Add and edit images

You can add photos and graphics from your iPhoto, Aperture, or Photo Booth library, or drag them from a website or from the Finder. You can crop an image by masking out parts you don’t want, and make adjustments to its background and exposure.

Add an image

Do any of the following:

  • Drag an image from your computer or a webpage onto a placeholder image or anywhere else on the slide.

  • Click Placeholder button in the bottom-right corner of a placeholder image, then select an image you want to add.

  • Click Media Media button in the toolbar, then select an image from your iPhoto, Aperture, or Photo Booth library.

  • Choose Insert > Choose (from the Insert menu at the top of your screen), then select an image.

When you replace an image placeholder with your own image, the new image is no longer a placeholder. If you try to add a different image over the one you added, the images overlap. If you want to use a different image than the one you added, press Command-Z to remove the image and restore the placeholder, then add the new image.

If you can’t replace an image on a template, the image may be locked. To make it editable, select the image, click the Arrange tab at the top of the sidebar, then click Unlock. (If you don’t see a sidebar, or it doesn’t have an Arrange tab, click Format button in the toolbar.)

Create an image placeholder

You can add image placeholders to presentations you frequently update.

  1. Add an image to the presentation, then format it how you’d like images to appear in the presentation.

    You can add a mask, add a border, rotate it, change its size, and more.

  2. Select the image, then choose Format > Advanced > Define as Media Placeholder (from the Format menu at the top of your screen).

Mask (crop) a photo

You can hide unwanted portions of an image without modifying the image itself.

  1. Double-click the image.

  2. Use the controls that appear to change which parts of the image are visible:

    Mask controls over a photo
  3. Click Done.

To reset the mask (so that it returns to its original size), double-click the image to reveal the cropping controls. Or, you can select the image, click the Image tab at the top of the sidebar on the right, then click Edit Mask. (If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have an Image tab, click Format button in the toolbar.)

Remove background and other elements from a photo

Use the Instant Alpha tool to make parts of an image transparent. This feature is useful for removing an unwanted background or color.

  1. Select the image.

  2. Click the Image tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have an Image tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Click Instant Alpha.

  4. On the image, click the color you want to remove, then drag slowly over it.

    As you drag, the selection grows to include areas that use similar colors. Click and drag multiple times to remove multiple colors.

    • Remove all instances of the color (even in other parts of the photo): Hold down the Option key while you drag.

    • Add colors back to an image: Hold down the Shift key while you drag.

  5. Click Done, or click Reset to return the image to the original.

Adjust exposure, saturation, and other image settings

  1. Select the image.

  2. Click the Image tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have an Image tab, click Format button in the toolbar.

  3. Use the controls to make adjustments.

    • Exposure: Changes the overall lightness or darkness of the image.

    • Saturation: Changes the richness of color in the image. Dragging to the right makes the colors richer or more vibrant.

    • Enhance: Automatically adjusts the image by spreading the red, green, and blue tones evenly across the histogram.

  4. To see the image histogram and adjust more advanced features like levels, gamma, temperature, and tint, click Advanced Image button.

    Adjust Image window showing histogram

To restore the original settings, click Reset Image.

Tip: You can add these buttons to the toolbar: Adjust Image, Instant Alpha, and Mask. You can also open the Adjust Image controls in a separate window that you can move anywhere. Choose View > Show Adjust Image (from the View menu at the top of your screen).