How to take photos on a macbook

Have you ever wanted to take a picture with your Mac webcam? Maybe you want to post a new profile picture to the internet or send a funny face to a friend or relative. Whatever the intention, it’s easy to snap pictures with a Macs built-in camera, allowing you to take selfies with your Mac. Exciting, right?

Nearly every Mac comes with a webcam built-in to the display, the camera is located near the top and middle of the screen bezel. Obviously if the Mac does not have a camera it won’t be able to take a picture, but every MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and modern iMac contain the bezel screen camera. The quality of the pictures will depend on the quality of the Macs FaceTime camera, newer models tend to have higher resolution cameras.

How to Take Pictures with the Mac Webcam

Ready for taking selfies with your Mac? I bet you are, here we go:

1. Open the Photo Booth application, it’s found within the /Applications/ folder on every Mac


2. When you’re ready to take a picture, click the red camera button to begin a countdown to snap the photo


3. Take additional pictures as desired


4. Click the thumbnail of the image you want to save, share, or export in the panel below to bring the picture out of Photo Booth

Once you have captured a picture or two (or many if you are a selfie addict), you can save them.

Saving & Sharing Selfies Taken on the Mac

Photo Booth allows you to export pictures through the “File” menu and save any images as a file somewhere else in your file system. If you didn’t export a file you can also extract it manually by digging around for the raw Photo Booth file location.

Another export option is to use the “Share” button in Photo Booth, this allows you to quickly send a photo through AirDrop, Messages, eMail, add it to notes or Photos, or post it to a social media service like Twitter or Facebook.

Photo Booth can also take short video clips, but a better way to record video on the Mac using the camera is to use QuickTime.

The Photo Booth app has several other tricks up its sleeve, you can disable the countdown or screen flash if you want, flip the images, use the app as a mirror (I’ve seen this multiple times), and if you really want to get crazy you can add additional hidden special effects to the app.

By the way, if you disabled your camera or put some tape on the lens, you’ll need to address that before you can indulge in selfie-snapping with your Mac camera, but I’m sure you already knew that.

Have any other fun tips for Photo Booth, taking pictures with your Mac, or other selfie action? Let us know in the comments.

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Whether you are planning the perfect selfie or are trying to capture a professional image for an application or online profile, having the right tools to take a picture of yourself is an important resource in today's technology-driven society. If you own a MacBook Pro, you have the tools you need to take an excellent picture right at your fingertips. Learning how to take a picture on a Mac can help you create an image of yourself that matches your interests, needs or goals.

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Understanding the Basics

Your MacBook Pro computer comes equipped with the Photo Booth application. Photo Booth allows users to use the front-facing camera located above the display to take pictures of themselves. This camera can also be used to capture short movies, depending on the amount of hard drive space you have available. Using the Photo Booth software, you can capture the photos you need at the touch of a button.

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Using Photo Booth to Take a Picture

When you open Photo Booth, you see a window that includes the current view of the camera installed on your MacBook Pro as well as a large red button at the bottom of the screen. If you are sitting in front of the computer, you can see yourself in the Photo Booth window. This is a good time to adjust the lighting or anything else you want to do to improve your image. To the left of the red button are three small icons, each of which serves a different function: The first takes four quick shots, the middle icon takes a single picture, and the right-most icon records a movie. Tap one to select your preference. To the right of the large red button, is the Effects menu, where you can incorporate a variety of fun visual add-ons and backdrops into your image. Take the time to browse these effects to determine if there are any you want to feature in your picture. An effect must be selected before you take the photo you want to apply it to.

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Mastering How to Take a Picture on Mac Computers

When you are ready to take a picture, press the large red button featuring the camera icon. A brief countdown begins, giving you time to prepare for the image. When the countdown reaches zero, Photo Booth takes the photo, and a snapshot appears in the gallery preview section above the Effects menu. You can click the gallery preview image to browse through the pictures you have taken.

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After you take a picture you like, locate the file on your computer by right-clicking on the image in the gallery preview section and selecting the "Export" option. This allows you to save the image anywhere on your computer. You can also select the "Share" button at the bottom of the application during your gallery browsing to email the image to your friends or family members or post it to a social media site.