Question: I've noticed a lot of my pictures look muddy. They don't have very high contrast. I know I can post process some pictures, but what is the secret to having nice contrast in a picture?![alt text](https://i.stack.imgur.com/aDZWC.jpg)

Answer: 
Shoot with good/interesting light! 

See the image below, the reason (ultimately) that the image has nice contrast is the original image has contrast on her face, e.g. once side is quite bright, and the other quite dark, because there is a window beside her.

Try: putting your subject inside, with the lights off, facing you parallel to a window, so the light from the window hits the side of their face.

Also, I post processed this photo, adjusted the exposure (probably down), adjusted black and white levels etc.

![alt text](https://i.stack.imgur.com/MmvSF.jpg)

Here's a go at improving the image's contrast in post. Note:

* It'd probably be easier to do this starting with the original image
* We're starting in a difficult spot, the shirt is very bright and the face has very little contrast on it

Steps I took:

* Used the 'curves' tool in photoshop to increase contrast every where except the shirt
* Used the dodge tool to lighten up the eyes (I'm not sure I did a great job of it)
* Made it black and white
* Added some overall contrast with UnsharpMark (see LCE in my other answer)
* Ran the smart sharpen filter at 25% at 0.8 pixels for a bit of sharpening

![alt text](https://i.stack.imgur.com/QvELt.jpg-----)
* Are you using flash? Pictures with harsh flash tend have a washed out look, with dark harsh shadows.
* In my experience non-SLRs (Point and Shoot / pocket cameras) get terrible results in-doors without a flash, even in situations that seem well lit to the human eye. Photos may look waxy from too much noise reduction (which is necessary in low light to get a steady shot, hand-held).
* A lot of the time the secret is to have good lighting in the first place. Sometimes a subject just won't look good no matter how good your camera is or how you set your camera settings, if the lighting is too harsh and shadowy. This can also happen in bright daylight, for example. The shadows show up black and the bright parts overexpose--- the camera may not be able to handle the dynamic range.