install picamera by utilizing pip:

Accessing the Raspberry Pi Camera with OpenCV and Python

pip install "picamera[array]"

Accessing a single image of your Raspberry Pi using Python and OpenCV.

Alright, now we can finally start writing some code!

Open up a new file, name it test_image.py , and insert the following code:

Accessing the Raspberry Pi Camera with OpenCV and Python

# import the necessary packages

from picamera.array import PiRGBArray

from picamera import PiCamera

import time

import cv2



# initialize the camera and grab a reference to the raw camera capture

camera = PiCamera()

rawCapture = PiRGBArray(camera)



# allow the camera to warmup

time.sleep(0.1)



# grab an image from the camera

camera.capture(rawCapture, format="bgr")

image = rawCapture.array



# display the image on screen and wait for a keypress

cv2.imshow("Image", image)

cv2.waitKey(0)
 

 Accessing the video stream of your Raspberry Pi using Python and OpenCV.

# import the necessary packages
from picamera.array import PiRGBArray
from picamera import PiCamera
import time
import cv2
 
# initialize the camera and grab a reference to the raw camera capture
camera = PiCamera()
camera.resolution = (640, 480)
camera.framerate = 32
rawCapture = PiRGBArray(camera, size=(640, 480))
 
# allow the camera to warmup
time.sleep(0.1)
 
# capture frames from the camera
for frame in camera.capture_continuous(rawCapture, format="bgr", use_video_port=True):
	# grab the raw NumPy array representing the image, then initialize the timestamp
	# and occupied/unoccupied text
	image = frame.array
 
	# show the frame
	cv2.imshow("Frame", image)
	key = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF
 
	# clear the stream in preparation for the next frame
	rawCapture.truncate(0)
 
	# if the `q` key was pressed, break from the loop
	if key == ord("q"):
		break