Picture modifications

Before you start

Here we demonstrate how to modify images in PowerPoint. This can be useful when you want to slightly enhance a picture without re-doing the entire image. Alternatively, this can be used to further enhance the possibilities in PowerPoint to make your designs. In this part, occasional reference is made to earlier tips & Tricks for images.

Contrast, Brightness, and Sharpen

A very basic modification is to enhance the brightness, contrast, and sharpness of your picture. This is easily achieved in the Format tab, at 'Corrections'.

Background removal

Another instrumental action is to remove the background from images. Although such action can be more professionally done in programs like Gimp and Photoshop, PowerPoint has two main features to do the same. The first is the 'remove background' in the Format tab. If your background is very chaotic you can use the markers to indicate what stays and what goes.

Set transparent colour

​In the case the background has a single colour, the option 'set transparent colour' in the Colour button may be useful. With this option a single click can remove the background. However, in many cases even images that appear to have only one colour background, often possess 2 or 3 shades. In this case the option does not always work well. 

Digitalize existing designs

When low on inspiration: it is remarkably easy to look up a relevant example image from the web, and then to copy its main features using the PowerPoint tools. For example, the Eiffel Tower can be easily copied this way.

Fill with image

A simple way to give objects a certain look is by filling them with an picture. To do this a few aspects deserve attention which are disclosed below. We will be doing this by giving a square the look of a cheese with holes.

Choose file

The first step is to go to the 'format picture' options and go to the 'fill' tab. There you can select an image which you should have saved previously. In this case we will be filling the blue square with the image of the cheese.

Off sets

Often your image will not fit nicely inside your shape. To make it fit perfectly, play with the 'Off set' options. In the case you need to crop a bit of the image (as in the example), you need to use negative percentages. This option can also be used to optimize the aspect ratio of the filler image.

Exploit your image!

With your picture nicely embedded in a shape, you can start playing with any nice effects. Using the bevel options and the 'shape subtract' we can make the cheese come to life and add a valuable see-through effect.