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Great stuff. My rule of thumb is to look for the things you can't find on google. On my first trip overseas I went a little overboard on the landscape shots and missed a lot of what I was actually doing and the people I was with - that's the important stuff.

My least favorite photos are of a wee person posing in the center of a great big view, landmark or sign - as if to provide some sort of proof that "We were here". If you're gonna do that sort of photo, at least frame the photo so that the person is off to the side, the landmark is the dominant part of the photo - and the person is doing something a bit more interesting than just standing there with their arms dangling to the side, squinting into the sun...

The other thing that gets me is that people are tall, but photo formats are wide - so when taking snapshots of a person or couple, people often hold the camera upright and there's alot of negative space on the sides of the frame...
...which is why I prefer to hold the camera on it's side and zoom in so that the people take up more of the frame.

Finally, many landmark and vista shots work far better with the camera on the side since alot of landmarks are tall too. Don't be afraid to flip the camera on it's side and have a look at the view to see if the composition wouldn't be more pleasing that way.

Learn how to use your auto-timer so you can take shots with you in them too. Too many straight landscapes or straight building shots without you or your travel companions are going to be boring after the fact. Or, photos of you and your travel companions with absolutely no reference to where you are in the background. Unless, of course, you're a really good photographer and then you wouldn't take this list seriously anyway.

wow, beautiful photos!

I say if it looks interesting, beautiful, odd, etc. take the picture. Some of my favorite pictures are of a market place in the morning before it opened. It was like a ghost town. So lonely and eerie.

Take pictures of the people on your trip: who you are traveling with, the interesting people you meet.

Just document your trip. I usually take several photos of the same thing at different angles to get the best shot. You can always go through later and delete the unsuccessful pictures.

Most importantly capture the FUN you have. The streets and the buildings and the landscape are great but that's not as important or as fun as the people you are with and (as in my case when I travel) the crazy adventures that just happen.

I take tons of photos (50,000 or so a year) and unlike others I do not want to be in the photos... (maybe a few) but I do not need a proof that I was there in every sgl shot. My friends go nuts when I take random ppl photos or sky or color...

I always try to tell a story through my lens, and it is the details that attracts the ppl most.. not the ordinary shots of Louvre that you can see everywhere...and digital photography gives the luxury of retaking the photo if you do not like the angle or the light...

I'm thinking of going to the Eastern Shore this summer. Can someone recommend a lens (wide-angle?) for taking landscape photos for my Canon 40D SLR? I'm thinking between $500 to $1000, although if you have a great recommendation under $500 I'd love that even more.

That top photo is sexy!

11. Learn how to use your Photoshop Plug-Ins.

(the top photo being an obvious example of this...)

Leave the camera at home and enjoy the sights. Buy postcards.

Really learn the basics of your camera and photography - and then learn to improvise. The beauty of digital photography vs. film is that you can take as many pictures as you want. Don't be afraid to take some impulsive shots; you don't necessarily want all your shots to be perfectly posed and framed. You wouldn't believe how many travel pictures I have seen that are basically bad copies of a postcard (take at the exact same vista points as everyone else). On a trip, you want pictures that capture the texture and flavor of a place.

Once I took a flash picture of my daughter in the dark of the Vancouver Aquarium for a lark and got a fantastic picture - she had a surprised look on her face and floating behind her was a huge scary eel! Another time I took a picture with flash (on accident) directed at a Hawaiian sunset and got a gorgeous black silhoutte of the Waikiki palms against the orange gold sky. A better photographer probably would have known how to create these effects, but you can also learn them by experimentation.

P.S. Also, unless you have a real reason for taking pictures, let it happen organically - enjoy the trip experience first, take pictures second.

one of my biggest picture pet peeves is when people's feet get cut off. also, look out for random background objects (telephone poles, tree branches, etc.) that will appear to be coming out of people's heads.

umm.... I mean, I guess I understand where they're trying to go with these tips, but they're pretty generic, pointless, and will hardly help anyone take better photographs.

first start with composition, then make sure your horizons are straight. don't cut off limbs, be aware of poles or other distractions in your background going through your subject. don't use your flash in a large environment (like a baseball park or a cathedral, if you can, dial down your flash exposure compensation so it's not as harsh and blends in with ambient light better.

there's obviously a lot more, but i think if a 'normal' person would take the time to actually compose a photograph and not just turn the camera on, point, and shoot for a snapshot that makes a huge difference.

Cheers,
M