Recolor graphics in PowerPoint 2007

PowerPoint 2007 introduced the ability to recolor and adjust bitmap graphics. Bitmap files types include GIF, JPG, and PNG. You can recolor both inserted images and background images. These are exciting, new capabilities. Previously, you had to use third-party software to accomplish this task.

To insert a picture from a file, choose Insert>Picture and choose the picture file. To insert a picture from the clip art collection, choose Insert>Clip Art In the Clip Art task pane, enter keywords. Be sure to specify the type of clip art that you want from the Results Should Be drop-down list; you can specify photos only, for example.

You can make minor adjustments to brightness and contrast, or completely recolor an image.

a little dark in a very bright sun?

The subject in this image is a little dark, because the sun was so bright. To make it brighter, double-click the image to display the Format tab. In the Adjust group, click Brightness to open the Brightness gallery.

the Brightness gallery

Choose one of the positive values. You can see the difference in your photo immediately.

To increase contrast, click the Contrast button and do the same thing.

Of course, you can decrease brightness and contrast as well. Make your choice depending on the requirements of the image.

after ajusting the brightness and contrast

You can make more exact changes by choosing Picture Correction Options at the bottom of the Brightness or Contrast gallery to open the Format Picture dialog box, with the Picture category displayed.

the Format Picture dialog box

Here, instead of choosing from 10% increments, you can enter any value you want for Brightness or Contrast. You can also reset the picture to its original settings.

You can recolor a photo, too. Recolored photos display one color predominantly and they’re great for creating backgrounds, because text shows up well against them.

Here’s a slide using a clip art photo (use sunrise as a keyword to find this one).

a Sunrise clip art photo

Let’s say that you want to cover the entire slide with this photo. The problem would be that text wouldn’t show up very well in front of it.

Here, I’ve reset the photo (I had cropped it to fit it on the right side of the slide), then recropped it to fit the entire slide. I’ve changed the text to white. It isn’t terrible, but the clouds are pretty busy behind the text.

Reducing the contrast helps, but you don’t want to dampen the drama of the photo too much. Instead, you could infuse the photo with a color. To do so, double-click the photo to display the Format tab. In the Adjust group, choose Recolor to display the Recolor gallery.

the Recolor gallery

Hover the cursor over a color to see the results immediately. Continue to do this until you find a color you like and click. Or choose More Variations to see the theme colors, where you can choose More Colors to choose any color you like. Here I chose orange.

recolored to orange

Here’s a photo from clip art that I use a lot because of its presentation theme.

a clip art of presentation theme

Here it is again, recolored in a teal color, and reduce the contrast by 10%

recolored in a teal color

Usually, I blur it a little too. Then it makes a great background. But that’s another tip!

A wonderful new capability is being able to make the same brightness, contrast and coloring changes to a background.

To insert a photo as a background to an individual slide or the slide master, right-click any slide or the slide master, and choose Format Background. In the Format Background dialog box, choose Picture or Texture Fill, and then click the Picture button to choose the file you want to use.

the Format Background dialog box

Then, click the Picture category on the left, to display the exact same controls you have for the Picture category of the Format Picture dialog box (shown earlier in this tip). You can now change the brightness, contrast, and coloring of the background!

after changing the brightness, contrast, and coloring of the background

Don’t forget that you can right-click any image that you’ve inserted, let’s say from clip art, and choose Save as Picture to save it. Then you can insert it as a background.

Learn more about PowerPoint 2007