How to Take a Picture from a Media Player Video
While viewing a video gives a far more enjoyable experience than looking at still pictures, there are times when you find yourself wanting to take a picture from the video. This need can arise from a number of things. The video may reveal something interesting at a particular point, something that needs to be examined closely. In other situations, a person in the video may be looking breath-taking at some point, tempting you to freeze that frame and stare at it for extended period of time. There can be countless other reasons for wanting to take a picture from a video file.
If you are using Windows, you can easily take a picture from a video, especially if it is in a format that is compatible with Windows Media Player.
Instructions
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1
Locate the Windows Media Player icon on the desktop screen or in the start menu that can be display by clicking the “Start” button in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Clicking the button will display a menu that will have Windows Media Player icon in the list. If you do not see it in the list, move your cursor to “All Programs” to open a detailed list of programmes installed on your computer. You will surely find the Windows Media Play launcher here.
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Once you have launched Windows Media Player, locate and click the “Media Library” button. It is typically located in the left pane of the Windows Media Player window.
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After you have reached the “Media Library,” search for the video from which you want to take a picture. This can quite a bit of time if you have a lot of media files on your hard disk. If this is the first time you are accessing the “Media Library,” Windows Media Player will search your computer to add all files to the library. This again can take a few seconds or minutes.
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Once you have located the video file, right-click it to bring up a context menu and select “Open file location” from there. The folder navigation system on your computer will open the folder where that video file is located. Either memorise or note down the location of the file.
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Now launch whatever video editing tool you have installed on your computer. If you are using Windows XP or a later version of Windows, you will have Windows Movie Maker preinstalled on your computer. Launch it from the start menu the same way as you launched Windows Media Player.
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Once Windows Movie Maker is launched, locate and click the “Import video” button and browse to the folder where the video file you want to take a picture from is located. Select the file and then click “Import.”
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Once the video is imported, drag and drop it into the timeline located at the bottom of the Windows Movie Maker pane.
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Slide the time marker to the desired frame of the video which you want to capture and then select “Capture still frame” or “Take picture.” This will save the picture to your hard disk.
