How to take a good travel picture

Get down to their level – hold the camera at the subject's eye level

Use a plain background – before you take the picture, check the area behind your subject. Look out for trees or poles sprouting from your subject's head

Use Flash outdoors – even outdoors, use the fill flash setting on the camera to improve your pictures

Move in close – to create powerful pictures. Up close you can reveal telling details, like the textures on a brick wall or freckles on a person's face

Take some vertical pictures – many subjects will look better in a vertical picture – from your friends to Big Ben

Move it from the middle – l ife is given to a photograph when the object of the photo is placed on a line that splits a photo into 1/3 and 2/3 sections in either dimension

Watch the light – great light makes great pictures

Frame the picture – use the natural landscape to frame your photo ie. an overhanging tree branch, a window frame, a door, arches, a fence, rows of trees

Don't forget people, people! Give your viewer a reason to care. Put yourself, a companion or family member into the scene. Not only will it give the shot scale, it will provide a reason for taking the shot -- other than a picture postcard!