Capturing Photos Using fswebcam in Linux

Introduction

In the Linux environment, there are several tools available for capturing images from cameras, and one such lightweight and simple-to-use tool is fswebcam. This tool allows you to take photos directly from the terminal.

Installation of fswebcam

To install fswebcam on Debian-based distributions, you can use the following command:

sudo apt-get install fswebcam

Automating Photo Capture with Bash Script

Below is a Bash script that captures a photo every 3 seconds and saves it to a specified directory:

#!/bin/bash

output_directory="/path/to/save/directory"
interval=3  # interval in seconds for capturing photos

while true; do
    timestamp=$(date +"%Y%m%d%H%M%S")
    output_filename="$output_directory/photo_$timestamp.jpg"

    # Capture photo using fswebcam
    fswebcam --no-banner "$output_filename"

    echo "[$(date)] Photo captured: $output_filename"
    sleep $interval
done

Running the Script

1. Adjust Directory and Permissions:

   • Modify the output_directory to an existing directory of your choice.

   • Ensure the script is executable by running:

     chmod +x script_name.sh
     

2. Run the Script:

   • Execute the script using:

     ./script_name.sh
     

3. Stopping the Script:

   • To stop the script, use the Ctrl + C key combination in the terminal.