Image © FRITZ REISS/AP PA

You’ve probably got trigger finger from snapping photos on your trips. When you get home, you proudly invite your friends to admire them on your computer screen or in a slide show. The first photo elicits an “ah,” the second one a “hmm,” and by the third picture, your mates' glazed eyes are rolling in their heads and they have to leave for a suddenly remembered emergency.

Sound familiar? Here the travel journalist Judith Fein tells you how to improve your shots – even if you are a novice – so friends and family will beg to see them.