To the OP...
I've dealt with the same questions as you. I even bought a Nikon D5100 to try to help take better pictures.
2 things I've found that have helped me..
1. start off with taking black and white photos. I've even set the camera to night mode (by accident) and taken some pictures of an old building and a wave crashing on a rock... and was so disappointed when they came out black and white. Sure enough... EVERYONE loved the way they look and thought they looked amazing.
Doing black and whites make it easier to NOT worry about color and focus first on the content, position, lighting etc... without worrying about the dullness of the colors.
2. Try to always take pictures with the sun behind you, or at least out of your FOV. I only say this as a beginning tip. This helped me get better contrast of colors because the light fell on the subject more.
From there, I started to play with settings on my camera to take pictures that took longer so that more light would saturate into the picture, just to see what they would look like. The hard part is holding your hand steady enough.
What you take pictures of definitely change the colors though.
I took a trip to Hawaii last year and took some pictures of flowers and various plants and the colors really POP out at you. Nothing like what I have back home.
I've dealt with the same questions as you. I even bought a Nikon D5100 to try to help take better pictures.
2 things I've found that have helped me..
1. start off with taking black and white photos. I've even set the camera to night mode (by accident) and taken some pictures of an old building and a wave crashing on a rock... and was so disappointed when they came out black and white. Sure enough... EVERYONE loved the way they look and thought they looked amazing.
Doing black and whites make it easier to NOT worry about color and focus first on the content, position, lighting etc... without worrying about the dullness of the colors.
2. Try to always take pictures with the sun behind you, or at least out of your FOV. I only say this as a beginning tip. This helped me get better contrast of colors because the light fell on the subject more.
From there, I started to play with settings on my camera to take pictures that took longer so that more light would saturate into the picture, just to see what they would look like. The hard part is holding your hand steady enough.
What you take pictures of definitely change the colors though.
I took a trip to Hawaii last year and took some pictures of flowers and various plants and the colors really POP out at you. Nothing like what I have back home.