PowerPoint Picture Techniques

Pictures in PowerPoint serve in a variety of levels and are great to introduce a subject, visualize a topic and make your overall presentation more enjoyable.

This blog is part of a tutorial where we will be showing the basics of inserting and editing images to more advanced techniques and tricks. This article will cover the following topics:

1. Inserting Pictures – the basics and first edits
2. Cropping pictures
3. Coloring pictures
4. Combining colors and black and white pictures

Inserting a Picture

Basic Insertion

To insert a picture, click on Insert, then select the picture icon and choose your desired image. This action will make your picture fit perfectly within the PowerPoint slide.

Tip: To adjust the size of your picture, hold down Ctrl while clicking and dragging from the corners of the image until it reaches your preferred size.

The First Edits

Once a picture is inserted, the Picture Tools menu will automatically open at the top of the screen. This menu provides a variety of options for enhancing your image.

On the menu’s left and right sides, you will find additional editing options.

On the right, you can apply individual Picture Borders or use Picture Effects to create a more dynamic appearance. Utilizing shadows and reflections can significantly enhance the aesthetic of your presentation, especially for title, dividing, or chapter slides. Explore the 3D options to present your image with various visual effects. Small adjustments in these settings can dramatically alter the overall look of your presentation.

The Picture Layout feature also allows you to choose from several pre-designed layouts, perfect for highlighting individual images or groups of images.

These layouts function similarly to SmartArt, enabling you to expand or shrink the graphic according to your needs. To increase the number of layout graphics, click on the left side of the menu and press Enter. This will duplicate the graphic, allowing you to fill in the text and add as many layouts as you desire by repeatedly pressing Enter.

To insert images into the graphic, click on the picture icon. To change an existing picture, click on it, then navigate to Format and select Change Picture.

Note of Caution: When inserting pictures, you may encounter varying image proportions, making it difficult to maintain focus or proper placement. If this happens, click on the image, go to Format/Picture Tools, and select Crop, then choose Fill. This will resize the image, allowing you to zoom in or out and reposition it on the slide.

Reminder: Hold the Shift key while dragging or resizing your image to prevent distortion.

Cropping Pictures

Basic Cropping

Cropping is one of the most frequently used tools when working with images. After inserting an image, navigate to Format/Picture Tools, then select Crop. You can adjust the crop by moving the black lines along the edges of the picture. Once satisfied, click outside the image box to apply the changes.

A quicker alternative is to adjust the crop box directly on the picture. Either method simplifies the cropping process!

Crop Your Images to Custom Shapes

You can also crop images into various custom shapes. Click on Format, then Crop, and select Crop to Shape to explore a wide array of options.

The Role of Resolution

As your images increase in megapixels (MPix), so does the file size of your presentation. Keep in mind that cropping an image does not permanently delete the cropped portions; it merely hides them. To save space, manually delete cropped areas of an image. To compress pictures, go to Format/Picture Tools, then select Compress Pictures and choose 96ppi.

To check the automatic compression settings, navigate to File, then Options, and under Advanced, find Image Size and Quality, selecting 96 ppi. Generally, a resolution of 150 ppi or 200 ppi is sufficient for printouts. It’s advisable to reduce image sizes in your presentation to minimize memory usage and prevent lengthy load times.

In some cases, compressing images may be insufficient. Therefore, consider compressing pictures on an external drive to ensure they are truly compressed while retaining better quality through more sophisticated algorithms.

Color Your Picture, Make it Transparent

The ability to modify a picture’s color and artistic style is often overlooked, yet these features can significantly enhance backgrounds or create unique slide elements.

Colors of all Kinds

Using the Color option in the upper-left corner allows you to adjust the saturation and color tone of your image. Although the term “color” might be misleading—this function primarily alters contrast, brightness, and shades—it is particularly valuable for modifying background images or slide masters.

You can achieve intriguing optical effects by utilizing the available default options, which can be further adjusted with more variations and set transparent colors.

The set transparent color option enables you to erase specific pixels based on your selection, without making the entire image transparent or cutting it out—these actions will be covered in future posts.

For more detailed editing, the Picture Color Options menu leads you to the Format Picture options for further adjustments.

Make a Photo Transparent

To create transparency, insert a rectangle shape onto your slide. Right-click the rectangle and select Format Shape, then go to Fill and choose Picture or texture fill. After selecting an image, adjust its transparency using the slider at the bottom to achieve your desired effect. The image to the left illustrates transparency against a blue background.

You can also alter the contrast and brightness of the image by right-clicking and selecting Picture Corrections.

Colors to Black and White

For a striking visual effect, blend color and black-and-white settings in your images. Duplicate your image and overlay them, converting the top image to black and white. Then, use the Crop tool to reveal the colored image beneath, creating a compelling half-black-and-white effect.

To enhance text visibility, consider adding a glow effect around the text, especially on black-and-white images. Highlight the text, right-click, select Format Text Effects, and choose Glow and Soft Edges to customize the appearance.

To create an even more impactful presentation, especially when contrasting past and future themes, add an animation effect by selecting the image and navigating to Animations, then choosing Fade. Experiment with these features to see their remarkable impact!