AP2: How do I combine pictures without wanting to blend them?

[Lead]

Hi All,

I am a new user of AP2, and regularly get lost in this great application. English is not my first language, so please bear with me. I need help combining pictures into one new picture, without blending. I took pictures of people who were standing behind a wooden frame. I now have 12 rectangular pictures I want to combine in one new picture (4 rows of 3 pictures). The final picture will have the size of A4. How do I do this in AP2? 

A step to step instruction will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Kind regards.

[Ldina]

@Lead Welcome to the Affinity Forums. If you can upload a few of these photos, perhaps someone here will show you some steps using them. Try to be as clear as possible in your explanation, so we understand what you want to do (Use Google Translate or another online translator if necessary.)

If I understand you correctly, this is usually done with Masking. You can use the Selection Brush Tool to isolate a person and remove the background. That person will be on one single layer. Repeat the procedure for each person, so each person is on their own individual layer. Those layers can then be resized, repositioned, even recolored as needed. You will probably want a background image behind all of them, or perhaps a plain background.

To make it look real and natural, you may need to add some drop shadows, so they don't look like they are "floating in the air". 

Upload a few images you wish to work with and try your best to be clear about what you want. 

[AffinityJules]

("4 rows of 3 pictures")

It sounds to me like a collage - butting together all pictures in one frame rather than a cut out composite?

[Ldina]

@AffinityJules Ha...you may be exactly right! Clarification would help.

[Alfred]

43 minutes ago, Lead said:

I now have 12 rectangular pictures I want to combine in one new picture (4 rows of 3 pictures). The final picture will have the size of A4.

An A4 portrait page is 210 mm wide by 297 mm high, so for a row of three pictures you need each one to be no more than 70 mm wide (and each row must be no more than 74 mm high). If you’re using an A4 landscape page, the maximum width becomes 99 mm and the maximum height becomes 52.5 mm.

Create a new A4 document, place the 12 pictures on the page at the desired size, and use the Move Tool to arrange them in a pleasing layout.

[Hangman]

As @Alfred said...

Assuming all your images are the same size, JPEG, PNG or TIFF files... Mine happen to be square so I'm demonstrating using a 210 mm x 280 mm document...

[Lead]

@Hangman @Alfred This is indeed what I was looking for. Thank you very much.

To all who responded, thank you for taking the time to try and help me. Much appreciated.