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Picture Styles in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Learn how to apply preset Picture Styles to your pictures in PowerPoint 2010.

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8

Date Created: November 27th 2012
Last Updated: November 27th 2012

Similar to how you apply Shape Styles to your shapes on your slide, PowerPoint enables you to apply Picture Styles to your inserted pictures. With a single click, Picture Styles transforms a simple looking picture to something that's more highlighted. Note that unlike Shapes Styles, Picture Styles are not Theme specific. They just transform your picture to make it look stylish by applying a border, or 3-D effect, or by changing the frame shape, etc.

Follow these steps to apply Picture Style presets to selected pictures:

1. Open your presentation and select the picture that you want to apply the style to. You can also select more than one picture on a single slide.
   
   Alternatively, if you just want to follow this tutorial step-by-step, launch PowerPoint. Most of the time, PowerPoint will open with a new slide in a presentation -- PowerPoint 2010 users can change the slide layout to Blank by selecting Home tab | Layout | Blank. Then, insert a picture and select it.
   
   
2. This brings up the Picture Tools Format tab on the Ribbon (highlighted in red within Figure 1) -- make sure that this contextual tab is activated. Within the Picture Tools Format tab, locate the Picture Styles group, then click the downward pointing arrow (More button) that you can see highlighted in blue within Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Picture Styles group within the Picture Tools Format tab
   
   
   Note: The Picture Tools Format tab is a contextual tab. These contextual 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.
   
   
   
3. This brings up the Picture Styles drop-down gallery that you can see in Figure 2. This gallery displays a collection of preset Picture Styles that are ready to use.
   
   
   Figure 2: Picture Styles drop-down gallery
   
   
4. Now hover the cursor over any of the style previews in the gallery -- as you move over different previews, the selected picture shows you a live preview of the style applied, as shown in Figure 2 above. Click on the preview thumbnail within the Picture Styles drop-down gallery to apply the style to the selected picture.
   
   
   Tip: Place your picture in an area that is not covered by the Picture Styles drop-down gallery, so you can see the live preview.
   
   
   
5. Figure 3 shows the selected picture with a Picture Style applied (compare with Figure 1).
   
   
   Figure 3: Picture Style applied to the picture
   
   
6. Click on the slide area away from the picture to deselect it. Remember to save your presentation often.
   

See Also:

Picture Styles in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows
Picture Styles in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Picture Styles in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac
Picture Styles in PowerPoint Online