How to change a video to jpg?

My apologies. I just tried it myself, and even though I selected to export the jpeg, it still exported the complete video file. Weird. I have no idea why this is happening.

There is another way to get that still image, but you'll have to be very careful. iPhoto automatically creates a jpeg version of each video file for displaying in your library. If you right-click (control-click) on the thumbnail and select "Show File" a Finder window should open with the video file selected. Set the Finder window to Column view, and you can clearly trace its path in the iPhoto Library/ Originals folder. The jpeg of the first frame will be stored in an analogous location inside the iPhoto Library/ Modified folder. (Same Roll name, same file name, except for the .jpg extension). Locate the jpeg in the Modified folder, select it and do a File > Duplicate command. Move the copy to another location outside of the iPhoto Library.

I would be irresponsible if I failed to give you the standard warning about messing around inside the iPhoto Library folder. Warning: Be careful that you don't change any of the items inside there, or you can damage your database. Just select the file, duplicate it, and move the copy out. If you move the file that iPhoto knows about, you will have problems with your iPhoto Library.

Regards.

Joanne,

Yes, you can easily get the first frame of any movie in your iPhoto library. Select the video and do File > Export > File Export with the option to export as a jpeg. To use as your Desktop photo, you can either save to a folder outside of iPhoto and point to that folder, or import the jpegs back in to iPhoto and point to them there.

However, the resolution will be limited to the resolution of your camera's movie setting. This may be 640 x 480 or as small as 320 x 240. It probably won't look great if you stretch it to fit your entire screen.

For further editing of your camera's video clips, see if your camera came with Canon's ImageBrowser. The version I have has MovieEdit Task which can break apart a video into a specified number of frames. (In case the first frame is not the best one to use as a still photo.) It also comes in handy if you accidentally shoot a movie with the camera oriented vertically, because it can rotate the clips for you. You can combine video clips together and do simple edits before importing into iMovie for more precise manipulation. Just remember to never use ImageBrowser (or any other application) to browse the contents of the iPhoto Library folder.

Regards.

You're welcome.