Burning a CD
First, find out which software your machine uses to burn CD's. Most of the software is 3rd party, meaning that you can usually find help from the manafacturer or other users online. Keep in mind that you are not limited in using the software that came with your machine. There are many free or inexpensive burning utilities on the internet that you can download that may work easier or better than what shipped with your machine. Try looking for free software here: download.com or check the software that came with your camera, many have the ability to burn CD's.

Popular versions of burning software (nero, toast) will launch a window asking what kind of a disk you want to make: data, music, mp3, hybrid, etc... For backing up images, you want to choose a data disk.

Once you have selected the type of disk, it will open a window prompting you to add the files you want to burn to the disk. This usually has a selection button that lets you navigate to where you keep the images on your computer. Many programs let you drag and drop the icons from your computer or desktop onto the burning window.

Once you have your images selected, click the "burn" or "make cd" button.

That's pretty much it. All the programs are different, but usually they have it set up so that you only have to add files and maybe a name for the CD. If you have a lot of problems, you can always download Picasa for free from google software. Even though it is an image management program, it has the capacity to burn a CD as well.

You may use DVD's as well, but they cost more and use different software. For our class, we use cheap CDR's. They are one trick ponies (unless you are an advanced user) so you will be using one per week.