Put your photos into PowerPoint

Insert, crop, and format pictures

You’ve got photos and you want to display them in a slide show. The first thing you need to do is get the pictures onto your computer.

To do so, follow the guidelines that came with your scanner or camera to upload your picture files. Some software will save the files to your Pictures folder by default, and might create a subfolder for you named by the day’s date.

Of course, you can designate the folder you want, and organize your pictures however you like.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Insert photos

PowerPoint offers several ways to insert photos into your slide presentation.

You can create an instant slide show by using Photo Album, as shown here.

You can also insert pictures one at a time, either by using a layout you design, or by using one of the pre-made content layouts available in the Layout gallery.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Clip art: A resource for photos

If you don’t have photos for a presentation, try the clip art catalog. The content layouts in PowerPoint include a Clip Art icon that you can use to find art and insert it onto the slide.

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Click the Clip Art icon on the slide.

In the task pane, type a keyword for the type of image you want.

Select Photographs as the media file type, and click Go.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Crop and resize photos

Is there part of a photo you’d like to cut away?

Do it with the cropping tool.

Select the picture to see the Format tab under Picture Tools.

Click Crop, and then drag the black handles to get the composition you want. Then resize back to your desired dimensions.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Cropping examples: Before and after

Here’s an example of how cropping and resizing can improve the way you display your pictures.

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In the top example, the pictures’ original sizes vary, being either more horizontal or more vertical.

In the bottom example, the pictures are cropped and resized to be a uniform shape, and they’re all slightly bigger. (Another help is that they have sharper frame formatting.)

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Cropping examples: Before and after

Important: If you crop and then enlarge a picture, make sure that the picture has a high enough resolution that it won’t appear blurry when projected.

Resolution refers to the density of pixels, the small dots of color that make up bitmap images.

When you preview your slides in a slide show, you can tell whether the images are sharp or not.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Use styles, colors, and effects

The Format tab in Picture Tools includes many frame styles for pictures such as shadows and reflections. You can also adjust brightness and contrast, and recolor your photos.

Once you’ve created the frame effect you want, you can use the Format Painter to apply the same effect to your other photos.

PowerPoint offers many choices, but remember that a little goes a long way.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Control your presentation’s file size

Digital photographs can be huge in terms of file size (3 to 4 megabytes, for example). Those large files can inflate your presentation’s file size, too.

However, PowerPoint 2007 has ways to keep your file size manageable.

One is automatic picture compression. When you insert a photo, PowerPoint reduces its number of pixels.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Control your presentation’s file size

Digital photographs can be huge in terms of file size (3 to 4 megabytes, for example). Those large files can inflate your presentation’s file size, too.

In addition to automatic compression, you can use the Compress Pictures button, on the Format tab, to apply more compression.

This further reduces the pixel count per inch. The Screen option (150 ppi, or pixels per inch), as shown here, is the optimal choice for projection.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

Guidelines for graphics file formats

Graphics file formats refer to the type of picture file, shown in the filename extension, such as “.jpg” or “.gif.”

File format Stands for.JPG Joint Photographic Expert Group

.PNG Portable Network Graphic

.BMP Windows Bitmap

.GIF Graphics Interchange Format

The file format determines what kind of compression is applied to the picture and the range of colors supported.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

• The .JPG file format is typical for digital photos. Its type of compression creates a small picture file — that’s one of its great assets. But, its compression is also lossy, which means that picture information is lost in the compression process. This often is not a factor in the look of your images in a presentation.

• Some presentation designers prefer the .PNG format. This format creates a sometimes significantly larger file size than a .JPG. But its compression is lossless. You don’t lose picture information. Another attraction of .PNG is that it supports variable transparency.

Guidelines for graphics file formats

Here are the characteristics of each file format.

Put your photos into PowerPoint

• Other common graphics file formats are .BMP, .GIF, and .TIF. These work fine in PowerPoint, but note that .BMP files can be very large. The .GIF format works especially well for images that include big solid-color areas. A downside of .GIF is that it is limited to 256 colors. The .TIF format has similar characteristics to .PNG.

Guidelines for graphics file formats

Here are the characteristics of each file format.