While on vacation, we absolutely love taking pictures of everything we see. Since we try to go on a few vacations a year, that can add up to a lot of pictures. About a month ago, we decided that we were finally going to get a dSLR. We had talked about it for quite a while, and while we love our point and shoot camera, it just doesn’t get the best photos. Don’t get me wrong, they are nice pictures, but you’d never go “WOW” after looking at any of them.

While doing a lot of research online, we noticed that pictures that were taken with the Nikon D40/D60 were incredible. A lot of them had that WOW factor that just wasn’t there with a regular p&s camera. So, we decided to get the Nikon D60 Kit with 2 lenses, so that we would have the great zoom that we were used to with our previous camera.

While we haven’t taken it on vacation yet, we have been practicing for a while now, and the difference in pictures is just incredible. Just taking pictures of our cat is a huge difference. Before, it was impossible to get a good picture of her. Let’s face it, cats won’t sit still for the camera. Plus, even when she was sitting still, the picture just didn’t do her justice. Now with the Nikon D60, the pictures come out incredible. There have been many pictures I’ve taken of her where I just go WOW…which is exactly what I was looking for.

Once I go on vacation I will be happy to post pictures that I take with the Nikon D60, but so far I am thrilled with the camera.

The best part is, even though I just got it, I can take amazing pictures with it using the automatic settings. I’m hoping in the next few months to learn all of the manual settings so that by the time I go on vacation I can take even better pictures, but it’s great to know that even just out of the box, the pictures are incredible.

In case you’re interested, I found the best price on the Nikon D60 SLR Digital Camera Kit with 18-55mm VR Lens & 55-200mm VR Lens at B&H. It’s $649.95, and comes with free shipping. There is only tax in NY, so unless you live in NY, that is the final price. After all the research we did on it, we were very happy with the final price.

Bookmark to:

If you love to travel, you might also love taking pictures of your vacation. It’s so much fun to be able to go through your pictures months later, remembering and reliving all of your trips.

As we all know though, it isn’t always so easy to take the perfect pictures while on your vacation.

While at the New York Times Travel Show, I saw a vendor that I had also seen mentioned in Popular Photography Magazine. They’re called Mentor Series, and do Worldwide Photo Treks. Basically, you book with them and go to a travel destination. They have people there that will help you take better pictures, go over the pictures you took, and will give seminars to help you take amazing vacation photos.

They travel all over the world, so you are bound to find a destination you like. Here are just a few of their upcoming trips this year:

• San Antonio - March 28th - 30th
• Kentucky - April 11 - 13
• Norway - April 20 - 30
• Vermont - May 30 - June 1
• Venice & Tuscany - June 19 - July 1
• Turkey - September 4 - 13

Bookmark to:

Are you looking to take the perfect sunset pictures? If your pictures don’t come out exactly how you want them to when you’re on vacation, here are some tips to take better sunset photos.
One thing you should do is to turn the flash off. Since you’re trying to get the light of the sunset, the last thing you want to do add some artificial light.

Another important step is to fill the shot with the sky. If you then push your shutter button halfway down, it will focus on that light. You can then move the camera to exactly where you want to go, and then finish pushing the shutter down when you are ready to take the shot.

Make sure you always have your camera with you. You never know when you’ll be out and see the perfect sunset. You could be on vacation to look at museums, but if you happen to go outside at just the right time, you might see the most amazing sunset. If you have your camera with you, you’ll be sure to get that picture.

To read more tips on how to take better sunset pictures, you can go to CNN’s website to read more.

After you’ve finished reading the article, you’ll be ready to take vacation photos that will make everyone jealous and wish they had been there as well.

Bookmark to:

If you haven’t heard of it yet, there is a great web site for sharing your pictures called Flickr.com. They make it really easy to post your pictures on the web and you can make neat slide shows for your friends and family to see.

Today we are recommending a site that makes photo sharing even more fun. Mosaickr.com allows you to create mosaics from your pictures on Flickr.

It is free to use and all you need is enough pictures to create the mosaic. You choose one master photo which will be split into tiles to make up the mosaic.

You will need a good number of photos to make a nice mosaic and the more the better. Check out the samples on the site to see how cool it really is and you’ll want to make your own!

• Build mosaics with Mosaickr

Bookmark to:

A neat trick to remove tourists from photos. The technique uses multiple shots of the same scene and then uses Photoshop to layer the shots so that you are left with an amazing shot you hoped for without the tourists in the way.

• Remove tourists from photos

Bookmark to: