-five different depths down the sheet between roughly an inch and a quarter and two and a quarter. The ragged bottom edge masonry has on a scrolling page is deliberately not what you get: on paper a hard edge turns raggedness into an accident, so the columns are stretched slightly to finish level with the bottom margin. The vertical rhythm is the entire character of the thing. Choose it if your set is mostly phone photographs held upright, and you want the piece to feel tall rather than gridded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSee how it works in Canva: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/D-f1bvpmIk8\"\u003ewatch the how-to video\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHow many photos fit\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery figure comes from the layout engine rather than a rule of thumb. This arrangement fills the sheet rather than an outline, so there is no count at which it stops working: the low end of each range is where the photographs print largest, the high end is where they print smallest, and the suggested figure is where each one prints about two inches on each edge - large enough to make out a face across a room.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003ePrint size\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003ePhotos\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eSuggested\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e12 × 12″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e10–60\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e30\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e12 × 18″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e15–100\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e45\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e16 × 20″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e20–140\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e70\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e16 × 24″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e25–170\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e80\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e20 × 20″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e25–180\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e80\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e20 × 30″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e40–275\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e130\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e24 × 24″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e35–250\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e120\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e24 × 36″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e55–375\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e180\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e30 × 40″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e80–525\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e250\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e36 × 54″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e120–875\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e400\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e40 × 60″\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e150–1075\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e500\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003ch2\u003eQuestions\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHow is this different from the magazine-style layout?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey are mirror images. Magazine style varies the depth of rows and holds the side margins straight; masonry fixes the width of columns and holds the top and bottom straight. The difference you notice is which way the eye travels - down a column here, across a row there - and which pictures get room. A tall photograph commands a lot of space in a masonry column and very little in a justified row. A wide one is the other way about.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHow many columns will mine have?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSolved from the count and the proportions of the sheet, not fixed in advance. Two hundred and twenty-five pictures on a two-by-three-foot portrait sheet give thirteen; fewer pictures give fewer and wider columns, and a sheet turned sideways gives more of them. What never varies is that every picture in the finished piece is exactly as wide as every other one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDo the columns all end at the same place?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eYes, at the bottom margin, and that is an edit rather than an accident of the packing. Photographs go to the shortest column as they are placed, which gets the columns close to level on its own, and the small residue left over is taken up by stretching each column to meet the margin exactly. The web version of this look leaves them ragged because a page scrolls; a print has an edge, and raggedness against an edge reads as a mistake.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDoes that stretching distort my pictures?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo. A column made slightly deeper gives each of its cells slightly more height, and the extra height is taken up by showing a little less of the picture rather than by pulling it out of shape. The effect on any one photograph is a percent or two off the top and bottom. Nothing in the engine will ever stretch a picture to fill a box.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eIs there a count where this stops looking right?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the very bottom of the range it begins to read as a few tall strips rather than as masonry, because you need enough pictures per column for the staggering to be visible. Three or four pictures deep is where the rhythm appears. The suggested figure in the table - the count at which each photograph prints about two inches on each edge - is comfortably past that for every size, so unless you are deliberately working near the minimum it is not something to plan around.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat exactly is supplied?\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Canva template with the column count, the widths and the stacking already worked out, which opens in a free Canva account. Your part is the pictures and the export. Nothing physical is produced at this end, and the design stays in your account to come back to.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMore collages like this\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/pages\/photo-collage-layouts\"\u003eAll photo collage layouts\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/grid-photo-collage\"\u003eGrid photo collage\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/photo-collage-no-gaps\"\u003ePhoto collage with no gaps\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/titled-photo-collage-poster\"\u003ePhoto collage poster with a title\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/magazine-style-photo-collage\"\u003eMagazine style photo collage\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/photo-collage-with-white-borders\"\u003ePhoto collage with white borders\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/polaroid-photo-collage\"\u003ePolaroid style photo collage\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/products\/hexagon-photo-collage\"\u003eHexagon photo collage\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch2\u003eGuides\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/grid-vs-masonry-vs-polaroid-photo-collage\"\u003eGrid, masonry or polaroid? How to choose a photo collage layout\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Huge Photo Collage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67624481718421,"sku":"CANVA-TEMPLATE-MASONRY","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0806\/2586\/0757\/files\/mockup-masonry-photo-collage-01.jpg?v=1791010548","url":"https:\/\/hugephotocollage.com\/products\/masonry-photo-collage","provider":"Huge Photo Collage","version":"1.0","type":"link"}