How do I take a screenshot without the shadow behind it?

Question

If I take a screenshot with Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + 4 + Space, then I get one of the two images:

Either way the saved image is surrounded by the shadow halo. I could then edit it out by hand (using Preview) to discard the shadow, or I could use Shift ⇧ + Command ⌘ + 4 and try to pinpoint the boundary by hand, but neither lets me get a pixel-perfect boundary easily.

Is there a convenient way to save a window without its shadow?

Answer 1

You can disable the shadow added when capturing an entire window by executing the following command from the Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool TRUE

You'll need to reboot or restart the UIServer for the changes to take effect:

killall SystemUIServer

You can undo this preference and re-enable shadows by executing the following:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool FALSE; killall SystemUIServer

Answer 2

If you don't want to change the default, another option would be to use screencapture.

screencapture -o -T5 -i -c

• -o: no shadow
• -T5: timer 5 seconds
• -i: interactive (capture an area)
• -c: copy to clipboard

Answer 3

Another useful option is to use TinkerTool. Go to TinkerTool and under the General tab, you'll find an option to disable shadows only when taking screenshots (along with several other related options):