5 Ways to Liven Up your Pictures in PowerPoint 2010

Folks, it’s time to break away from the standard portrayal of square and rectangular pictures in our PowerPoint presentations. We see presentation after presentation with standard picture formats which are so boring they put you to sleep!

Let’s liven it up by adding some pizzazz to these photographs! Here are five ways to do this.

First you need to insert the desired picture into the given slide and then transform the picture format.

Snippet™ Training Lesson 

Insert Pictures in PowerPoint 2010

• Go to the Ribbon, click Insert (tab) > Images (group) > Picture (icon).
• Navigate to the folder where your picture file is located. Double-click on the picture to insert it into the slide.

Liven up your Pictures

Here are the simple steps to spruce up your pictures in PowerPoint 2010:

1. Add a Picture Border

Add a simple colored border line to give the picture some pop! You can use either a complimentary color or a contrasting color. It’s time to explore!

• On the Ribbon, click Picture Tools Format (tab), go to Picture Styles (group), click Picture Border (icon).

• From the Theme Colors Gallery, click on the desired color.

• To make the border line thicker, go to the Ribbon, click the Picture Tools Format (tab), go to Picture Styles (group), click Picture Border (icon). From the drop-down menu, select “Weight” and then select the desired line thickness.

2.Crop the Picture

Sometimes when taking a photograph, you photograph more of the background than needed. By cropping a picture, you can cut away the unnecessary portion of the picture, thereby zooming in on the desired subject matter.

Here are the steps:

• Click on the picture
• On the Ribbon, click Picture Tools Format (tab), go to Size (group), click on the top half of the Crop (icon).

• The picture will now display the cropping handles which look like angle brackets.

Note: By using one of the corner cropping handles, you can crop both height and width simultaneously.

• Once you have cropped the picture, click away from the picture to retain the cropped image. Here is a sample of the before and after effects of cropping:

• Tip: Depending on the picture resolution, you can sometimes enlarge the size of the cropped picture to match the size of other pictures on that same slide. This way it looks like you took that zoomed-in picture.

 3.Washout Effect

There are times you wish to add a text box over a picture, so you may want to washout the color of the photograph.

Here are the steps:

• Click on the picture.
• On the Ribbon, click Picture Tools Format (tab), go to Adjust (group), click on the Color (icon).

• From the gallery, click on the “Washout” option under the “Recolor” section.

• To refine the color balance of the washed out photo, you can click on the “Corrections” icon to the left of the “Color” button on the Ribbon. Here you can change the amount of brightness and contrast on this washed out image.

4. Picture in a Shape

You can really add some zest to your presentation by having your picture cropped into a shape.

• On the Ribbon, click Picture Tools Format (tab), go to Size (group), click on the bottom half of the Crop (icon). Then, click on “Crop to Shape”. There are many shapes from which to choose.

• Here are a couple of samples. Note the colored border line:

5. Using Picture Styles

It’s time to play! I saved the best for last. If you are a looking for a quick way to spruce up your pictures, the Picture Styles feature is for you!

• On the Ribbon, click Picture Tools Format (tab), go to Picture Styles (group). A gallery of picture format choices is present. Click on the “More Button” for even more options.

• Roll your mouse over each of the Picture Styles thumbnail views and watch your picture transform right in front of your eyes. Pretty cool, eh?

•  Here are some samples:

• You can now enhance the picture further by clicking on the “Picture Effects” button on the Ribbon.

By implementing some of these picture concepts, you can take your presentation to the next level and colleagues will want to know how you can help them make their presentations more professional looking. Happy PowerPoint-ing!