| Introduction | ix |
| CHAPTER 0 Well, What’s This? | 1 |
| Just What Is "Scanning?" | 2 |
| I got a scanner as a present and I’m eager to scan something. Where the heck do I start reading? | 2 |
| I’m thinking of getting a scanner, am I nuts? | 2 |
| Why on Earth Would Anyone Need a Digital Camera? | 3 |
| I’m Done Reading CHAPTER 0, Now What? | 3 |
| CHAPTER 1 The Low down on Computer Graphics | 5 |
| Computer Hardware Requirements | 6 |
| You Need at Least 32 MB of RAM | 7 |
| You Need at Least a 2-GB Hard Drive | 10 |
| You Need a Fast, Fast, Fast Microprocessor | 14 |
| Getting a Good Color Printer | 15 |
| Two Types of Color Ink Printers | 15 |
| Using the Right Paper | 17 |
| Computer Graphics Software | 18 |
| Task List | 20 |
| CHAPTER 2 Selecting the Perfect Scanner | 23 |
| The Bottom Line: Price | 24 |
| Resolution: The Higher the Better (but Not Too High) | 25 |
| How Deep Runs the Color? | 27 |
| On Top of the Optical Density | 27 |
| Finding the Proper Interface | 28 |
| Other Things to Look for in a Scanner | 29 |
| Scanner Size and Type | 30 |
| Scanner Speed | 30 |
| Software That Comes with the Thing | 30 |
| The Almighty Image Sensor | 31 |
| Other Options and Stuff | 32 |
| The Gamut of Scanners, Cheap to Oh-My-Gosh! | 33 |
| Task List | 33 |
| CHAPTER 3 Introducing Your Scanner | 35 |
| Unpack Your Scanner! | 36 |
| Basic Scanner Parts | 37 |
| Installing the Scanner Software | 40 |
| Connecting the Scanner to Your Computer | 41 |
| Plug In the Power Cable | 41 |
| Using the PC Printer Port Connection | 41 |
| Connecting a Scanner to a USB or FireWire Port | 43 |
| Wrestling with the SCSI Connection | 44 |
| Turn the Thing On! | 45 |
| Task List | 46 |
| CHAPTER 4 Scanning and Saving an Image | 47 |
| Start by Running Your Imaging Software | 48 |
| Next, Run the Scanning Program | 49 |
| Activating the Scanning Program | 49 |
| Beginner or Advanced Mode? | 50 |
| Looking Over the Scanning Program | 52 |
| Load the Original | 52 |
| Previewing the Image | 54 |
| Selecting and Cropping | 55 |
| Scan! | 57 |
| Holy Moses! That’s Huge! | 58 |
| Saving in the Proper Format | 59 |
| Saving the Graphics Image in the Native Format | 60 |
| Saving in the JPEG, TIFF, or Other Formats | 63 |
| Saving in the GIF Format | 64 |
| Quitting Your Imaging Software | 65 |
| Task List | 65 |
| CHAPTER 5 How Resolution Works | 67 |
| Why Is Resolution Such a Big Deal? | 68 |
| Everything Has a Resolution | 69 |
| The Start of It All: Image Resolution | 69 |
| Then There’s the Monitor’s Resolution | 73 |
| Finally, It’s the Printer’s Resolution | 77 |
| How to Choose the Proper Resolution | 77 |
| Diving into Color Depth | 79 |
| How Color Depth Works | 80 |
| The Special Case of Black-and-White Color Depth | 81 |
| How to Choose the Proper Color Depth | 82 |
| Task List | 82 |
| CHAPTER 6 Modifying the Image | 85 |
| Some Scanning Tricks and Tips | 86 |
| Running Your Scanning Program | 86 |
| Changing the Image Size | 87 |
| Changing the Orientation | 89 |
| Adjusting Brightness and Contrast | 91 |
| Applying Filters and Other Adjustments | 92 |
| Photo Editing Tricks and Tips | 94 |
| Getting Started | 95 |
| Zooming | 96 |
| Cropping | 98 |
| Rotating | 99 |
| Resizing | 100 |
| Adding Text | 104 |
| Adjusting Brightness and Contrast | 107 |
| Selecting Parts of the Image | 110 |
| Copying and Cloning | 111 |
| Touching-Up or Painting | 114 |
| Other Things To Do | 116 |
| Task List | 117 |
| CHAPTER 7 Selecting a Digital Camera | 119 |
| All About Digital Film | 120 |
| The Rewards of Digital Film | 121 |
| The Perils of Digital Film | 122 |
| How to Choose a Digital Camera | 124 |
| The Megapixel Question | 125 |
| How the Image Is Stored Inside the Camera | 128 |
| From the Camera to Your Computer | 130 |
| Other Worthy Digital Camera Features | 131 |
| A Few Final Thoughts | 136 |
| Task List | 137 |
| CHAPTER 8 The Field Guide to Digital Photography | 139 |
| Setting Up the Camera | 140 |
| Taking a Picture | 143 |
| Choosing the Resolution | 143 |
| Framing the Image | 145 |
| Click! | 145 |
| Playing Back the Images | 146 |
| Deleting Images | 147 |
| Getting the Pictures into the Computer | 147 |
| Transferring 3 1/2-inch Floppies | 147 |
| Connecting the Camera to the Computer | 149 |
| Installing a Digital Camera with Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) | 150 |
| Transferring the Photos | 151 |
| Task List | 153 |
| CHAPTER 9 Images and the Internet | 155 |
| Formatting Images for the Internet | 156 |
| Sizing the Image | 157 |
| Choosing GIF or JPEG | 159 |
| Sending Images via E-Mail | 161 |
| Dealing with Problems | 164 |
| Sending Images to the Web | 165 |
| Task List | 165 |
| Appendix A Questions and Answers | 167 |
| Appendix B Popular Graphics File Types | 169 |
| INDEX | 171 |
