Thanks for pointing me to Gale Rainwater's site - some excellent work there. If she (?) is your model, I'd say that to duplicate that work you need a decent camera, a couple of lenses, a tripod, and a LOT of practice more than anything else. It's like the old question, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!"
Much of photography is about vision, developing how to see, and with time and practice you'll learn to see like a photographer. Study images that you like, but take time to ask yourself WHY you like them. Ask yourself, over and over, "What is it about this image that appeals to me? Is it the lighting, the composition, the framing, the colours, the point of focus... or some combination? How do they work together in this image? If this was my image, how would I change it?" If you don't like an image, ask yourself the same sorts of questions. What don't you like? Why? How would you change it? Apply the same questions to your own work. Some of Gale's work looks like it might have some HDR work but if you're starting out I wouldn't jump into the deep end of the pool. I don't see anything on Gale's site that couldn't be handled by Lightroom or maybe Aperture if you're using a Mac. Lightroom's free for 30 days, why not download it and try it out?
Mike.
