Capturing Screenshots for your Video
- By Daniel O'Brien
- Published 06/13/2007
I often find that educators need to display some sort of screenshot or static content in a video clip. It may be a simple screen from a powerpoint presentation - or a view of a webpage.
One of the simplest way to obtain that image - that screenshot is to use some sort of capture software. Without a doubt the best capture software and the market leader for years is SnagIt by Techsmith. It has a massive array of useful features and is absolutely brilliant. However, it isn't free - it's $39.95 (although I think it's worth every penny - or cent!)
A free alternative is simple utility called Window Clippings written by Kenny Kerr. Although there now seems to be a version you can register for a small sum of $10, the free version is adequate for simple capturing the screen to an image file. (A little tip: when you install Window Clippings and hit the Print Scrn button - it automatically places the captured screenshot in a "My Documents/Screen Clippings" directory - just in case you wondered where the file went!)
Finally, there is one other method which is slightly different - but also offers a few other benefits. You can use the free and feature-packed software called IrfanView. It's not as slick as Photoshop or similar professional packages - but it's a free image editing application with many useful features. You simply download and install it. Go to "Options" then "Capture/Screenshot" - choose the hot key (the key you want to press to actually perform the capture) and away you go.
If you have any alternative solutions - then please let me know and I'll be happy to investigate.
One of the simplest way to obtain that image - that screenshot is to use some sort of capture software. Without a doubt the best capture software and the market leader for years is SnagIt by Techsmith. It has a massive array of useful features and is absolutely brilliant. However, it isn't free - it's $39.95 (although I think it's worth every penny - or cent!)
A free alternative is simple utility called Window Clippings written by Kenny Kerr. Although there now seems to be a version you can register for a small sum of $10, the free version is adequate for simple capturing the screen to an image file. (A little tip: when you install Window Clippings and hit the Print Scrn button - it automatically places the captured screenshot in a "My Documents/Screen Clippings" directory - just in case you wondered where the file went!)
Finally, there is one other method which is slightly different - but also offers a few other benefits. You can use the free and feature-packed software called IrfanView. It's not as slick as Photoshop or similar professional packages - but it's a free image editing application with many useful features. You simply download and install it. Go to "Options" then "Capture/Screenshot" - choose the hot key (the key you want to press to actually perform the capture) and away you go.
If you have any alternative solutions - then please let me know and I'll be happy to investigate.