getting vibrant deep looking shots?

[Cinbride]

I'm just wondering if most of the time, photographers edit to get really crisp, 3d looking type shots? I have a sx10 (for now) ;) they come out good. Then I go to edit them. I just fool around seeing what different things look like. When I hit auto fix a lot of times; not always it gets brighter and clearer. Then I play around with contrast/saturation all that good stuff and it starts looking like nice photography. I'm just curious if I'm maybe not doing something right when I shoot or if most do use editing programs to make pictures stand out. (if that all makes sense)

thanks

[SrisonS]

I'd say that almost any great looking picture you see has something done with post-processing. I touch-up every single shot I post. It's probably impossible to get a picture straight from the camera to look exactly how you envision it should. So play away!!!!!!!

[Cinbride]

thanks. I did some shots of some flowers/trees. They didn't look that great until I fooled around, now they look awesome. I thought maybe I was not setting up something right on the camera.

[WDWFigment]

I use a combination of adjustments to exposure, fill light, brightness, black levels, contrast, and vibrance to achieve that look.

[JoeDif]

Depending on the scene lighting, using a -1/3 to -2/3 EV can also give your images a more saturated look.

[matthew_hull]

I would say yes, most do use some editing program to make their pictures stand out.

[Cinbride]

besides photoshop what editing software can anyone recommend? thanks

[photo_chick]

It depends on what kind of editing you want to do as to which software I'd point you to. For what you're talking about here... Lightrom, Bibble, Photoshop Elements will all work.

One word of caution on the editing... don't overdo it, especially the sharpening. It's really easy to go from enhanced to overkill.

[MICKEY88]

paint shop photo pro is another good editing program