How to Take a Picture on a Mac With the Camera

Quick answer: Open Photo Booth (it's in Applications, or press Command-Space and type Photo Booth), then click the red Take Photo button. After a three-second countdown, the screen flashes and the photo appears in the row of thumbnails. To save it as a file, select the thumbnail and choose File → Export, or drag it to your desktop. Hold Option while clicking to skip the countdown, or Shift to skip the flash.

If you meant a picture of your screen, see Apple's guide to taking a screenshot on Mac. Press Shift-Command-3 for the whole screen or Shift-Command-4 for part of it.

Take a photo with Photo Booth

Photo Booth is the Mac's built-in camera app. There's no separate app called Camera.

1. Open Photo Booth. The green light next to the camera turns on and you see a live preview.
2. At the bottom left, click the Picture button for one photo, or the Four Pictures button for a sequence of four.
3. Click the Take Photo button.

Photo Booth counts down from three, flashes the screen to light your face, and adds the photo to the thumbnails at the bottom of the window. To record a video instead, click the Video button at the bottom left, then click Record Video and click Stop when you're done.

These steps follow Apple's Photo Booth guide.

Skip the countdown or the flash

• No countdown: hold Option while you click Take Photo.
• No flash: hold Shift while you click Take Photo.
• Neither: hold Option and Shift together.
• Turn the flash off for good: click Camera in the menu bar and deselect Enable Screen Flash.

The flash helps in a dim room. If you're facing a window or a lamp, turning it off often looks more natural.

Save the photo to your desktop or a folder

Photo Booth keeps your pictures in its own library in the Pictures folder. To get a normal file:

• Select one or more thumbnails and choose File → Export, or drag a thumbnail to your desktop or a Finder folder.
• For one frame of a four-picture photo, select the photo, then drag that frame to your desktop.
• To save a photo without the Photo Booth effect you used, choose File → Export Original.

Photos export as JPEG files and videos as MOV files (Apple's export guide).

Flip a mirrored photo

Photo Booth shows a mirror image, like a mirror would. To flip a photo you've taken, select it and choose Edit → Flip Photo. To control whether new photos are flipped automatically, choose Edit → Auto Flip New Items (Apple's editing guide).

Use a different camera

If you have an external webcam or use your iPhone with Continuity Camera, click Camera in the menu bar and choose it. An external camera needs to be connected and turned on before it shows up.

To take a photo with your iPhone and drop it straight onto your Mac, Control-click your desktop or a Finder folder, then choose Take Photo from the Import from iPhone or iPad menu. Some apps call it Insert from iPhone or iPad. Take the picture on the iPhone, tap Use Photo, and it appears as a file on your Mac. Both devices need Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on and the same Apple Account (Apple's Continuity Camera guide).

Take a picture with a beauty filter

Photo Booth's Effects button adds distortions, color effects, and backdrops, but it has no skin smoothing or touch-up controls.

Xamera adds those on Macs with Apple silicon. Set up Face Studio in Xamera, then click Camera in Photo Booth's menu bar and choose Xamera. Photo Booth now takes pictures through Xamera, with your skin, teeth, face-shape, eye, nose, and lip adjustments applied. The same camera works in FaceTime, Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.

Before

After

If the camera doesn't turn on

If Photo Booth shows a black preview or says there's no camera, quit other apps that might be using it and try again. Mac camera not working walks through the rest, from permissions to restarting your Mac.

Frequently asked questions

How do I take a picture on my MacBook?

Open Photo Booth and click the Take Photo button. MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac all use the same steps.

Where do Photo Booth pictures go?

They stay in Photo Booth's library in your Pictures folder. Export them with File → Export, or drag the thumbnails to your desktop, to get normal JPEG files.

How do I take a picture on a Mac without the flash?

Hold Shift while clicking Take Photo, or click Camera in the menu bar and deselect Enable Screen Flash.

Can I set a timer for a photo on Mac?

Photo Booth always counts down three seconds before a photo. Hold Option to take it immediately.

Why are my Photo Booth photos mirrored?

Photo Booth shows you as a mirror would. Select the photo and choose Edit → Flip Photo, or change Edit → Auto Flip New Items for new photos.