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Campbell Library

Digital Scholarship Center: Use the Macintosh Computer Camera to Take a High Quality Photo

Information about the resources in the Digital Scholarship Center

Library Renovations

Due to Phase 2 of our renovation, Campbell Library’s Floors 1, 2, & 3 are now closed. The 5th Floor Faculty Offices are open, and the 4th Floor Dreamscape Learn will launch soon. Please visit the Campbell Library Renovation site for details.

Use the Camera on a Mac to Take a High Quality Photo

 

When doing digital projects or research you may find the need to photograph an object without using a mobile phone or a DSLR camera. In these situations, the camera on an Apple computer can be especially helpful. Apple's operating system includes an app called "Photo Booth; however, this software does not take high quality images. A better choice is to use a free app called "VLC Media Player", which is installed on all the DSC Macintosh computers. Use the following steps to create a high quality photo using the camera on an Apple computer.

 

  1. Open VLC Media Player located in the Applications folder. The icon looks like This is a icon for the VLC media player
  2. Open the software and type Cmd+R or go to the following menu.

  3. This graphic shows how to access the VLC File menu.

     
  4. Select the following settings, which will connect the computer's camera and set the image to a higher resolution image.

    This graphic shows how to connect the computer camera.

     
  5. Once you click "Open" a window will open showing you what the camera is seeing. (Most likely You!) You may need to adjust your lighting in order to capture a good photo. Sometimes tilting the screen down helps. Place the object in front of the camera. 
     
  6. Then type Cmd+Option+S to take a photo with the VLC software and the computer's camera.
     
  7. The files automatically saves to the Pictures folder located at the following path:
    Hard Drive / Users/ Your User Name/ Pictures