How to efficiently create a photo collage in Photoshop that isn't a plain grid?

Question

I wonder how to efficiently create a photo collage in Photoshop that isn't a plain grid. Currently I follow this tutorial:

1. Create a rectangle
2. Insert an image via File>Place Embedded
3. Layer>Create Clipping Mask
4. Move and resize the image within the rectangle.

Then repeat for each new image to add in the photo collage, and properly align all rectangles. Is there any more efficient process to do so?

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What I've found so far:

• Adobe Photoshop: Creating a matrix grid / collage of images and How do I tile pictures in a grid?: Contact Sheet II creates a plain grid; TychPanel doesn't work well with CC 2022.

• https://photo.stackexchange.com/a/18381/9282 mentions:

  If you use photoshop or GIMP, you can use actions or templates to place multiple images and create borders.

  but I don't know how it works.

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Examples of collages that I'd like to do:

Answer 1

I would suggest using templates if you want to speed this up a little. Adobe Stock has many Photoshop collage templates to choose from if you need a ready made one. These aren't free unfortunately, but you may also be able to find free templates elsewhere.

Note: I am not affiliated with Adobe or Adobe Stock in any way, I include the above link for reference only.

Many (probably most) templates work by using Smart Objects, so all you would need to do is go into the Smart Object, and paste a new image. The positioning, scaling, and masking are already done in the main document.

It would be also be very easy to create your own templates (and much cheaper), which you could then re-use by just editing the Smart Objects.

Your method of creating the grid is how I would set it up. However, to make it into a template you need just one more step, convert the images to Smart Objects before resizing and moving them. To convert to a smart object, right click the image layer and choose "Convert to Smart Object".

When you want to re-use the template, double click a Smart Object in the layers panel to open it, and copy paste/place a new image,resize if necessary to make sure it fills/overlaps the canvas, close and save the Smart Object. Repeat for all Smart Objects.

Here's an example that shows all photo layers as Smart Objects, and clicking into a smart object layer, pasting a new image, resizing the image to fill/overlap the canvas, and closing and saving the smart object.

(HD version too large to post here.)