[DWS1]

At one point I learned that "rich" colors have higher saturation and lower lightness, and "pastel" colors have lower saturation and higher lightness. My colors looked a little better once I understood that nuance and I was able to start getting what I envisioned a little better.

And also - the difference between saturation and vibrance sliders (if you have both).

I found this out to be true also. I have been getting much better results now, or more color pop, by adjusting the saturation, brightness, and occasionally the hue sliders of individual colors in the HSL panel of Lightroom. It does take some trial and error because, as we know there is rarely if any pure colors in an image. Most of my adjustments are combinations of changes made to 2, 3, or more individual colors in the images.

[Alex645]

How can I make my colors pop while still having them look realistic? Colors such as in Steve McCurry's or Art Wolfe's photography for an example.

Could it have something to do with how my lenses render the color? I kind a doubt it.
Would I have easier time with some other system, say Fuji? Maybe...or maybe not.

Have you found some silver bullet for your colors?

First, know that McCurry and Wolfe are some of the best color photographers and to expect your color to look like theirs.....they've traveled the world and shot in seasons and times to optimize their stunning work.

Yes it could have something to do with your lens. Another system won't make a difference. And no, I have not found a silver bullet.

Can you post an example of a RAW or photo before processing and then after so we can see exactly what you're dealing with?

[Leumas]

Silver bullet??? uhhhh shoot Foveon, or a K10D lol

I'd venture that a lot of what you're seeing is having good light in the seen for great sensor saturation.

---------- Post added 12-25-19 at 12:35 AM ----------

Also color is usually the best at base ISO of course

[Rondec]

To me, it starts with shooting with a lens with plenty of contrast and micro contrast. The limiteds, both DA and FA, really shine in this respect. Then, you need the colors in your image to be good to start with. Art Wolfe shoots a lot of his images in the golden hours and certainly if you can do the same, you are going to have better results. This time of year starts to get tough in certain areas because the days are darker and there are just a lot more grey days to deal with.

In post you can bump vibrance in Lightroom (I prefer this to the saturation slider) and use just a little warmer white balance. Or just find a preset you like that seems to work for you.

[StiffLegged]

Lots of us used to wonder why we couldn’t make prints like Ansel in our B&W days, then we discovered how much work went into them. It’s the same with post processing - it takes work and lots of practice. Just applying a contrast or saturation adjustment across the whole image is not enough; your editing should be more selective. Same goes for Lightroom presets.

I learned from viewing youTube tutorials on editing by Sean Tucker, Nick Page, Charlie Kramer, Thomas Heaton and f64 Academy. You’ll also find Adam Gibbs now shows the unedited raw image as well as his edited final image in his recent videos - that has been an eye-opener to me.

[dcpropilot]

For the limiteds i.e. the DA 15 HD, some of the primary selling features are contrast, color fidelity, and clarity.

[kevinWE]

I always crop, noise reduction, clip the black point, clip the white point, then work on color. Pretty much sums up my work flow for the most part. Monitor should be calibrated and eliminate any unwanted light noise in your room.

[Wasp]

A polarizing filter can work wonders in daytime. If the light is right, of course. That depends on the time of day and the angles between light, subject and camera. Here is a quick one grabbed on the street. With planning you can do way better.

[Leumas]

Lots of us used to wonder why we couldn’t make prints like Ansel in our B&W days, then we discovered how much work went into them. It’s the same with post processing - it takes work and lots of practice. Just applying a contrast or saturation adjustment across the whole image is not enough; your editing should be more selective. Same goes for Lightroom presets.

I learned from viewing youTube tutorials on editing by Sean Tucker, Nick Page, Charlie Kramer, Thomas Heaton and f64 Academy. You’ll also find Adam Gibbs now shows the unedited raw image as well as his edited final image in his recent videos - that has been an eye-opener to me.

Definitely a lot more work goes into post than most people realize. A great photo needs more than just some global sliders tweaked. Ansel spent tons of time in the darkroom working his photos.

[Wasp]

This photography thing is not easy. Great images require a great deal of luck, talent, experience and hard work. Sometimes all, usually three but always at least two. One of the above is never going to deliver really top notch results.

After trying all the sliders in Darktable, I came up with this. In real life the building is very derelict and the colors are quite faded. It works for me in an abstract kind of way, but it's way over the top. I could have used a mask to avoid the color cast in the sidewalk, for instance. I promise to try harder in future.

[GUB]

It works for me in an abstract kind of way, but it's way over the top

I was trying to think of a polite way of saying you have got too keen on pushing those sliders when I saw your statement!!. At the end of the day the correct result is the one that pleases you.
I think the strengths of colour is the way the colours work with each other and not just colour for colours sake. I feel the Artist's work quoted by the OP reflects this and the colours themselves are not that strong. There is a Monkey's face with just a splash of crimson in a sea of B&W that demonstrates this in their galleries.
Here is an image of mine that I think has the colours working due to the relationships of the colours . It is not just that the green and red are basically opposites but the neutral tones at the bottom play a part too.
The bokeh texture is courtesy of a mirror Pentax 400-600mm.
(

[sbh]

Selective colour adjustment with brightness and saturation. NOT the regular global brightness and contrast.

For example in Capture one it is called Color Editor, and in Affinity Photo it is in the HSL adjustment.

Select one or more colours ans brighten pr darken them, and adjust saturation to your liking. This makes colours pop.

For in-camera improvements I'd say better lighting, which is basically „more“ light to make colours brighter.

The key is the difference between the brighter and darker parts of the image. Expose for the highlights and let the schadows come as they are.

For jpeg, the presets „bright“ and „landscape“ give good poppy colours imho.

[PDL]

Depending on the age of the McCurry/Wolfe images, you might just be dealing with Kodachrome and glossy magazine class color management for printing. I have found that it is very difficult to reproduce the Kodachrome look in digital. If fact, my efforts have never worked out even when I scan Kodachrome slides.

Their digital work is very good too, but for the most part they have review responsibilities and have people working for them to do image editing. (Do a Google search for the hub bub with McCurry's work on a book about India where the pundits went after him for "editorial" decisions made by his staff). I don't think either of these guys spend any considerable time sitting in front of a computer, they have "people" to do that.

Just like Annie Leibovitz has stated in several places, she has technicians to do the "Photoshop" work. Heck even HCB did not print his images, there were people in the lab that did. (HCB also told the labs to print the border of the images, so no "cropping" would take place.)

Please do not become a Ken Rockwell where saturation is pushed all the way up - all the time. All that does is make the viewer's eyes bleed.

[DeepThrob]

Photoshop's 'auto tone' can sometimes be silverbullet'ish on color. When it does, it overdoes so you have to fade it.

[ChatMechant]

I have almost no pp skills and often struggled with color, but after I got the k1 and the limiteds, I haven't really had to worry about it.