It really is true that a picture can be worth a thousand words. When you are building a report or presentation, smart usage of great looking images can make your information more compelling and convincing.
However, using images is not without challenges. One of the biggest issues is taking some random image that you found on a website like unsplash (which we love!) and ensuring that it is on-brand.
Images can be in different hues and have different primary colors depending on the subjects and when the photograph was taken.
This can create some brand standardization issues because it can make it feel like the image came from left field.
Issues like this in your report or presentation can hurt your credibility and make you come off as less prepared than you (most likely) are.
However, not all of us are pros at Photoshop and other photo editing tools. The good news is that there is a simple trick you can use in any presentation tool that makes it easy to do a quick tint treatment on images.
To help show the difference that tinting an image can make, let’s take a look at a couple example pictures without and with a tint.
In these two images, there are two different cars features, with different main colors, in very different settings.
By using a dark blue tint, we can make the two images look like they belong together.
In these two images, there are two different cityscapes with very different colors and lighting.
The Seattle palette is warm and yellow with the sunset, while the Denver palette is gray and a bit brooding (which is oddly enough, somewhat the opposite of the reputation of these cities).
If you wanted to use both of these images in a presentation, let’s say as backgrounds for section slides, they would each provide a very different vibe because of these colors.
However, we can use the same dark blue tinting technique to make the two images look like they belong together.
The good news is that you can achieve this sleek look quickly and easily with a simple approach that you can do in any popular presentation software.
First things first, position your image exactly where you want it on the canvas. Images are used in all sort of different ways in presentations, from full screen section transitions to small tiles. The good news is that this approach can work for any sized image you have.
Once you have the image positioned where you want it on the canvas, add a rectangle shape onto the canvas.
Choose whatever color you want to use for the tint for the fill color of the box shape. Typically, you will want to use one of your brand colors.
Next, adjust the shape of the rectangle shape until it is the exact same size and shape as your image. Lay the shape directly over the image. Now you should just see the color of the shape and no image, since the image is covered by the shape.
From here, you will want to adjust the opacity of the shape. Depending on the tool you are using, opacity will be located in a different position, but it will function the same.
Adjusting the opacity is more art than science. Play around with different percentages until you get just the look you want.
For reference, in the Seattle/Denver slide above, we used 50% opacity on our blue rectangle shape.
Adding a color tint to your presentation images is a great way to create a clean, on-brand, and professional look. Hopefully our guide convinced you that there is indeed a very easy way to achieve this great look.
If you want to include Airtable visualizations or charts on Google Sheets data in your next presentation, be sure to try Superchart for free.
