Selling a house? Why not take a picture and put it in your sales brochure. Need a shot of the boss for the company newsletter? Snap away -- take a dozen shots and let the boss pick the one he likes best. Trying to spice up your Web page? There's nothing better than photographs of your people and your products. Do you and the kids want to create a special photo album for grandma? With a digital camera you can turn it into a gift that really says something about you.

Basically, a digital camera takes images and turns them into a digital form that your computer can manipulate. You don't have to wait for film to be developed to see whether your shots are any good, because you can see each picture immediately after it's taken. Better yet, the camera connects directly to your computer -- using a serial or parallel port.

A digital camera helps you put a full set of darkroom tools on your screen. With editing software, you can make good photos look great and marginal photos look good. Mistakes are easy to correct. You can wipe away wrinkles or warp Uncle Ed's face into the image of a monkey. You can cut an image of your cat from a backyard photo and put her on top of the Eiffel Tower , or create collages or slide shows from a dozen pictures of family and friends.

Once you have the image you like, you can use a good ink jet printer and special photo paper to turn out prints of remarkable quality -- or add spice to reports and presentations that will make you look like a pro. If you frequently need quick photos of people for name badges, ID cards and company records, a digital camera coupled with a specialty photo printer can solve your problems quickly and easily.