Hi, I’m new to the forum and would like to say a big hello to everyone I'm Morag and I’ve been interested in photography for about 8 years. After pestering my family for years to buy my a camera and failing dismally, I thought stuff it and went and bought my own, my first one being a EOS 300 and I was so proud of it lol. I then progressed on to an EOS 30 and now have the EOS 40D. I have managed to sell 3 or 4 photos but admit openly I don’t know how as I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing when I take the photos

Anyway I am looking for some advice please as I want to set up a website and put all of my photos on to it. My questions are:

1. I need to get some of my old photos and negative strips on to my computer so what will be the best scanner for this? I understand that there are 2 types, laser and inkjet but I know nothing about them. I was looking at the Canon Canoscan 8800F. Is it any good and can it do this job? I also want to try my hand at making greeting cards with my photos, will the Canon do this? And can anyone recommend any software to do it please?

2. Do I need to upgrade my computer if I want to store all of my photos on it ? I have a Toshiba Equium A200 at the moment.

3. How do I create my own website? It seems to be a minefield out there and I don’t know who I can trust. Can anyone recommend please.


I'm sorry to bombard you all with questions but I haven’t got a clue where to start. I’ve tried raking the net but come away none the wiser

Many thanks for reading folks and sorry for the long post

Nothing to be sorry about Morag. When I was starting out there were many kind people who were all too happy to help out. Many right here on PhotographyBlog. Research can be done from the Home Page in the search Articles feature. I'm not a know it all but for what it's worth I can tell you how it went for me.
First the computer. I had many difficulties in the early days and friends advised me to go Dell. That's what I did and I have never regreted it. Be that as it may, when it comes down to computers that could be a personal choice for you to make. I can only say that in photography you will need lots of memory. I started out with 2G's in 2004 and now find I need more memory. Something for you to think about. You need to "Back Up" all your photo's in case of an unforseen accident. You don't want to lose all your hard work and prcious memories. I use "Click Free" for my back up. Very simple. I like things simple. Every so often I plug in the "Click Free" and I'm good to go. There are others of course. You will find that anything you will need will come in dozens of varieties.
When you mention Laser or ink jet you are speaking of printers. I use a ink jet, HP Photosmart. I chose one with only 3 ink cartridges to reduce the cost of ink. Laser's are more for a professional business operation. Forget about lasers.
Scanners again, there are many. I was happy with my canon but when like you I found I needed to digitalize my film strips I looked around for a scanner that could do that for me. So I bought one (I won't mention the brand) and found out it was very time consuming and not at all satisfying as the end result was of poor quality and still required further editing. Then along came an outfit called the "Scan Cafe"
(scancafe.com). I packed up all my negitives and sent them to them. That's a little scarey but I took the chance. Soon I received an e-mail with all my pictures developed and ready for me to select which ones I wanted to be placed on a CD and waited a little more and there you have it. All done and ready for you to load onto your computer or copy and store away.
For a web site I don't think you should spring for a professional job until you your ready to turn prfessional. Check out jalbum.com. Or just stick with Photography Blog for now. I've been with this PBlog for 5 years now and also have a bit of pictures on ShutterPoint.com. There is a lot to think about when considering building a web site. Is it for family and friends? Will you be selling images?
As far as the bombardment is conserned all you have to do is look at what's new on this home page every week to see the digital realm is growing in leaps and bounds.
Don't be shy about asking for help.
I'm sure others will chime in and offer their assisstance.-Ron