Newbie Question

Hi. Recently got a new camera. First time DSLR. Anyways, I've taken a few decent photos, but I can't seem to find a tutorial on how to make the photos really "POP". Give them that real professional/magazine look. Does anyone know what I mean?

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/6109/p ... 028yc3.jpg
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/592/buck082kz2.jpg
http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9234/62208386rl0.jpg

These are just a few that I could find online. But the colors look a little flat to me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

The still life is pretty good - if you want a professional look with people on-location, you're going to need controlled backgrounds (see reflections in elevator), portable lighting, or some decent post-processing skills. The market right now for everything but fashion is highly-processed and over-sharpened. Fashion is it's own beast.

From the flowers you appear to either have a macro lens or something with a 1...4? The bokeh and field of depth on the pink one is pretty nice. I'm used to people who are "new to DSLRs" using only the kit lens.

Thanks. I wish I could take credit for the work. But the camera did just about everything. And it is a kit lens...18-70mm on a Sony Alpha 350.

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9234/62208386rl0.jpg
f/5.6 1/125sec ISO-320 70mm

I'm getting better with it and starting to stay away from the AUTO features, but I just need some post-processing help to make the colors more vivid.

Wow. How big is that flower? I'm honestly amazed that with a 5.6 you can get that depth-of-focus.

Almost anything you see in magazines has been touched up to give it the effect you see. This gives alot of new wannabe photographers the impression that you can do the same as that in just a few photographs.

You really need to get yourself clued up on software like Photoshop to really get into the touching up.

Okay I guess when I said "tutorials" I should have mentioned Photoshop. I found a few but none of them are giving me the look i want. Must do more research.

As for the flower, it was a regular sized pedal, i can't recall exactly now that was some months ago...but i took the metadata straight from the file. oh i used the "portrait" setting on my camera, so that probably did it.

There are many different techniques used to create a photograph as good as the ones you are thinking of.

I'm not promising anything as i don't know what the next few days hold, but when i really have some free time (sometime early this coming week possibly) i might get a few tutorials up for you.

As a matter of interest, assuming you have Photoshop which version do you use?

I would greatly appreciate that. In the meantime I will try to find some online and post a few.

I have a few eBooks which I actually own, is it illegal to let you borrow them? I'd let you borrow the books but shipping is a bitch

LOL. Looks like you live in Canada. I have a hybrid SUV. The cost of gas shouldn't be more than shipping. What are the names of the books and I will see if I can find online. I actually picked up one the other day. Funny thing is it was in B/W ! WTH! The before and afters looked exactly the same! LOL

The most clever photoshop tip I can give you that we learnt in class was this one:
Step 1. Duplicate the background layer (Just drag it onto the "new layer" icon)
Step 2. Desaturate the top (new) layer (CTRL+SHIFT+U)
Step 3. Change the blending mode of the recently desaturated layer to "Soft Light"
Step 4. Play with the new layer's opacity to get the setting you want ...

The best tip I can give is learn to use quick mask mode to create selections

Hey Zaiah I'm a bit late to this party, but have you looked through psdtuts? While the tutorials may not cater to exactly what you need a lot of the post skills apply.

For example the color correcting parts of this one would be useful. And a lot of these techniques should carry over to things other than fashion.

I have to admit, they are better than I can take with a digital. I guess I am really old school, I still use my Twin Lens Reflex) Rollie a lot but of course, the digital is more fun, and costs less in the long run.