MacMost Q&A Forum • View All Forum QuestionsAsk a Question

How Do I Take a High Resolution Screen Shot?

Using my 2015 MacBook pro, running the latest High Sierra OS, I’ve taken a screen shot of a Pages document, image and text, for the cover of an audiobook. Using shift/command/4 produces a 1054 x 1054 image. My research says I need a 2400 x 2400 pixel size with no less than 72 dpi in jpg, tiff, or png.

So, how do I take a higher resolution screen shot? Thanks for any response!
—–
Charles King

Comments: 2 Responses to “How Do I Take a High Resolution Screen Shot?”

    6 years ago

    When you take a screen shot, you get a pixel-for-pixel image. The screen is (approximately) 72-dots-per-inch (dpi). So if your page is 8.5 inches across, you get 612 pixels, as an example.

    Screen shots are useful for tutorials, showing tech support people what you are seeing, and things like that. They are not something you want to use to produce products.

    You want to export a high resolution image from a document. That is a very different thing.

    What you should do is to export the document as a PDF. If your document is many pages long and you only want to do this for the first page, then use File, Print, and then choose PDF to export only the first page as a PDF.

    Then open that PDF up in Preview. Then export from there as a PNG file. When you do this, you get to choose a Resolution. So if the document is 8.5 inches wide, and you want something that is at least 2400, you would need 2400/8.5 at least 282 dpi resolution. So go with the standard 300 dpi.

    Charles King
    6 years ago

    Thanks Gary! So appreciate your expertise some clarity!

Comments Closed.