How to Combine Two Photos Into One JPG

With the proper tools, you can combine two photographs, even those of different sizes, with relative ease. The time you need to accomplish this task depends on the quality of your hardware and software. However, regardless of these factors, even a novice working with the most basic equipment can do this by following a simple set of basic instructions.

Download and install a jpeg editor. There are several available, either as freeware or for a fee; some cost up to several hundred dollars. You can easily complete this task using most free jpeg editors.

Scan your photographs if they are not already in digital form. This can be done with any scanner. If none is readily available, any photocopy store can scan your photos to a disc or thumb drive for a nominal fee. Make certain the photos are scanned to the JPEG format.

Open your photo editing program. Click “File,” then “Open” and navigate to the disc or thumb drive where the files are located. If the photos are already in digital format, locate them on your hard drive. Highlight the two jpeg files you wish to combine and click “Open” in the lower right-hand corner of the dialog box.

Select the smaller of the two files and click the “Edit” tab, which is generally located to the right of the “File” tab in the upper left-hand side of the screen. In the drop-down menu, select “Image” or “Image Size,” depending on your chosen software. Make a note of the dimensions of your smaller image.

Select “Canvas” or “Canvas Size,” depending on your editing software. A framework square with arrows pointing outward in eight different directions appears. Click on the box with the arrow pointing in the opposite direction of where you want to attach the second photo. This “anchors” the canvas. Enter the appropriate figure, double the height or width of the canvas in the measurement box and save the new image.

Open the larger image and go to “Edit,” then “Image Size.” Change the height and width dimensions to match those you made note of in step 4. If the two photos are not exactly proportional, you will have to crop the larger one in order to create an exact fit.

Open the first image and move the second image into the blank space you created in the first image. Click “Save As” and rename the second image with a JPEG extension. You may be prompted to “Flatten” the image in order to save it as a JPEG.