One of the things that I needed to learn immediately when I started THE DAILY DIGI was to take screen shots. It was imperative that if I was going to give tips and tricks that my readers be able to see what I was doing. Many of my posts relied heavily on you being able to see what I was doing in Photoshop. Take this post for example: there were six different screen shots for you to see how I make eyes pop in a photo.
Many people have asked me through emails and comments how to take a screen shot. So today, I thought I would share. Well really, I will just share where I got my info since I learned the way I learn most things these days: I googled it (don’t you love how “googled” has become a verb?)
Here are two very helpful articles:
TAKING SCREENSHOTS IN MAC
HOW TO TAKE A SCREEN SHOT IN MICROSOFT WINDOWS
And I know I am biased, but Mac really rocks for screen shots, giving you lots of different options. With different keystrokes, I can take a capture of my entire screen (Command Shift 3)
Or just a portion of my choosing (Command Shift 4)
Or just a window (Command Shift 4, then space, then click on window)
Taking screen shots can come in really handy, and not just for showing off some mad Photoshop skills. You can use it to show proof of Paypal transactions, show webmasters when their site looks wonky from your end, when you want to share some crazy error message with your ISP, and more. And if you get really bored, you can go crazy with screen in a screen in a screen…
Happy picture taking 
ohhh, I use Gadwin Printscreen, it’s free…and it takes the screenshot and gives you lots of options, including whether you want to save the file, in which format, leave a copy on the clipboard to use right away – you can even choose where you want the files saved, what you want them to be named (they go in sequence in my settings) and if you choose jpg – how much compression you want
i do this every time i find cool stuff that inspires me – and then when i forget what inspired me and where it was, i can go through my screenshot folder and voila – there it is still
I was just going to post the Picasa tip above. It is extremely useful on a PC as otherwise you need Paint or something else open to capture the image.
On the subject of screenshots I want to mention Jing. It’s FREE and it’s a very simple program that you can use to take screenshots, even narrated videos, upload them quickly to share with anyone.
With digiscrapping I’ve used it to virtually scrap with a friend, quickly sharing screenshots of what we are working on or asking “what does my page need?” I’ve also used it to make video tutorials to show friends how to do something in photoshop, or teach them how to use Flickr, etc.
Just something I discovered recently…
I have a pc and use Picasa. If I have Picasa open when I click CTRL+PrtSc it automatically saves the picture to a file called screenshots. Otherwise I have to paste the picture somewhere and save it.
GREAT post….I think I am fairly digi/photoshop saavy but missed the memo on screen shots! Thanks!!
I love my Mac!
) I’m always glad to see a fellow Mac! Have a great day and thanks for the tips!