Don’t Distort Your Image

Have you ever seen a photo or a graphic in a document that looked distorted? It may be tolerable when it’s a simple piece of clip art, but when it’s someone’s image, it can be positively awful. It not only makes the person in the image look bad, but it reflects poorly on you, as the document editor. Here’s how to avoid distorting images—yours and theirs:

Resizing images

It is especially important when working with photos of people to maintain the proportions of the original photo. To do this, select the image by clicking on it once. A sizing box will appear on the corners in most Microsoft Of­fice programs (see Figure A). Hold down the “shift” key while you drag a corner of the siz­ing box to the new size you want. Doing so will guarantee the image stays proportionate, no matter which direction you move the mouse.

Scaling an image down to a smaller size than the original usually works fine, but use consideration if you are scaling an image up to a larger size. You must start with a high-resolution image or it will become pixilated and fuzzy when it is enlarged. Most photos on the Web have been optimized for quick loading to a website, which makes them low-resolution images. Of course, make sure you have permission to use photos if you find them on the Web. 

Cropping images

If you only want part of the image, you can crop the photo. To do this in Microsoft Office programs, right-click on any tool bar and select the Picture toolbar. Then, select the cropping icon that looks like this:

. With your image selected, click on the cropping icon and a sizing box will appear on the corners (see Figure A) or lines will appear (see Figure B) depend­ing on how the image is inserted into the document. Using your cursor, move the edges of the photo or image to the desired area, cropping out areas you do not want. When you’re done, click on the cropping icon on the toolbar or click off of the pic­ture completely (see Figure C) to set the new dimensions.

These cropping and resizing tips also work in other graphic editing software packages. Keep your images proportionate with these simple tips.

Julie Perrine is CAP-OM and MBTI certi­fied and the founder and CEO of All Things Admin. She applies her administrative expertise and passion for lifelong learn­ing to serving as an enthusiastic mentor, speaker and author who educates admins around the world on how to be more effec­tive every day.