If your Web site doesn't sing with pretty pictures, you're either designing for Usenet holdouts or living in 1994. Yes, it seems that 98% of all Webmasters have finally discovered that intelligently conceived graphics can add sparkle to a Web site without taxing too much user bandwidth.

Corporations have their company logos, adolescent boys have their Danielle Fishel tributes, and hordes of Geocities community members have little "under construction" signs apologizing for perpetual works-in-progress.

So how are you going to get images for your fledgling Web site? And if you've already entered the 21st century, what other imaging solutions do you need to explore to send your humble little Web page over the artistic edge?

We're basically talking about four different options:

1. Shoot original photography with a digital camera, the hottest of today's tech toys.
2. Muster up all your artistic instincts, and create your own graphics, logos, and sketches in an illustration program.
3. Collect pre-fab images and objectsmagazine ads, baseball cards, green army men, circa-1970s Peter Max shower curtainsand scan them to your heart's content.
4. Peel through a clip art library, and choose the perfect image for your particular needs.

Of course, some of the most creative images you'll ever find online employ elements derived from more than one type of tool. And note that once you have a digital image sitting pretty on your desktop, it may not necessarily be ready for prime time. You still may have to convert it to a GIF (for illustrations) or a JPEG (for photos), reduce its file size for low-bandwidth downloading, and possibly even tweak it with a few special effects. Tools such as Photoshop and GraphicConverter are perfect work horses for such utilitarian tasks. Learn all about them at The Net's Design Resource Center (www.thenet-usa.com).

But now, read on as we detail the pluses and minuses of each approach to image acquisition, and name the best buys in each category. Unless otherwise noted, all prices cited are the suggested list prices; check for substantially lower competitive upgrades. Our absolute favorite products receive the coveted Net Rave award. We close our tour with an explanation of what all those obtuse imaging specs really mean.