Did Leonardo Da Vinci ever talk about PowerPoint Photos?
I seriously doubt it.
But, there is a powerful lesson he taught about where to place your captions on a photo slide for maximum impact. Before I talk more on that, I want to do a quick fun exercise with you.
Take a look at the following picture:
Can you feel your eyes naturally moving along the road?
Can you feel your eyes automatically drawn to the left while watching the photo below?
Can you feel your eyes automatically drawn to the boat here?
Interesting. Isn’t it?
Our eyes are naturally wired to follow a certain predictable path when watching a photo or a picture. It happens at a sub conscious level.
For example:
- Our eyes naturally track the guiding lines on a photo. In the first image – the road provided a natural guiding line
- Our eyes naturally follow the gaze of a person in a photo. In the second image – we followed the gaze of the lady on the chair
- Our eyes naturally move towards light in a photo. In the third image – notice the boat moving towards the light
Great photographers always knew these principles, and they ensured that their photos had a natural focal point to guide the eyes of the viewers:
Could you see how your eyes were naturally drawn to the dew drop in the photo?
Understanding eye focus from Da Vinci
Even great painters had a natural understanding of these principles, and they placed their main subject in the focal points of their painting.
Take a look at this famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, called ‘The Last Supper’:
You can’t fail to notice Jesus even though there are 12 others in the painting. You know why?
- Jesus is placed in the brightest part of the painting
- The gaze of the disciples naturally force you to look at Jesus
- The pointed hands of the disciples form a natural guiding line for your eye movement
It is subtle visual cues like this that make a painting so great.
Lesson for PowerPoint Photo Slides
Now, what is the lesson from all this – for business presenters like us?
“Always place your captions right next to the focal point of the photo”
For example, take a look at the following slide:
The right place to place your caption is right along the line of gaze of the subject.
Let’s take another example:
The leaves form a natural guiding line for the eyes. So, when you place your caption right along the path – your caption will get noticed.
Technical skills you’ll need to create effective slides:
Placing your captions in the right place is just one of the skills needed to make your picture slides effective.
There are other critical PowerPoint skills you’ll need that are far more vital for the success of your presentations.
In Ramgopal’s PowerPoint Mastery Program, I teach you all those skills in a step by step way.
I teach you…
- How to crop your photos to match the dimensions of your slide (In PowerPoint Pictures Mastery section of the program)
- How to make your text more readable even on a busy photo (In Slide Design Mastery section of the program)
- Where to find copyright free images to use in your business presentations (In PowerPoint Pictures Mastery section)
…and so much more.
The quality of your slides determines the success of your presentation in a business meeting.
Even the best of ideas get totally ignored by the audience when a presenter doesn’t know how to showcase those ideas the right way.
If you want your presentations to get you results, I suggest you watch this video about our Ramgopal’s PowerPoint Mastery program. It is the only program you’ll need to master PowerPoint.
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