Photo Fun the Simple Way!
A Variety of Tricks in Word Spice Up Your Photos
By Linda Oaks
Photos, whether taken by you or by your students, have an amazing ability to motivate learners. And with the photo manipulation software available today, the effects can be truly amazing! Unfortunately, time constraints don’t always allow the classroom teacher the luxury of using filters, masks, and magic erasers. But you don’t have to give up on the fun of digital photos. Try these tricks using just Word and your imagination!
First Things First
When you insert a photo into Word, the format is to be aligned with the text. This means you cannot freely move it around and several options will be unavailable to you. You can tell by looking at the handles on the photo. If they are black, you’ll need to reformat it before you can fully manipulate it. Select the photo and click on Format Picture on the Picture Toolbar. Select “In Front of Text” and then click OK. The handles are now white and you can freely manipulate the photo. You can always format it back to be “Aligned with Text” when you are finished with your changes.
Size Matters
On the same Format Picture screen, you’ll see an option for size. This is where you can make your photo exactly the size you need for your project. Be sure the “Fix Aspect Ratio” box is selected so you don’t distort your photo. (If you wish to use just the handles to resize a photo, always use the corner handles to keep the photo free from distortion.)
Crop! Crop! Crop!
If you want to take photos of all your students to use in various projects, take their photos in groups of three or four. It will take much less time to photograph a group of three than to take thirty individual pictures. When you import the photos into Word, use the Crop Tool to “eliminate” the extra children from the photo. When you are finished with child #1, simply use the “Undo” button* on the Standard Tool bar to get the photo back as it originally was. Then you can move on to the next child in the photo. * (You could also use the “Reset” button on the Format Picture toolbar. The results may vary depending on what you’ve done to the picture.)
Shaping Up!
If you have a photo you’d like in a particular shape, you can use Word’s Auto Shapes and “fill” them with your picture. First, select the shape you want from the Drawing toolbar and draw it on your document. (If you want your shape to be “perfect,” hold down the shift key when drawing.) Select your shape, click on the Fill Bucket on the Drawing toolbar and scroll down to Fill Effects. Select the Picture tab. Click on the Select Picture button and navigate to your photo. Click OK all the way back and you have your photo shaped for you!
Love Letters
You can achieve the same effect with letters by using Word Art. Select the first choice from the Word Art Gallery (outline). Choose the fattest font to achieve the best results. (A terrific site for free fonts is Mom’s Corner for Kids at <www.momscorner4kids.com/fonts>.) Type in the letter you want and click OK. Back at your document, click the Color button on the Word Art Toolbar. Click on the Colors and Lines Tab. Click on the arrow to the right of the first rectangle. And choose Fill Effects. From here on, follow the same steps as for Auto Shapes.
You may do one letter at a time or stretch out your photo over an entire word.
Special Effects
If you want to create some artistic impressions with your photos, click the Effects button on the picture toolbar. Several effects are available here. Just be sure to Undo the effect you don’t want before you try the next or you’ll get a combination of both.
Looking Through the Window
A fun effect to use with photos is the look of panes of glass. To achieve this look, I use AutoShapes to create a 1-inch square with no fill. I make the line thickness 4-1/2 points then duplicate the square several times and group them into a frame, say 4 squares by 6 squares. (Use a thinner line for smaller photos.) Move this design over your picture and you have a window! Leave the lines black or color them white.
Would You Like to be a Twin?
Shoot your subjects in profile for best results.
After you insert your photo, duplicate it and flip it horizontally.
Swimming with the Whales
A favorite with my students is to import their own photos into Kid Pix and create a scene around themselves. Import the photo in Kid Pix and erase all the background material. Then, use Kid Pix’s drawing tools to create a fantasy scene
Highlight the Important items with Color
Although you cannot see the difference in this black and white publication, this is an excellent way to spotlight the best parts of a photo without losing the background.
Insert your photo, resize to the size you want and duplicate it. Select the picture in the back and change it to grayscale by clicking on the Image Control Button on the Picture Toolbar.
Now crop the color photo to highlight the item you wish. (In this case, the rooster is in color and the background in grayscale.) Move the color picture on top of the background and align the photos. This effect will work the best in larger photos or in PowerPoint presentations.
Some Advanced Auto Shapes