This is from a real presentation, but it was a demo of marketing options (and not a Microsoft project). So the real work was in PhotoShop and then used the final image as one of many in the presentation.
Original image:
And with a bit of PhotoShop time – a new sponsor!
– Troy @ TLC
I spend a lot of time in Photoshop preping images for presentations. But I may be able to spend a bit more time in PowerPoint thanks to this new tool. Tucker, one of the Microsoft developers described the way this really great new tool works is the “magic coding”. That’s a good enough description for me as it actually works better than Photoshop’s ‘magic wand’ tool.
1. Insert an image you want to remove the background on – typically I would open the file in PhotoShop, drop out the background, save the image as a .png with transparency, and then insert into PowerPoint. Here the image looks great, but I want the template background to show through, which is not white.
2. With image selected go to the format(tab) >> Background Removal Tool
3. The tool takes it guess at what is not wanted (purple mask)
4. Modify the selection with the + and – tools
5. Here is the image with all of the include image(+) and remove image(-) markers.
6. End up with a great image that allows the background to show!
The effect is not permanent, the background can be further modified at any time. The background remeval can be reset back to the original image too.
– Troy @ TLC
When doing a PPT Training seminar I am always amazed that people are not aware of the image crop tool and how to use it. For PPT 2010 this simple, useful tool gets a lot better!
Here is my sample photo:
With the image selected I go to FORMAT >> CROP (okay, in reality I have added this to my QAT for faster access):
Now the image has the familiar black-dash handles for cropping – but it also has the standard dot handles…
When cropping an image the non-visible (cropped) portion of the image is still visible with a dark mask:
Here is the cropped image when I click off of it (deselect it). Only the cropped image is visible:
The cropping can be adjusted at any time, by selecting the image and crop tool. But the really great function is the ability to move the crop window to any position of the image! Think about setting up one image as a style guide cropped to a specific size. Duplicate the image, replace the image and move crop window to best crop the new image – but have the exact same size (visible) image.
– Troy @ TLC
Fotolia is another resource for royalty free images. But this is the first one to have a PowerPoint add-in (also a Word version). Get details and download here.
The install requires being online and easily goes through verifying computer has needed components and installing if needed. I did discover if you run multiple versions of PowerPoint, PPT 2007 needs to be the default setting for installer to run. This is also a PPT 2007 specific add-in and will not install in earlier versions.
Once installed there is a ‘Fotolia’ tab.
If you click the SEARCH button an action pane opens that is basically a gateway to the Fotolia website content.
The search results show a thumbnail and one click options for purchase and download.
To purchase and use an image you need to use the LOG IN button and have a Fotolia account (with credits purchased).
This may be the first in a new wave of conveinence add-ins as the internet merges with applications.
– Troy @ TLC
I am very happy to have made it to PPT Live this year with the crazy project schedule and it being on the other side of the country I feared I would miss out on this great event. But I am in Atlanta and looking forward to the next few days!
Just for fun I quickly created this slide using the great, but often overlooked, feature of picture fills for text.
The visuals are great, easy to do, and fast. The word “Atlanta” is made of a skyline shot of downtown Atlanta (at night). Even better is this is just one text box with different style treatments applied to text selectively!
To fill text with an image, SELECT text >> FORMAT >> open FORMAT TEXT EFFECTS dialog >> TEXT FILL tab >> select PICTURE OR TEXTURE FILL >> FILE and select image.
– Troy @ TLC
In researching images for a recent presentation I discovered this great website – Flag Icons.
Every country looks to be represented. But the part I used was the “web 2.0” design styles for each. Just find the country you need a flag for and then select the flag style that works best with the presentation.
In addition there are options for saving as a .jpg (white background) or .png (transparent background) and sized from 50-800px wide.
– Troy @ TLC
123RF is a smaller image site with a very international flavor. When I want a unique image such as a road, horizon or group of kids I always find something. Most of the images appear to be from international photographers – in international settings – and just offer a different perspective to even model shots. Image quality is great, rates are super, but the search offerings can be less than others.
Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: No
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $2 for standard PPT use (web, 600px)
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 1 year 5 images day = $750)
Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 5,162 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 840 results
– Troy @ TLC
StockExpert seems similiar to iStockPhoto when I do a search – lots of the same or similiar images. They are all good quality and the pricing is good (or looking better as sites like iStockPhoto slowly raise their rates). One new feature is the selection of videos – which will be more important with the release of PowerPoint 2010 and the whole world goes video crazy. The search engine is intuitive and gives more precise results than some others – this may be because StockExpert was acquired by Jupiter Images who injected much of there meta tagging and search technology.
Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: No
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $2 for standard PPT use (small, 800px)
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 1 year unlimited = $1,500)
Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 4,449 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 958 results
– Troy @ TLC
Photos.com is venerable, being one of the few companies around before the internet. I have a collection of (costly) Photo CDs from them. And if you every purchased one of the bright boxes full of “4 Million Images of CD/DVD” you know photos.com. Of course, that long history means some of the images are a bit dated, or perhaps seen in many other layouts over the years.
But the images are good quality, the search is nice and the thumbnails easy to review and use. The subscription rates are some of the best, so another reason you see the images a lot. You can also get some things here not available at others: a sound effects library, custom fonts and Flash animations.
Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: Yes
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $5 for standard PPT use (‘multimedia’, 500-800px)
Subscription Download: Yes (eg. 1 year unlimited of photo images only = $450 OR photos+vector+Flash+audio+fonts = $1,200)
Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 4,670 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 7,348 results
– Troy @ TLC
Getty Images is an industry force, owning many of the other services, used by major media (newspaper, magazine, TV) and the place to get images of real (famous) people, real-life video and audio. This is the benchmark for professional quality images and breadth of search options. It does come at a price, but you definitely get what is paid for. Everyone should click the “Search Tips” button and read how to maximize search results (same tips apply to virtually all sites).
Raster/Photo images: Yes
Vector images: Yes
Video: Yes
Audio: Yes
Pay Per Image: Yes – approx. $35-150 ($35 = “web & Multimedia” 413px)
Subscription Download: Yes (this goes to photos.com – one of the many they own)
Test Search Results:
1. “Fast Car” = 5,301 results
2. “Medical Consultation” = 11,616 results
– Troy @ TLC