We are not experts, but we have taken and modified some very outstanding photos. We have taken 58,378 (12-2011) photos and put over 6,500 on our weekly travelogues.
Cameras: Today's cameras are amazing. We recommend the following features: 12x Optical Zoom (or greater): You will miss a lot of good shots with a small camera with minimal zoom. The larger zoom cameras will be bigger, but they are worth it. Get a large LCD screen so you can see your photo and re-take it if needed. Ours is the largest we could find at 3 1/4 inches and we can view it without glasses!
Photo Sizes: We take all photos at 7 megapixels. The bigger the photos, the fewer number the camera will hold, the longer it takes to upload to your computer, the more space and the slower the viewing. Note that we reduce our emailed photos to 900 x 675 , about 1/2 of one megapixel. If you take large photos and send them without shrinking them, your audience will either have to scroll up/down, left/right and never see the whole picture or view each attachment with a number of clicks for each (continued ...) As of 03-2011, 99% of the monitors in the world, can see a 900 x 675 photo without scrolling.
Both are unacceptable. So if your only use of photos is to email them, take them at 800 x 600. This is the largest size that most people's email programs can show without scrolling. Note, as time goes on, with higher resolution monitors, bigger photos can be viewed. If you are going to print 4x6 or larger photos, you will want to use more megapixels.
Snapshot Tips: Take many shots from different angles, different lighting and different zooms. Learn to "frame" your subject and include or exclude "junk". You can also crop photos later so it is better to include too much than cut off something you want. Digital photos are free! Take lots and after you upload to your computer, delete all the crummy photos and duplicates. Clean your windshield before you take off!
Storing Photos: Every camera comes with some photo album software. We don't use them. See Photo Journal.
Modifying Photos: This will be a huge section full of great procedures that have allowed us to produce our weekly emails. For now, know that we use Paint Shop Pro Version 9 (Not 10 or better. They ruined version 10 in our opinion. We found version 9 on Amazon.com). PhotoShop is better in many areas than Paint Shop Pro but cost about four times as much.