The use of photographs in presentations is definitely on the upswing. They are preferred over most clipart because they provide a more polished and up-to-date look. But the photographs need to be carefully selected and nicely formatted to get the best results.

This type of layout can be used for developing photo collages. Some of the segments can carry a text message if you wish. Layouts like these help to make a slide that has a brief message more interesting and provide visual support to the message.

Importing the photos into the differently shaped segments is easy. The following are the steps for both PowerPoint 2007 and pre-PowerPoint 2007 versions.

If you are using PowerPoint 2007, follow these steps:

1. Draw/select the shape you want for your photograph, e.g., circle, octagon, star
2. Select a photograph
3. Size the photograph and/or crop it to be the exact size of the shape you just drew (use the “snap to other objects” tool in the Grid and Guides menu for perfect sizing)
4. “Cut” (Ctrl x) the photograph (it will be put into your clipboard)
5. Right-click on the shape you drew and select “Format shape…”
6. Select “Picture or texture fill” and click on “Clipboard”
7. The cropped photo has been imported into the circle.

If you are using PowerPoint 2003, follow these steps:

1. Draw/select the shape you want for your photograph, e.g., circle, octagon, star
2. Select a photograph
3. Size the photograph and/or crop it to be the exact size of the shape you just drew – for this tutorial we’ll call that shape “Circle” (use the “snap to other objects” tool in the Grid and Guides
   menu for perfect sizing)
4. Right click on the cropped photograph and choose “Save as image.”  Save the image to your hard drive using either a PNG or JPG format and give it a name that you’ll easily recognize (”Circle photograph”, for example).
5. Right-click on the shape you drew (”Circle”) and select “Format Autoshape”
6. Select the “Colors and Lines” tab, click on the downward-pointing arrow next to the color bar, and select “Fill Effects …”
   
7. From the fill effects menu, select the “Picture” tab and then click on “Select Picture”
   
8. Navigate
   to the cropped photograph you just saved as an image (”Circle photograph”) and double click. Click OK and click OK again. The cropped photograph that you saved as an image (”Circle photograph”) is now imported into the shape that you drew (”Circle”).

The photos in the layout above are also tinted. Tinting is an easy way to get sets of photographs that have too many clashing colors to look cohesive.

Tinting is easy to do in PowerPoint 2007: simply click on the photograph, click on Picture Tools, Format, and Recolor. Then you can apply a preset tint color or browse for a tint color.

Tinting in PowerPoint 2003 is still easy, but it takes an extra couple of steps. Right click on the photograph and select Format Picture. In the Image Control section, select grayscale in the color choices. The next step is to copy the whole layout and apply a tint color to the copy layout. Then make the copy layout semitransparent and overlay it onto the layout containing the photographs. Adjust the semitransparency until you get the look you like.

Formatting this layout may take a few steps, but it is worth the effort. The slide will be distinctive and add tone and interest to support the text message.

This layout is one of many in the DE017 series of the Design Elements Category within the PowerFrameworks library.