Tutorials

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Formatting Pictures In PowerPoint

In addition to changing the size and location of a picture on a slide in your PowerPoint presentation, you can change a lot of other characteristics too. To open up the Format Picture window, right click on a picture and select Format Picture.

The Format Picture window will appear on the right of the workspace.

In the window are listed seven different categories of properties you can change. Just click on a formatting category to open up its options. Let’s go through them one by one.

Shadow

If you click the presets button, you will see a gallery of ready made shadows to apply to the image. In most cases, one of the shadow presets will be good enough and you can select one and then move on. If, however, you require more control over the shadow, you can explore the other shadow options:

  • Colour – the shadow doesn’t have to be black or grey. You can use the colour picker to select a different colour for the shadow.
  • Transparency – typically, a shadow is somewhat transparent. You can drag the transparency slider to increase or decrease the shadow’s transparency, or you can type in a precise percentage in the input box. The higher the percentage, the more see through the shadow becomes.
  • Size – use this control to change the size of the shadow.
  • Blur – sometimes you can give the shadow a softer look by adding a blur to it.
  • Angle – use this control to change the angle that the shadow makes with the image. The default is 90 degrees, which means the shadow falls directly below the image.
  • Distance – this relates to how far the shadow travels from the picture. Note that if you make the distance too great, the shadow won’t look realistic.

A good idea is to apply a shadow from the preset gallery and then amend it using the additional options described above. If you decide that you want to remove the shadow, click on the shadow presets button and select No Shadow (at the top).

Reflection

Use the presets button at the top to apply a pre-made reflection to your picture. Or/and use the following options to tweak the reflection:

  • Transparency – make the reflection more or less transparent by dragging the slider, or type in a precise percentage for the transparency in the input box.
  • Size – you can increase the size of the reflection using this control.
  • Blur – add realism to the reflection by setting a small amount of blur.
  • Distance – the distance relates to how far away from the picture the reflection starts.

To remove a reflection quickly, click on the presets button and select No Reflection (at the top).

Glow

As with all the other formatting options, use a preset and/or use the individual options that control the property.

  • Colour – the glow has a colour; set it here.
  • Size – make the glow bigger or smaller with this control.
  • Transparency – make the glow more see through or more solid using this control.

To remove a glow, click on the presets button and select No Glow at the top.

Soft Edges

Use a preset using the preset button, or simply set the size of the soft edges using the slider/input box.

Giving a picture soft edges makes its boundaries merge with the surrounding slide. The edges become blurred and you can see what is behind the image through the blur.

3D Format

Don’t feel intimidated by all the options available for 3D format; they are all concerned with adding a bevel to the picture.

  • Top bevel – adds a top bevel. Clicking this button displays a gallery of different kinds of top bevel to choose from.
  • Bottom bevel – adds a top bevel. Clicking this button displays a gallery of different kinds of bottom bevel to choose from.

3D Rotation

3D rotation allows you to rotate your picture around different axes. Use a preset first of all to get an idea of what kinds of effects you can get.

  • X Rotation – type in a number of degrees that you want to rotate the image about the x-axis. There are also buttons to the right which, when clicked, rotate the picture by increments of 5 degrees.
  • Y Rotation – type in a number of degrees that you want to rotate the image about the y-axis. There are also buttons to the right which, when clicked, rotate the picture by increments of 5 degrees.
  • Z Rotation – type in a number of degrees that you want to rotate the image about the z-axis. There are also buttons to the right which, when clicked, rotate the picture by increments of 5 degrees.

Artistic Effects

Artistic effects are a whole host of special effects you can apply to your picture. Click on the Artistic Effects button to display the gallery:

Only when you select an artistic effect will additional options appear for you to tweak the settings. For example, when we select the Light Screen artistic effect, we will see the following additional options appear: