VSCO’s New Collage Feature Allows for Mixed Media Creativity

VSCO Collage

VSCO has updated its app to include the ability to create different types of collages, an enhancement that goes beyond the typical single image editing that most know the app for.

The popular mobile app says that as technology has improved and magazine cutouts have given way to digital assemblage, collage has become a mainstay in modern culture, “especially with the rise of multimedia creation on mobile devices.”

VSCO first introduced a mixed-media option when it launched Montage in 2020, but Collage is what it says is a further refinement of that tool.

VSCO Collage

Collage exists as a separate mode from Montage.

“Your VSCO Studio now has a top bar with starting points for Collage and Montage (as well as the camera). Rather than requiring you to choose your media first, these new starting points will guide you through the creation process more easily,” the company explains.

Montage might sound like a way to put a group of similar images together into one, but VSCO shows how the tools can be used to create wholly new artwork from photos in a way that flexes creativity. It can stack similar, but different, images together to form a wholly new composition as well as create forced continuity between images.

VSCO Collage

VSCO Collage

VSCO also has a select number of shapes that can be added to change the context of a photo.

VSCO Collage

VSCO Collage

The update brings a lot of creative flexibility to photography in a way that isn’t just filters and standard editing tools, although those are still useful. In December, VSCO added Dodge and Burn tools to its app to allow users to take more granular control over shadows and highlights in their photos. In January, it launched a series of pink and blue-hued infrared filters that allow users to mimic the look of infrared photography in two new color spectrums. Both these updates followed a large offering of more than 100 film-inspired photo effects it added to the app in October.

Together these tools can be used to create unique works of art in a way that’s approachable and easy to access from a smartphone.

VSCO is one of PetaPixel’s top picks for both iPhone and Android photography thanks to its huge number of filters and excellent camera experience. The best tools are locked behind a paywall, however, which costs $20 per year.


Image credits: VSCO

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