6. Adding a Picture Style and Effects
If
a plain old picture or illustration isn’t exciting enough, you can
change its style and add one or more effects to it. For example, you
can place a wide border around a picture to make it look like an
old-fashioned snapshot from your grandparents’ family album. (You know,
the kind they had before digital cameras and social networking
websites.) You also can add a shadow effect to a graphic to make it
look like it’s floating over the page, give it a 3-D effect, or skew it
in some way.
Adding a Style and Effect to a Graphic
The following steps show you how to choose a picture
style and add a simple effect to an image. This is primarily to show
you where these features are located; you can use the same tools to
apply many different effects to a graphic:
1. | Select
the image to open the Format tab. In the Picture Styles group, click
the More button to open the Picture Styles Gallery, as shown in Figure 13.
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2. | Point
to any of the thumbnails in the gallery. If Live Preview is enabled,
the image in the document updates to show you how it will look if you
select the style you’re pointing at.
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3. | Click the desired style.
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4. | In the Picture Styles group, click Picture Effects. A menu of effects opens, as shown in Figure 14.
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5. | Point
to any of the effect types to open a submenu that shows variations of
that effect. If Live Preview is enabled, the image updates to show you
how the effect will look.
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6. | Click an effect.
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Picture styles and effects may not be appropriate
for all documents, especially ones meant for business use. In this
case, you can place a simple yet dignified border around a graphic. To
do this, click the Picture Border button to view a menu of options.
From the menu’s color palette, pick a color for the border. Open the
menu again,
click Weight, and then pick a line weight (thickness) for the border.
If you want to use dashed lines for the border, open the menu again,
click Dashes, and pick a dash style.
7. Resetting a Picture
If all your attempts at picture formatting
leave you feeling unfulfilled, you can remove them and start over. To
undo all the formatting changes you have made to the picture, select
it, and then click Reset Picture on the Format tab.
