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Mac 101: Eliminate shadows in screen grabs

by Dave Caolo Jul 2nd 2008 at 7:00AM

Sharing screen grabs and screencasts is a great way to show someone exactly how to do something with their Macs. You've got several choices for screencast software (here's a list of posts in our screencast category), but snapping a simple screen grab is much simpler.
Using Apple's Grab application you have a few options:
  1. Shift + Command + 3 produces a snapshot of the whole screen
  2. Shift + Command + 4 produces a crosshair that you can drag over a specific area of your screen
  3. Shift + Command + 4 followed by the space bar turns the crosshair into a camera
Number three will let you grab a single window. The problem is that it includes that window's shadow, which you might not want. Fortunately, MacOSXHints has described how to exclude the shadow. A single line typed in the Terminal will get the job done.

That's great and all, but for some real fun, take a screenshot of a collegue's desktop, move all his desktop icons onto his hard drive, set your screenshot as the desktop image and feign ignorace while he clicks furiously on his "icons." You're welcome.

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Sharing screen grabs and screencasts is a great way to show someone exactly how to do something with their Macs. You've got several choices...
 

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orefalo

What about the screenshot plus widget...

it is 100% times simplier

July 05 2008 at 12:15 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jerome

Ah. that reminds me of what I did on a windows machine to my colleague. I killed all apps, took a screenshot, and saved it as background. Killed explorer.exe and watched the fun. "hey, why doesn't the start button work? I can't turn it off!" says colleague.

Also works with BlueScreen on windows computers.

July 02 2008 at 8:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Justin

"You're welcome"? For what? That gag has been around as long as the Mac has had screen capturing - wouldnt be surprised if it existed a helluva long time before that, either.

July 02 2008 at 1:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Comradephate

Haha, you guys are obviously classier than my friends and I. We'd make a bunch of folders with names like "all anal" and "horse porn", screenshot, delete them, desktop background. Good times.

July 02 2008 at 11:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John Hopper

If you add the control key to any of those commands, the screenshot will be saved to the clipboard instead of a file.

July 02 2008 at 8:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to John Hopper's comment
David Teare

Ah! Thanks! I needed that and didn't know it was so easy.

July 02 2008 at 12:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
smacklin

Also good fun - rotate the screen shot 180 degrees before setting it as the desktop. A good blur filter can be useful too. And don't underestimate the value of having an application window that will not close - even after restarting the system.

July 02 2008 at 8:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to smacklin's comment
Mike

I'll do you one better. Back in 1997 we took a screenshot of a colleague's desktop when she was out to lunch. A quick little Director app that flipped the screenshot 180° whenever the mouse was clicked created a bit of amusement for us and a few moments of panic for her. Good times.

July 02 2008 at 9:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adrian vG

I like the shadows, makes my screen grabs look more pro (and nerdy)

July 02 2008 at 7:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
trickbox

Fantastic! I've been looking to disable this feature for ages

July 02 2008 at 7:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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