Choose the largest image that is available
Stock websites and even photo sites like Flickr generally carry same images in different dimensions. If you have a choice, download the image in the largest dimension that’s available. With a large image, you get the room to maneuver by cropping or resizing the image to exactly fit the PowerPoint slide.
Fill the slide background with the dominant color of the image
If the image is smaller than the slide, then you can fill the background of the slide with a complimentary color or a color that’s predominant in the image. The idea is to make it look as if the image is merging into the slide’s background. It helps to pick up an image with uniform colors that blends with the single-colored background of the slide. You can pick a color from the image using a color picker tool (lots of freeware available) and set the background with the same color.
Decrease the image size
Thanks to many web apps (like Instagram), you can turn a humdrum picture into something interesting. In fact, you don’t even need to go there as PowerPoint itself has many artistic effects of its own. For instance, you can decrease the size of an image and place a border around it to make it resemble a photograph. A drop shadow added around the photo makes it leap out from the slide and gives your presentation an eye-catching zing.
Increase the image size
If I have a large image, this is the one option I normally take. Not only because the large size of the image saves me the bother of worrying about proper image alignment on the slide, but more so because the image can fill the entire frame and become the center-piece of the presentation as it was meant to be. Placement of the text here is critical because it should be aesthetically aligned as well as stand clear of the image so as to not obstruct it. The golden rule of a good slide is less clutter. Keep it simple. Use lots of whitespaces. Did you give a presentation recently? What tip would you put down here, which could result in a good to great presentation? Also Read:
5 Online Alternatives to PowerPoint That WorkHow to Completely Integrate Websites in a PowerPoint Presentation
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
