Lounging on a beach chair in Tipumungo, margarita in hand, the waves lap at your feet. The far-off sun wanes, painting everything in brilliant color. It’s a postcard-perfect scene that any photographer would drool over.

And then there’s Sunburnt Stan.

There’s nothing like a pesky tourist with a sunburnt nose to ruin a beautiful vacation shot. What’s a photo-loving vacationer to do? It seems like everywhere you go, Stan’s there too, wading into the sea with his arm floaties or building a sand-castle on the beach. (Stan’s a persistent chap, he is.)

Never fear! An ordinarily grim situation turns to triumph, with just a bit of techno-whoozical magic in the form of these three nifty websites/programs. Vacation photos will never be the same again.

Sorry, Stan – we love you, but you’ve got to go.

#1 – How to Remove Tourists from Your Photos – dsphotographic.com
Using layer masks (Photoshop required), photographer Darby Sawchuck shows how to combine the best of several vacation photos into one great photo, blissfully tourist-free.

#2 – SnapMania.com – Tourist Remover
It couldn’t be simpler: take a batch of imperfect photos, run them through the Remover, and voilá – not a tourist in sight.

#3 – Microsoft Research’s Group Shot
Plug a series of photos into this free program, then select your favorite parts from each photo; in an instant, you’ll have a perfect composite photo with the best of the whole series.

p.s. The holidays are almost here, and our friends at Moo are running a holiday card design contest. Submit your favorite photos for a chance at $8,000 in prize money!

Thanks to Neene and Mohamed Abdulla Shafeeg for lending us photos.

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