Photos look better in camera?

Had my dslr for few weeks now and i really love it, but i'm finding that the pics i take look great on the camera and all look like keepers and then i put them on my laptop and they really dont look as good. they look a bit faded, and a lot of the time blurry. so they look like i wont have to do anything to them like pp and then i see their true colours and have to do lots of pp to make them look better. is this just the camera i have (nikon d5000) ? or is it normal for pics to better in cam? its not the end of the world but its quite disapointing when i think ive taken some great shots and then see that theyre not half as good most of the time.

Your camera's screen resolution is very tiny. Most shots look good and well exposed. Some cameras allow you to zoom in once you've got the playback photo on screen. I always zoom in tight to the key focus point to check for sharpness.

You should start improving your photos by first calibrating your monitor. Check with AZZ for tutorials and software to do that. Learning how to post process takes some folks year to master. There are excellent video or text tutorials online for Photoshop as well as Elements. I don't know what version or graphics software you use but it can go a long way to brightening & sharpening your photos. I hope this encourages you to keep shooting as well as keep learning. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither are good camera techniques, knowledge or habits.

Some good advice from Bob.

The main reason things will look different, is because the screen is so small you don't get to see as much detail. As Bob said, zooming in (usually a '+' sign) will help.

Which monitor do you have? If you want to calibrate it, do a quick search here as we have loads of threads on the topic

Last tip - is be sure you have done our photography basics tutorials - they will help alot.

Thanks both, i guess it can be good thing because i will have to look at things more carefully and work harder when taking a photo and will make me improve!
i dont have photoshop, i usually use photofiltre or gimp and it does help. i do zoom now to check and it does, still, seem really fine on the camera screen but oh well. erm i dont know what monitor i have?

Take a photo of it

I have the same problem with my Nikon. I think the problem lies in the software you use to download the images. When shooting in Jpeg the problem isn't so bad, but when I shoot in NEF (RAW), the image looks fine on the camera but crap on the screen.

Adobe Lightroom reproduces a better image than Adobe Bridge for example and I do know that Canon have specially devised software to deal with their RAW images.

Having said that, any good image that has suffered degradation in conversion can successfully be recovered post processing, but you will never sharpen an image that was out of focus at it's taking.

Incidentally, any image that has been resized for the web will lose definition and will need work to get it back up to scratch.

Sorry but without seeing the specific photos you're referring to I respectfully disagree. Raw 6.3 is out now from Nikon and it is a free download. proper technique in using a camera, especially how you hold it and release the shutter will eliminate a lot of blurry snapshots. The camera you're using may have limits regarding low light photography but I can post dozens of photos, sharp as a tack, taken at 3200 ISO, handheld by a little old lady of 75, with little experience in digital photography that have no problem with lens blur.

You can change cameras, change brands and change editing software until the cows come home but put that same equipment in experienced hands and amazingly the photos become sharp and clear. I've been doing this for 42 plus years and have seen the old saying, "stick actuator broken" on too many occasions.

Thank you for that Bob - RAW 6.3 - I'll have to download it.

I take on board what you say, but even the sharpest of images on the camera lose something when downloaded using a general program covering all makes of camera, in my experience.

I'll see what the difference is with this piece of software you mention.

As a rule I never use the camera manufacturer's download software. I simply use either a USB tethered connection to the camera or an SD card reader to drag & drop my camera files to awaiting folders. I use Bridge software to prescreen photos for sharpness, expression and initial composition before I even load them into RAW 6.3. After post processing there I finally pull them into CS5 Photoshop for whatever enhancements I want to make. I also own and use OnOne Picture Perfect Suite's entire plug-in software to cut down on processing workflow.

I shot 246 frames in very low lighting conditions at a church luncheon a few days ago. That resulted in maybe 24 keepers. My camera's pre-focus light was constantly coming on so that the camera had enough light to focus. Difficult, yes, impossible, no. It's all about experience with the gear and software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DollyDog

Had my dslr for few weeks now and i really love it, but i'm finding that the pics i take look great on the camera and all look like keepers and then i put them on my laptop and they really dont look as good. they look a bit faded, and a lot of the time blurry. so they look like i wont have to do anything to them like pp and then i see their true colours and have to do lots of pp to make them look better. is this just the camera i have (nikon d5000) ? or is it normal for pics to better in cam? its not the end of the world but its quite disapointing when i think ive taken some great shots and then see that theyre not half as good most of the time.

Have a look here, DollyDog, for tutorials.

I have just downloaded ViewNX2, and although rather slow, have had good success in downloading an accurate copy from my camera. You will need to have a play to get the best out of it, but it is a good bit of software.

Download from here.

Hope this helps.