Take screenshot in Python on Mac OS X

While not exactly what you want, in a pinch you might just use:

os.system("screencapture screen.png")

Then open that image with the Image module. I'm sure a better solution exists though.

Here's how to capture and save a screenshot with PyObjC, based on my answer here

You can capture the entire screen, or specify a region to capture. If you don't need to do that, I'd recommend just calling the screencapture command (more features, more robust, and quicker - the initial PyObjC import alone can take around a second)

import Quartz
import LaunchServices
from Cocoa import NSURL
import Quartz.CoreGraphics as CG


def screenshot(path, region = None):
    """region should be a CGRect, something like:

    >>> import Quartz.CoreGraphics as CG
    >>> region = CG.CGRectMake(0, 0, 100, 100)
    >>> sp = ScreenPixel()
    >>> sp.capture(region=region)

    The default region is CG.CGRectInfinite (captures the full screen)
    """

    if region is None:
        region = CG.CGRectInfinite

    # Create screenshot as CGImage
    image = CG.CGWindowListCreateImage(
        region,
        CG.kCGWindowListOptionOnScreenOnly,
        CG.kCGNullWindowID,
        CG.kCGWindowImageDefault)

    dpi = 72 # FIXME: Should query this from somewhere, e.g for retina displays

    url = NSURL.fileURLWithPath_(path)

    dest = Quartz.CGImageDestinationCreateWithURL(
        url,
        LaunchServices.kUTTypePNG, # file type
        1, # 1 image in file
        None
        )

    properties = {
        Quartz.kCGImagePropertyDPIWidth: dpi,
        Quartz.kCGImagePropertyDPIHeight: dpi,
        }

    # Add the image to the destination, characterizing the image with
    # the properties dictionary.
    Quartz.CGImageDestinationAddImage(dest, image, properties)

    # When all the images (only 1 in this example) are added to the destination, 
    # finalize the CGImageDestination object. 
    Quartz.CGImageDestinationFinalize(dest)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Capture full screen
    screenshot("/tmp/testscreenshot_full.png")

    # Capture region (100x100 box from top-left)
    region = CG.CGRectMake(0, 0, 100, 100)
    screenshot("/tmp/testscreenshot_partial.png", region=region)

While I do understand that this thread is close to five years old now, I'm answering this in the hope that it helps people in future.

Here's what worked for me, based on an answer in this thread (credit goes to ponty ) : Take a screenshot via a python script. [Linux]

https://github.com/ponty/pyscreenshot

Install:

easy_install pyscreenshot

Example:

import pyscreenshot

# fullscreen
screenshot=pyscreenshot.grab()
screenshot.show()

# part of the screen
screenshot=pyscreenshot.grab(bbox=(10,10,500,500))
screenshot.show()

# save to file
pyscreenshot.grab_to_file('screenshot.png')