The most common way to take a picture, also known as a screenshot, on a Mac is using keyboard shortcuts.
Here's a breakdown of the most useful methods:
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Take a screenshot of the entire screen: Press Shift + Command + 3. This saves the screenshot as a file on your desktop.
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Take a screenshot of a selected area: Press Shift + Command + 4. The cursor changes to a crosshair. Click and drag to select the area you want to capture, then release the mouse button. The screenshot will be saved as a file on your desktop. You can press the Escape key to cancel taking the screenshot.
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Take a screenshot of a specific window: Press Shift + Command + 4, then press the Space bar. The cursor changes to a camera icon. Move the camera icon over the window you want to capture (it will be highlighted), and then click on that window. The screenshot of the window will be saved as a file on your desktop.
These methods save the screenshots to your desktop by default. You can change the default save location using the Terminal app, if desired. Alternatively, pressing Control along with the keyboard shortcuts above (e.g., Shift + Command + 4 + Control) will copy the screenshot to your clipboard instead of saving it as a file. This lets you immediately paste the image into another application.
