Tweaked, a guy I work with at our firm is also a professional photographer on the side. I help with his photo shoots.
He uses a Canon 5D Mark II, a bit pricy for a beginner, yes. The real secret is determining the settings, aperture speed, exposure time, etc, like others have been saying but his secret is this...He brackets his camera to take the same shot 3 times: default setting, -1 setting, +1 setting. He then uses a $99 program to merge the images together. He also can post production with Camera Raw in photoshop if needed.

It's amazing how easy it is after helping him with the projects. For reference, here is his website:  http://www.chaddavisphoto.com/
All I can say is, if you want high quality images, any DSLR camera will do, but get an array of lenses and a tripod.
Hope this helps and gives you some inspiration.

Tweaked

RiChess

5min in PS, this is what I came up with. It looks a little rough, but it pretty much has to be considering how grainy it was.

Wow!  Im lovin it.  What settings did you play with to get that effect?

 

Motion blur, layer masks, brightness/contrast, levels etc. 

clo007

Tweaked, a guy I work with at our firm is also a professional photographer on the side. I help with his photo shoots.
He uses a Canon 5D Mark II, a bit pricy for a beginner, yes. The real secret is determining the settings, aperture speed, exposure time, etc, like others have been saying but his secret is this...He brackets his camera to take the same shot 3 times: default setting, -1 setting, +1 setting. He then uses a $99 program to merge the images together. He also can post production with Camera Raw in photoshop if needed.

It's amazing how easy it is after helping him with the projects. For reference, here is his website:  http://www.chaddavisphoto.com/
All I can say is, if you want high quality images, any DSLR camera will do, but get an array of lenses and a tripod.
Hope this helps and gives you some inspiration.

Its called HDR :-)




Tweaked, Google how to HDR and how to HDR on photoshop or other open source program. 

I was deeply into photography for awhile, but my favorite part was using PS to make the image match what I had envisioned for it when it was taken. I was also into retouching models to look like what you see in magazines and the like. 

LonelyStoner

clo007

Tweaked, a guy I work with at our firm is also a professional photographer on the side. I help with his photo shoots.
He uses a Canon 5D Mark II, a bit pricy for a beginner, yes. The real secret is determining the settings, aperture speed, exposure time, etc, like others have been saying but his secret is this...He brackets his camera to take the same shot 3 times: default setting, -1 setting, +1 setting. He then uses a $99 program to merge the images together. He also can post production with Camera Raw in photoshop if needed.

It's amazing how easy it is after helping him with the projects. For reference, here is his website:  http://www.chaddavisphoto.com/
All I can say is, if you want high quality images, any DSLR camera will do, but get an array of lenses and a tripod.
Hope this helps and gives you some inspiration.

Its called HDR :-)




Tweaked, Google how to HDR and how to HDR on photoshop or other open source program. 

And in the photography world of Canon users they call it bracketing :)

LonelyStoner

RiChess

I was deeply into photography for awhile, but my favorite part was using PS to make the image match what I had envisioned for it when it was taken. I was also into retouching models to look like what you see in magazines and the like. 

'If you take a picture and then say 'Ill redo that in Photoshop', stop what you're doing and give yourself a tight slap'


RiChess, you are called a 'photoshopographer'. Im dead serious. 

I don't think you understand how I work. I take pictures that look great by themselves with no editing, then I use some of them like a blank canvass to create a different work of art. I don't go around just randomly taking pictures and fixing mistakes in PS.  

What would be wrong with "photoshopography" anyways? Do you get to decide what is legitimate photography/art? And take a look at any pro level photographer, they run their images through PS or a similar program to correct lighting and other issues.


Edit: To address your edit, you will never see any of the 10 examples in my work. It's more than a little insulting to have your work judged by someone who has probably never seen it.

^

Guys, no babies flipping people off.  Pics removed.  Don't trash the mans thread, OK.

[WildDog]

^^ listen to Deputy D. ;)

btw, odd but when i first saw the title, thought it was something about pornography >)

That is what is known as a Freudian slip.

I 

moose517

maybe i'm just a complete noob, but in those b&w pics, how the heck did you get the blue still, is its post editing or do camers have a setting to do that these days?

I think its some setting in the camera itself since the OP stated that no editing software is involved.

If you turned the wheel and put an effect on the wheel too it would look kind awesome!

Problem with photography, most beginners want to take pictures like what they see on TV shows, or in magazines, billboards, ads, etc. You know how women get all self-conscious because they want to look like the women on the cover of magazines, but the truth is the women on the cover of those magazines are heavily edited? Its the same dang way in photography. Settings, lens, lighting are all important, as is being able to compose to shot.
 
However, post editing is what makes so much photography these days. Some images are so heavily processed, its more CGI than actual picture. I have a friend who takes breath taking pictures, all with a D60. However, his pictures only look like that because of the editing, most of the time taking several pictures and using the camera to stitch them together then process to make it look better. The effect is wonderful, but it isn't... natural.
 
For me, I'm all natural. If I can't capture what I want on the spot, then I failed, there is no taking the best picture and making it better. That's my weakness for sure, I'll never be able to compete with anyone who post-edits. Still, I've taken some decent pictures.
 
You can take some very good pictures with a point and shoot as well. Take the time to experiment with the settings, and buy a tripod as everyone else has suggested. Also, as everyone has suggested, lower the ISO. Most P&S cameras won't let you adjust shutter speed (as there technically isn't any real shutter), but you may be able to with the more advanced models. My portfolio has pictures taken from point and shoots, DSLRs, and cell phone cameras. :)