Shutterbugs, surf over to the New York Times Web site’s Travel section for a smorgasbord of travel photography. (Yea, you’ll have to register. But it’s free, you won’t get junk mail and it’s the New York Times. Free.) And a fine smorgasbord it is.

Start out with the “What Makes Great Travel Photography” slideshow, featuring gorgeous images – and shared wisdom - by Times photographers. (A good example: “If you don’t see how light is working for you, walk around. See its effect. Wait. Great travel pictures just take more time.”)

Next, enlighten yourself with the brief-history-of-travel-photography essay, “They Came. They Conquered. They Posed.” (Did you know travel photography saved Yellowstone National Park? Or that the likely growth of space tourism has a lot to do with NASA’s contract with Life magazine in the 60s?)

By now you’ll be psyched about building your skills, so check out the story on instructional photo safaris (they’re not all wildly expensive). Then learn how to make even your less-than-perfect images valuable to other travelers with the Practical Traveler column, “Snapshots That Do More Than Bore Your Friends” (see, we’re not the only ones…).

And finally, since after all this you’re probably itching to get out and actually see some of this stuff, find your nearest photo exhibition in “Photo Exhibitions Grab the Spotlight”; as, says a Smithsonian curator quoted in the story, “Photography is very hot this year.”