You wont go far wrong if you go the Canon or Nikon route, as far as the camera is concerned all DSLR models from either manufacturer will be more than capable of taking very high quality images. don't get caught up in the megapixel wars - unless you intend printing larger than A4 size anything larger than 10 megapixels is unnecessary.
More important than the camera is the lens, even the cheapest DSLR is capable of taking sharp images when fitted with a quality lens but put a cheap lens on an expensive camera and the image quality will suffer. Better to spend as much as can be afforded on the lens and save money buying a cheaper camera body.