PowerPoint Pearls: Inserting an Image

When adding graphics to your PowerPoint presentation the most difficult step is the first, finding quality images. Once you have the images, placing them in the presentation is literally as easy as 1,2,3:

To insert an image

1. Click on Insert, Picture, From File...
2. PowerPoint will default to Look in: My Pictures. Use the drop down menu to choose the folder containing your image.
3. Double click on the appropriate file.

Keep in mind that you can insert a graphic into any slide, regardless of the slide layout. PowerPoint will insert the image in the center of the slide. You can move the image to the desired location on the screen using the move cursor.

Actually, moving and resizing images is essentially the same as moving and resizing textboxes (see the previous PPP article below), however, resizing an image can ruin quality:

• Increasing the size of an image too much can cause it to pixelate. This is the effect where each pixel becomes visible as a separate "dot" or square.
  
  
• Increasing the size in one dimension can cause the "fun house" look seen in the example below:
  
  Before:
  
  
  After:
  

This effect can be avoided if you constrain the proportions of your image by using only the corner handles to resize the image.