Changing the Appearance of an Image


Modifying how an image looks is the part of working with images that can gobble up as much time as surfing the Web. As you're fiddling with an image, save frequently, be patient, and don't be obsessed with getting it perfect.

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In general, the Picture, Drawing, and WordArt toolbars are designed to work with their respective image types. However, you can "mix and match" in many cases. For example, you can use the Text Wrapping button on the Picture toolbar to set a text-wrapping option for a drawing object, or use the Line Color button on the Drawing toolbar to add a colored border around a picture. If you aren't sure whether a particular toolbar button works with the selected image, try it out. The worst thing that will happen is nothing.


Adding or Modifying the Borders of an Image

Adding borders around the edge of an image gives it definition, and removing borders makes it blend into the surrounding text. You can add borders around pictures, drawing objects, and WordArt images. (With WordArt images, the border appears around the outside edge of each letter.)

To add or modify a border, follow these steps:

  1. Select the image.

  2. If you haven't yet done so, set a text-wrapping option. (You can't add borders to inline images.)

  3. Display the Line Style menu in the Drawing (or Picture) toolbar, and choose the desired line style.

  4. If you want a colored border, keep the image selected, display the Line Color menu in the Drawing toolbar, and choose the desired color (see Figure 17.9).

    Figure 17.9. The border around this clip art was added with the Line Style and Line Color tools.

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Word adds a border to the image. You may want to click outside of the image to deselect it so that you can see the border more clearly.

To remove a border, select the image, click the Line Color button in the Drawing (or Picture) toolbar, and choose No Line.

Adding or Modifying the Fill Color of an Image

If an image has a background, you can fill it in with color. You can also use fill color to color drawing objects such as rectangles and ovals. When you apply a fill color to a WordArt image, it colors the inside portion of each letter. If your image doesn't have any background areas, nothing will happen when you apply a fill color.

To add or modify the fill color of an image, follow these steps:

  1. Select the image.

  2. Click the Fill Color button in the Drawing toolbar (see Figure 17.10) and click the desired color in the menu that appears.

    Figure 17.10. The fill color is the background color behind the sheets of music.

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Rotating a Drawing Object or a WordArt Image

You can rotate a picture, drawing object, or WordArt image. The image stays the sameyou just adjust its angle on the page.

Follow these steps to rotate a drawing object or WordArt image:

  1. If you haven't already applied a text-wrapping option, do so now (see "Controlling the Text Flow Around an Image" earlier in this hour ).

  2. Select the image, and point to the green rotate handle . The mouse pointer changes shape when it's resting on top of the handle.

  3. Drag the image. As you drag, the mouse pointer changes shape to become a rotate pointer (see Figure 17.11). When you've rotated the image the right amount, release the mouse button. (If you want to rotate the image in 15 increments , hold down the Shift key as you drag the rotate handle.)

    Figure 17.11. Drag the rotate handle to rotate the image.

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If you want to rotate the image in 90 increments, select the image, and click the Draw button on the Drawing toolbar. In the menu that appears, point to Rotate or Flip, and then click Rotate Left 90, Rotate Right 90, Flip Horizontal, or Flip Vertical. (The Picture toolbar also contains a button called Rotate Left 90 that you can use.)


Adjusting Brightness and Contrast

If you have a picture with brightness or contrast problemsmaybe it looks washed out or it's too darktry using the More Contrast, Less Contrast, More Brightness, and Less Brightness buttons on the Picture toolbar (see Figure 17.12). Select the image and then click the desired button one or more times until you see the desired effect. These tools are especially useful for photographs.

Figure 17.12. This photograph was lightened with the Less Brightness tool.

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Modifying a WordArt Image

As you've seen, many of the tools you can use with pictures and drawing objects also work with WordArt images. However, the WordArt toolbar also contains five tools that are specific to modifying WordArt images (see Figure 17.13). The WordArt toolbar appears automatically when a WordArt image is selected, but you can display it at any time by choosing View, Toolbars, WordArt.

Figure 17.13. WordArt comes with some special tools.

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The names of the WordArt tools give you a good idea of what they do:

  • WordArt Shape Use this tool to change the overall shape formed by the letters in your WordArt.

  • WordArt Same Letter Heights Use this tool if you want the lower- and uppercase letters in your WordArt text to be the same height.

  • WordArt Vertical Text Use this tool to stack the letters in your WordArt image vertically.

  • WordArt Alignment Use this tool if your WordArt image has two or more lines of text and you want to change their alignment.

  • WordArt Character Spacing Use this tool to adjust the amount of space between the letters.

You may have noticed the two small yellow diamonds that appear when a WordArt image that is formatted with a text-wrapping option is selected. These are adjustment handles; you can drag either one of them to skew the image.



Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Office Word 2003 in 24 Hours
Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Office Word 2003 in 24 Hours
ISBN: 067232556X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 315
Authors: Heidi Steele

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