Simplifying a photo is a great way to ensure your audience is focused on the part of the photo that you intend. Busy backgrounds can be distracting and cause a photo to look out of place in your presentation 
PowerPoint has three methods for simplifying a photo, in the right situation, all are useful and take only a few seconds to use.
| Tool | Where is the button? (click on an image) | Description |
| Crop | Picture Format, CropThen drag the corners of the image to cut. | Cut the edges off of a picture |
| Remove Background | Picture Format, Remove BackgroundThen drag your mouse over the areas you wish to keep or remove. | Cut around the outline of an object such as a person leaving only the object, See the video example below. |
| Set Transparency colour | Picture Format, Colour, Set Transparent ColorThen click on the colour to remove. | Remove a specific colour wherever it is found in the image. Useful to remove simple background or solid colours such as on cartoon type graphics. |
The example below show Remove Background being used on a complex background with lots of different colours and patterns. When identifying the areas of the image to Keep or Remove drag your mouse along an area rather than clicking on a specific spot. This makes it quicker and easier to include and exclude the appropriate areas of the picture.
