Here is an example to begin with:
<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/300x200-dscn0161.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1228" title="300x200-dscn0161" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/300x200-dscn0161.jpg" alt="300x200-dscn0161" width="267" height="200" />

I will make another collage as an example with screenshots to take you through the process.

First decide on the size of the collage. I will take 8×12 inches as example. Now, decide on what kind of collage you want. If you want similar to one above then we would need some similar photos to go in the background otherwise you can use some brush strokes as the background image. Now fire up gimp and select new image and enter the properties:

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_0012.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1257" title="New Image" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_0012.jpe" alt="New Image" width="394" height="276" />

Select the size appropriately. Now open the images for the background one by one and do the following:

If needed, first crop the image and enhance the same.

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_0021.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1258" title="Crop Image" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_0021.jpe" alt="Crop Image" width="819" height="700" />

Now scale the image so that the all the images that you plan to put fills up the background completely. Here I scaled to 4×3 incehes.

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_004.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1259" title="Scale Image" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_004.jpe" alt="Scale Image" width="394" height="339" />

Once done, just copy the image and paste in the new image that you had created. Paste it as new layer so that you can make modifications to this specific image.

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_0031.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1260" title="Paste Image" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_0031.jpe" alt="Paste Image" width="568" height="700" />

Do the same with all the other images :

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_008.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1261" title="screenshot" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_008.jpe" alt="screenshot" width="562" height="555" />

Now, we will add more images on top of these, so again open any image and then crop scale and copy the image. Once you have pasted the image as new layer, go to rotate selection and rotate the image as desired or resize as desired.

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_006.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1262" title="Rotate and Resize" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_006.jpe" alt="Rotate and Resize" width="562" height="555" />

Once you have done copying all the files, if you need to modify any of the existing ones in the collage, just select the layer containing the image and you can modify just that image:

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_007.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1263" title="Layers" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_007.jpe" alt="Layers" width="222" height="851" />

And lastly dont forget to play with the eraser tool to get some nice effects.

<a href="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_009.jpe"><img class="size-full wp-image-1264" title="Final Image" src="http://blog.amit-agarwal.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/screenshot_009.jpe" alt="Final Image" width="562" height="555" />

Happy Collaging 🙂

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