In this section:
Computers aren’t all about words and numbers. Today images, from photos to videos, provide a great way to share information and get creative.
Three pre-installed apps in Windows 8 help you take and manage photos and buy and play videos. If your computer or Windows 8–based computing device has a webcam capable of taking both still images and videos, you can record your own videos and play them back as well.
The Pictures, Video, and Camera apps are simple to use, but beyond the basics, they have a few bells and whistles also covered in this section, such as enabling you to run a slide show of photos or using a timer to take photos.
Photos and other images on your computer are divided into libraries. You might have a library containing the contents of the Pictures folder on your computer, another of Facebook photos, and another containing any images that you’ve stored at a popular online photo sharing site (Flickr, for example).
On the Start screen, click the Photos tile.
To move through your libraries, click the arrow to the right of the scroll bar.
Click a library to open it.
To scroll through the photos in the library, click the arrow in the lower-right corner of the screen.
Click the arrow in the bottom-left corner of the screen to scroll back through the library.
To enlarge a photo to full screen, click it.
You might want to replace an existing solid-colored tile with a tile containing a photo background to spice up the look of the Start screen. You might also want to use an image in Photos as the background for the Lock screen that displays when your computer is sleeping. You can use the Photos app to apply these settings.
On the Start screen, click the Photos app tile.
Locate the photo you want (see previous task), and double-click it.
Right-click.
Click Set As.
Click App Tile or Lock Screen.
Tip
You can share photos via email or SkyDrive. With a picture displayed in the Photos app, press Windows logo key+C, click the Share charm, and click the Mail button. Enter an address, or click the Send Using SkyDrive Instead link to upload the photo to SkyDrive. Enter a subject, and then click the Send button.
The Search feature of Windows 8 allows you to search for apps, settings, and files. If you have a picture file stored on your hard disk or on an external storage device, such as on a USB flash drive, you can use the Search feature to search by the file name or associated keywords.
The Photos slide show feature is just what it sounds like: Windows displays one image after another automatically. You can select a set of images to play in a slide show, which can be useful for giving sales presentations or sharing personal images with friends.
On the Start screen, click the Photos tile.
Click to open a library.
Right-click.
Click Slide Show.
To stop the slide show, click anywhere on the screen.
The Video app gives you access to videos in the Windows Store. You can either rent or buy videos and play them back in the Video app. You have to register a credit card and purchase Microsoft points to buy or rent videos.
On the Start screen, click the Video tile.
To move through the selections, click the right arrow to the right of the scroll bar.
Click an item.
Click the Explore button.
(Click Explore Series for TV, and click Explore Movie for movies; you might also have to click a View Seasons link to view TV seasons and then click on a specific episode.).
Click the Buy button or the Rent button.
If you need to purchase Microsoft Points, click the Buy Points button and follow the instructions.
After you’ve taken your own videos or purchased videos, you’ll accumulate a video collection. Before you can play a video, you have to find the one you want by browsing your collection in the Video app.
The Video app offers several controls for playing your videos that will seem familiar to anybody who has used a movie player before. You can play, pause, stop, fast forward, or rewind your video selection by using these simple tools.
When you find the item you want to play by using the steps in the previous task, click it.
Click the Play button.
Click the Pause button to pause.
Click and drag the progress bar to move to another location in the video.
Right-click the screen to display playback tools.
Click the Previous button to go back.
Click the Next button to go forward.
Click the Repeat button to watch the video again.
Tip
Click the icon at the bottom-right of the screen when on-screen playback tools are visible, to reduce the size of the playback window and to view the video description. Click the video again, and click the same tool to return to a full screen display.
Assuming your computing device has a built-in webcam, you can use that camera to take photos and videos. You can use settings in the Camera app of Windows 8 to choose which mode to use, camera or video, and to select from a small set of resolution options.
Sometimes you want to take still photos, and at other times you want to record a video, and if you have a device that has both front-facing and back-facing cameras, you need to choose which camera mode to use. Changing between the photo and video modes is a simple matter of a mouse click (or, if you’re lucky enough to have a touchscreen, a tap on the screen).
Resolution affects the clarity of images that you capture—the higher the resolution, the better the appearance of the images. The Camera app in Windows 8 allows a small but useful choice of resolutions.
The process of actually taking a photo or recording a video is very simple. You open the Camera app, choose which mode you want to shoot in, and then click the screen to take the photo or start the video recording. After you take photos or videos by using the Camera app, you will find them in the Webcam folder of the Photos app.
On the Start screen, click the Camera tile.
If you need to change to still photos, click the Video mode button.
Click the screen to take this photo.
To view the photo you just took, at the left edge of the screen, click the Back arrow.
