Your photographs (and a very few others) are remarkably sharp, and show a depth of color that I have been unable to attain. Would you please share how you expose your images, and perhaps just a bit of your post processing?
Not much too it, I expose for what I want and adjust fine color in ACR, I use canon 1ds series cameras or H2 with a P45 back and as a back up to that I have an aptus 75s that I really no longer use but maintain as a backup to the P45.
Not looking to spend 30,000 on a back and another 8-12,000 on a camera? Than I feel there is only one option currently available, the Canon 1ds3, it is a remarkable camera as was the 1ds2 before it. If the 1ds3 is a bit pricey the 1ds2 is still around on the used market and worth it for anyone as a main camera or back up to a digital back or 1ds3. I would say that below that I would look into a 1dsmark1 yes the 11MP version, I still recommend that over the 5d in general unless you will be doing mainly high iso shooting, but for anything with controlled lighting at 200iso or less the 1ds had a definite advantage in my mind, and today I would say for high iso performance look at a 40D which are very inexpensive, and if you are needing to shoot high iso the least of the image quality problems should be a lack of a full frame, since there are enough lenses now that can handle the wide and out perform in quality what the noise will screw up.
I do not do any capture sharpening, it does nothing but make you feel better when viewing the image. Sharpening should be the last step and should not be done to a master file that way you can open an unsharpened file, flatten up size if needed to the specified file dimensions needed and sharpen specifically for each specific output or offset press.
As for lighting here is a hint, not at all conclusive but often the issue many have, first don't blow out everything especially skin, expose to the right is as dumb as expose to the left, expose for what you want the end result to look like and know the dynamic range of your camera so you can allow for slight under and overexposed areas to create contrast and drama and keep it within the limits of the sensor to maintain sufficient detail in the raw to maximize it later if needed. Expose for the look and feel, if its a very light and airy blown out skin type shot fine expose that way, if you want some deeper color and tonality expose that way!
Next lighting in general. Again this is not at all conclusive, but ....
Well if using a softbox or umbrella or octobox, octadome, octabank, Softlighter 2, bounce off flats STOP!
If using a beauty dish, make it silver not white and grid it, if using a diamond box, glamour box STOP!
Try a bare reflector, gridded, silver beauty dish and grids, Fresnel, focusable spotlight, harsher rims and side lighting. That's harder.
Wait.... Let me guess if you just read anything else I answered I just said everyone should go out and buy a softlighter 2 which is a very good low cost alternative to an elincrom octabank that is one of the softest most wrap around light sources available! So what the hell am I on to say this?
Well sadly, nothing, nada, zilch, I am this screwed up in the head without the benefits of some strange substances that alter my mind in ways that many non control freaks find "groovy man"
I am telling you that all sources are great to use, but the softer the source the softer the light the softer the shadows tend to be the less the contrast tend to be and appear and that tends to be why many have a lack of perceived sharpness in their images, learning to control harder light will add some contrast in and a little punch and snap, crackle and pop! than you can take what you know and apply it to big soft lights and start to get that sparkle using them all. But you must be in control of the light and especially spill and unwanted bounce! I never understand why people always like to paint a multi use photos studio white! It should be black! But that's depressing so make it a deep gray and put one of those of lights for S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) on when depressed! heres a link to buy some ( http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/light_therapy_13_ct.htm?sc_cid=146&s_kwcid=sad|935102296&gclid=CPb4jv_D3pECFQXwlgoduEkMfQ )
Keep the stray light to a minimum! You'll thank me later, or your be too depressed to do so in which case sorry
Now some of the other answers get into good color, start with this one Gels, Filters and Getting Good Color! its about gels and filters and getting good color! Plus it took a whole bunch of time to write so at least of you say you read it it will make me less in need of a S.A.D. light
As for post production, its very, very rare that I do not add contrast, digital cameras capture too much range and try to maintain detail all the way from white to black, you should not always have that, black should be black! White should be white! Why would I want 87 shades of lighter and lighter gray and 26 shades of darker and darker gray when I should have white and black!
So I put
it back in and add some contrast, this boosts color saturation often, use an
s-curve on an adjustment layer, its cool! now issue is an s-curve sometimes
makes things too warm and contrasty, but not too much contrast, just the yellows
went a bit much, so take the adjustment layer and turn the opacity to 50% than
duplicate it, and you are right back to too much yellow! 
I know, I just like making you do things
just kidding, now the point was to take the second and turn the blend mode of
that second 50% s-curve layer to luminosity and you will see a shift in
color but maintain the overall contrast. You may want to adjust these
two layers to more like 75-25% in either way or anywhere that looks good
too you, I am not there so I would be of little help in telling you what that
would be I rarely ever use a boost in saturation and if I do its not on skin but on other areas, but very often use curve adjustment layers, and because I like all you I will let you have some I put online a long time ago, they have some screwy names, and some that actually make sense. Ignore the names, I am not renaming them all have been used to these names since 2001 I think, I am not looking to learn a new name for an old curve! I will say that the skin one that is beyond best and has been duplicated (supposedly) by many companies and added into plug ins for skin (never use plug ins so I don't know if they did a good job or not) is warmer not warm, to warmtwo not cool, but warmer! its cool in a warm sort of way
the link to find them is here http://nyphotographics.com/ftppage.htm
scroll around till you find curves.
Here are a few samples from a 1ds3 full size jpgs
http://stepheneastwood.com/Canon/Files/
I personally like these
