How to Turn a Photo Into a Mosaic Pattern

November 28, 2021

Photo Mosaic in Photoshop

In today's tutorial, you will learn an easy way to create a Photo Mosaic in Photoshop . To create this portrait effect, you will require the main subject image and several images to create a Mosaic Pattern .

You can freely download images from Unsplash and Pexels. You can also have your own collection of images for creating a Photo Mosaic in Photoshop . This effect can be used to create a mosaic of couples, company employees, or family. It is a unique way of showing a group of people in one frame.

Let's begin with the Photo Mosaic Photoshop Tutorial .

Firstly, select all the images except the main image and move them in a folder. Name this folder as Mosaic. Later on this folder will be used to create Mosaic Pattern . Thereafter, this Mosaic Pattern will be used to create a Photo Mosaic Portrait Effect in Photoshop .

Now follow the below-mentioned easy process of creating Photo Mosaic in Photoshop .

Step 1

Launch Adobe Photoshop and open the subject portrait image.

Step 2

Go to File > Automate > Contact Sheet II

In the Contact Sheet II dialogue box, select Folder from the drop down options and then click on Choose to locate the Mosaic Folder (created at the starting of the tutorial).

Under Document section, uncheck Flatten All Layers. You need to uncheck Flatten All Layers so that you can adjust the images within its layer mask. Set Units to inches and then set the Width, Height and Resolution.

Under Thumbnail section, uncheck Use Auto-Spacing. Set the values of Columns and Rows. I have set the values to 10 because the number of images selected for creating Mosaic Pattern is multiple of 10. So, according to the total number of images, you have selected, set the value of rows and columns. Then set Place to Across First and put a checkmark on Rotate For Best Fit.

After making all the necessary settings, click OK.

After clicking OK, photoshop will start arranging all the images in layers and layer mask.

Step 3

Now we need to adjust images in our Contact Sheet. You will see space between the images and we will fill those gaps with the help of the Move Tool and Transform Tool.

Select the Move Tool from the Tool Panel and put a checkmark on Auto-select. This will automatically select the layer in the Layers Panel on clicking on the image.

Select a image which you want to adjust. You will notice that the image layer will automatically get selected. Then click on the chain link to unlink the layer and the layer mask. Press Ctrl + T to activate the Free Transform. Now press and hold Shift + Alt key and increase the size of the image.

In this way adjust all the images create a nice Mosaic . Do remember to Unlink the layer mask in that particular image layer before adjusting the image.

Use the Crop Tool to crop out the extra white layer from the Mosaic .

Step 4

Now we will save this Mosaic as Pattern in Photoshop.

Go to Edit > Define Pattern. Give a name to your pattern and click OK.

Step 5

After saving the Pattern, go to your subject image and click on Create new fill or adjustment layer icon. Then select Pattern. You can adjust the Scale percentage in the Pattern Fill dialogue box and click OK.