How To Make a Fine Art Photomontage Using Found Images

First thing you need to do in order to create a photo collage using found images is to find found images.  This of course means keeping your eye out for them.  Soon you’ll realize that there is an infinite supply of cheap beautiful images waiting for someone to finally notice their beauty. 

Look through magazines and newspapers and you’ll see disaster photos, sports photos, black and white landscapes, color cityscapes, aerial photos, car photos, antique portraits, outer space photos, war photos, photos of parades, photos of buildings, photos of animals, portraits of evil leaders and non-evil musicians, paintings and advertising imagery. 

Look in rummage sales and junk stores for old illustrated books, unwanted encyclopedias, parts catalogs, postcards and abandoned snapshots.  There’s also junk mail and food packaging that can catch the eye on its way to the wastebasket, as well as the occasional item lying on the sidewalk, enhanced by having been scuffed up.

Do that for a while and eventually you’ll have enough with which to create a photo collage or photomontage.  First look through your trove and find two images that seem to go well next to each other, that have some kind of mysterious link between them that maybe you can’t explain. 

Should one be above the other, or to the right?  Should one be bigger compared to the other? Should one overlap the other somewhat?  Does one image need to have part of itself trimmed away? Then if those two are not enough, find a third one that would go well with them and figure out where it would be best placed. 

For me the easiest next step is to use a scanner and a computer with software like Photoshop, and work with the images.  Keep adding images until it feels complete. Check out samples of photomontages from books of art history if you think you need to get a feel for what some of the possibilities are.  The whole process can be exciting.