After you have taken your pictures, you may wish to show your roll of film to many others worldwide. What better way to use the Internet! You can build a website, and then upload your photos for millions to see. So, how do you do this? The obvious answer is via a scanner. You may suppose all there is to getting an image onto the computer is by plugging in the scanner and clicking the "Scan" button. However, there is more to it than that.

Instead of worrying about buying a scanner and figuring out how to use it, why not let a professional scan your photos in a dust-free environment? That is what Kodak’s PhotoCD is. Getting a PhotoCD scan is very easy. When you want your film to be processed, check the "PhotoCD" option at the lab. Though it will cost you a couple of dollars more, you will get sharp, beautiful scanned images that will have your viewers in awe. Because the scans are on a CD-ROM, you will not have to worry about your hard-disk space. To make the image even more striking, consider learning how to retouch the image in Photoshop.

This is the second-best option. While the images may not have quite as much depth as a PhotoCD scan, a desktop slide scanner you do not have to worry about the delays caused by PhotoCD. Instead of placing the actual print in the scanner, you place the original negative or slide in, thus you will get an image of higher quality, as compared with a flatbed. These types of scanners are produced by Nikon, Polaroid, Agfa, Microtek, and a few more.

Desktop flatbed scanners

While being the least expensive, they also have the lowest of quality. They can scan prints, though not original negatives or slides. Why bother getting one? While I said they are the low in quality, most are not really low. In fact, many images on our website were scanned by a flatbed. This is a good scanner if you are on a budget.

Now that we are finished with scanners, we will learn about how to enhance your images on your own computer with Adobe Photoshop and other image editors.