Use Cropped Screen Shots From Youtube to Improve Your Articles and Diaries

If you want to maximize the readership of your writing, add a photo. It will show up on the front page and be much more likely to get your article headlined. 

Why? Images enhance the look of our front page and tell more about the article. 

The challenge is, how do you get images that you are allowed to use? 

I've come up with a really fast easy way. 

If I'm writing on something that is big news, there is usually a youtube video covering it and very often, if it's major news, the video came from a shared press feed. That means that no one company owns the video. That's not the case if you grab images that were created strictly by a network, but if you want a shot, of, let's say, Chinese leader Hu sitting with Barack, then find a video and you can be just about certain it was from a feed. 

Now, once you find it, play it until you see the image you want, then freeze the image, or as it's moving grab a screen shot. 

Here's a link that tells how to do it with a PC. 

If you have a Mac, it's even easier. Find the image you want, use the two finger pinch to adjust the size of the image to meet your needs.  Then, h old down COMMAND, Shift and the 4 key and you can then move your cursor to one corner of the image you want to grab. Left click your mouse or single click your touchpad, then move the cursor to highlight the image you want, then let go. You'll hear a snapshot type sound and the image will be on your desktop. 

It's that simple. (I've also written about how to get images using flickr.com and then, there are the actual instructions on how to add images to articles on this site.) Here are two FAQs that will provide further info:

How to Add Flickr Images to Your Article or Diary

It's Easy to Add Images To Your Articles; Here's How.

Here's a photo of my screen, after I've started the cropped screen grab but a moment before I lifted my finger, taking the shot.  Not this was from ABC  news, but it's a video shared on youtube Here's 'the link

and here's how the cropped shot came out, with zero processing. 

Try it!!!