How do I color a washout?

[Guest]

I am able to use a photo as a slide background, in its own regular color and
also as a washout. I am trying to take the washout and have it colored. for
example in the design templates there is a design where the whole slide is
turquoise and there are justice scales that appear faintly on each slide. I
would like to take my own photo and have it appear faintly in the background,
but have a color of my choosing over it. Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Well, if you're using PPT 2002 or 2003, you can create an autoshape to cover
the photo, double-click the autoshape, and in the fill color area, choose
More Colors, select the background color, and change the transparency slider
as appropriate. Remove the line color from the autoshape.

Or, better yet, draw an autoshape and go to Format|Autoshape and choose a
picture fill. (Double-click the shape, go to the fill color area, choose Fill
Effects|Picture, and select a picture.) Then change the transparency slider
as appropriate.

This is fairly crude and won't look good with everything. For better
results, you'll want to create the transparency in an image editing
application and then import the image onto your slide or slide master.