I guess when it comes to some aspects of photography I'm still fairly naive even though I've been doing it as my profession for almost five years now. For the longest time I'd see photos by other photographers and think, "WOW! That looks amazing! How did they get it to look like that with the lighting and everything!? Why can't I get mine to look like that!?" And I thought they just shot it that way and the image looked amazing like that straight from the camera. But then I would find out later that extensive photoshopping was done on the photo to make it look that way. Aside from maybe bumping up the contrast a bit or clearing a blemish or two, my photos are pretty un-edited. (Unless I'm doing colorization or something, but that's not difficult either).

So, do I need to expand on my photoshopping skills in order to get that "wow" factor? Is it possible to shoot those amazing photos and have them be amazing without all the editing? Or am I just stupid and the editing is just a given part of the photography process?

Thoughts? Suggestions? Tips?