How To Create Stunning Pinterest Collage Images For Free In A Jiffy

How many times do we need to hear that posts need fantastic images for Pinterest? But hey, I have so many things on my plate and creating a perfect graphic or collage for Pinterest is taking me so dang long! And then they tell us we need 3, 4, or 5 images for Pinterest for ONE post! Ouch… Yes, blogging titans like Chasing Foxes create 5 pinnable images per post. Wow.

Wait, don’t run and hide somewhere with Hot Chocolate to ease your pain. There is an easy way to go about that! Learn how to create myriads of Pinterest-friendly collage images for your next food or round-up post in only a few minutes using free collage maker software.

The Problem

You have that awesome blog and you want people to read your well-crafted posts, right? And surely, you wouldn’t mind making 15K in one month? Grace and Silas do right that. Earn a fortune just with their blog Chasing Foxes. And it took them less than a year to get there. When they were featured on Side Hustle Nation they spilled some of their secrets. Read the full interview about how they make a full-time income blogging here. Chasing Foxes gets a lot of traffic from Pinterest and Grace creates five different, yet similar images to go with each post. Scroll halfway through the interview to see an example.

Not sure how to cram five Pinterest-friendly images into one post? Learn in my step-by-step guide how anyone, even the technically challenged, can easily hide images in posts.

So, you know what you have to do now. Still, you don’t know how. And as you are not at 15K income yet you probably won’t mind a free option to go about that. Maybe you have used PicMonkey in the past and now you are looking for a free alternative to PicMonkey?

I got you covered.

But first, you might want to check out these awesome resources for finding fabulous free stock images for your blog and social media!

The Solution

Now here is what I use for my Pinterest collage images. It is FotoJet. For anyone who is familiar with PicMonkey and now looking for a free alternative to PicMonkey, this is it. It has basically all the features you used to have with the free plan of PicMonkey. In addition to that, you can upgrade to a premium plan which is very affordable, starting at 2,91 Dollar a month (billed annually).

This is what the homepage looks like:

Get Your Equipment Ready

Now, let’s get to work. I have put together this little Fotojet collage maker tutorial to get you started. For your convenience, I have created a PDF printable of this tutorial. Sign up at the end of this post to get access to my free resource library and download the PDF tutorial and more good stuff.

First, you will need awesome images. You can take them yourself if you are a great photographer (which I’m not at all), you can browse websites with free stock images (like Pixabay or the free selection that comes with Fotojet) or you can use paid stock photography (which is what I do). I use DepositPhotos. (affiliate link) They have a HUGE collection of photography and graphics. I always find exactly what I’m looking for and they are rather affordable starting at about 1 Dollar per image.

Remember that you need to pick images that are Pinterest-friendly:

Choose bright over gloomy
pinks, reds, light colors over browns or blues
no faces
close-ups over panorama
the final image that goes to Pinterest needs to be VERTICAL!
for food posts extra long images, e.g. 735 pixel x up to 2060 pixel (instead of 735 x 1100 px standard size)

So, get a couple of beautiful images. And your favorite beverage. Shall we start?

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Let’s Do This – Make Stunning Collage Images Using Free Software

Go to FotoJet.com. Choose “Make a Collage“. Then select “Photo Grid“. You don’t need to sign up but you can start right away.

(Remember to get this tutorial as handy PDF by signing up at the end of the post.)

Next, choose a layout in the collage maker. As the collage image will be used for Pinterest I choose to go with only one column of images. In the post about how to make hot chocolate from scratch, I started with a four-image collage as I had four images to put into it. (If you want to check out the images click on the Pinterest sharing button in the chocolate post because most of them are hidden).

I start with the grid that has space for all images I might use. In the creative process, I then save what I made and move to one image less. Just stay with me, we will do this step by step.

So, choose a layout for the photo collage. Choose a vertical arrangement of the collage maker like those marked in yellow.

I chose the five images vertical column layout to start with. (Five images is the maximum you can choose in this selection but you can add more images later, just for your interest). As an example, I will be using the images of the post about Perfect Homemade Caramel Drizzle Sauce.

After I selected the layout I need to make it the perfect size for Pinterest. Under the (still empty) collage you can select the size.

Click the button. Then uncheck the box “Lock Aspect Ratio” and type in the measures you want for your Pinterest collage. I choose the size of a super long recipe collage image. You can, however, choose the standard size (600 x 900) for a roundup collage, or select a different size along the way so that you have several Pinterest images in different sizes. Keep in mind that Pinterest now cuts off tall images in the feed!

Finally, press “Apply”.

Great! The canvas is ready to be filled with gorgeous images. Go to the left and select “Photo”, then “Add” and upload all the images you want to use. (Alternatively, you can import photos from Facebook or browse the selection of images and graphics of Fotojet.)

Now, drag and drop images into the collage. Adjust the size and move images around until you like the collage. Zoom in, flip or rotate. Play around with it until you are happy with the outcome.

On the left panel of the collage maker, go to Text. Add text and adjust fonts, color, and size of your text. Make the text as large as possible and don’t choose more than 3 different fonts.

Go to Clipart>Shape>Solid Shape. Put a solid shape behind your text so that it can easily be read. I used a round-edge rectangle, adjusted the color to white and made is semi-transparent (“Opacity”).

This is what my collage looks like now. Still, needs some TLC, right? To make it a little “warmer”, go back to layout on the left panel of the collage maker. Then play around with spacing and roundness of images until you are happy with the look.

Next, go to “BKGround” and adjust the plain white background if you want. Remember, warm, bright colors work best on Pinterest. Choose something that fits the collage images, too. I go with pale orange.

My first photo collage is finished.

Now, drink something. Then save your masterpiece to your computer by clicking the little icon above the collage. Give your image a name and choose either “PNG” or “JPG”. (I go with PNG for my pin-graphics). Press save.

Create More Images With Just A Few Clicks

Good news! The hard part is over. Now go back to layout and choose one with a different number of images AND/OR change the image selection in your collage.

You can also change the titles to check out which type of title performs best on Pinterest.

Do you want to move several items together? By left-clicking the mouse and dragging a rectangle over several items you can group them and move those items together. That way you can easily move your texts and shapes in a jiffy. Save and download every finished version of your image from Fotojet.

Here is my selection of pinnable images that I have made in about 10 minutes (I also experimented with other layouts of the collage maker and kind of liked the 2×2 layout you can see in the middle):

Fair warning, you will have to make them in one sitting if you – like me – use the free collage maker of fotojet.com. However, with the paid plan you get the option to save projects and go back to work on them later. With the free plan of Fotojet, you have to save and download your work before you can start to work on the next design.

If you end up with several great Pinterest you might want to use them all in one post. No problem! If you want you can easily hide additional images in a WordPress post. Learn how in this failproof step-by-step guide!

Here is another example of an image I created this way, choosing the 2×4 grid this time:

Finished

So, that was how I create multiple images for a recipe post in one sitting and in only a few minutes using the free graphic design software Fotojet. Now, you can do the same without investing tons of time or money. On to rock Pinterest now.

Please share this post if you think it is helpful and let me know if you have any questions!