Picture Corrections in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

A picture needs to be corrected when it is too dark or too bright. This can happen if the lighting was not proper when you clicked the original picture with your camera. Additionally, you may also want to make some tonal changes to a picture so that it stands apart.

In this tutorial you will learn how to make corrections to inserted pictures in terms of their brightness, sharpness, softness, and contrast values, all from within PowerPoint 2010 for Windows without having to use an external program!

Follow these steps to learn more:

1. Open your presentation, and navigate to any slide that has a picture inserted. Just select or double-click the picture to activate the Picture Tools Format tab of the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 1 (highlighted in red).
2. 
   Figure 1: Picture Tools Format tab of the Ribbon
Note: The Picture Tools Format tab is a Contextual tab. These tabs are special tabs in the Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.
2. Within the Picture Tools Format tab, locate the Adjust group. Here, you will find several options that let you adjust your pictures. Click the Corrections button (highlighted in red within Figure 2) to access the Corrections drop-down gallery that you can see in Figure 2.
3. 
   Figure 2: Corrections drop-down gallery
4. The Corrections gallery displays preview thumbnails of the selected picture with various sharpness, softness, brightness, and contrast values applied. These previews have been placed into two sections:

Sharpen and Soften

5. Displays previews with various sharpness and softness values. The highlighted thumbnail in the middle represents the current status of the picture.

Brightness and Contrast

6. Displays previews with various brightness and contrast values. Again, the highlighted thumbnail in the middle represents the current status of the picture.
7. If you hover the mouse cursor over any of the picture variants within the Corrections drop-down gallery, you will see a tool tip as you can see in Figure 3, which displays the adjustment values of the particular variant. Also, as you move over different previews, the selected picture shows you a Live Preview of the variation being selected within the Corrections drop-down gallery.
8. 
   Figure 3: Brightness and Contrast values displayed in the tool tip
3. Click on any of the variants to apply its correction values to the selected picture.
4. At this point, if you are happy with the effect, you can continue with it. Otherwise, if you want to fine-tune the effect further, open the Corrections drop-down gallery once again, and select the Picture Corrections Options (highlighted in red within Figure 3 above), to summon the Format Picture dialog box. In this dialog box, make sure that the Picture Corrections option is selected in the sidebar as you can see in Figure 4.
5. 
   Figure 4: Picture Correction options within the Format Picture dialog box
5. Now, make changes to the Brightness, Contrast, Soften, and Sharpness values as required. You can either use the sliders or directly type in the values in digits, as required.
6. Once you have fine-tuned the effect using the options within the Format Picture dialog box, click Close button to apply the changes and get back to the slide. Figure 5 shows the selected picture with changed brightness and contrast values. Compare Figures 1 and 5 to see the difference.
7. 
   Figure 5: Picture with changed brightness and contrast values
7. Save your presentation.