TSGallantPhotography Loc: SW Florida

Recently, I purchased a new $600 Dell laptop. I had it brightness, contrast and color-adjusted because the first photo I put on it had a dreadful yellow color shift and was showing very dark.

I'm currently vacationing in Montana and have run into a problem that I'm at a loss to fix. In-camera, my photos are looking rich, vivid, well-saturated with beautiful lighting. The histogram is showing perfect exposure. In the album (gallery on the laptop), the thumbnails look great also. I shoot in RAW, primarily, but about 30% were jpeg.

However, whenever I open any of them in any program, including PS6, they are overly contrasty, washed out, way over-exposed, color-drained and cold. Any suggestions? I don't see how it can be the camera when the histogram is perfect.

I don't see how is the laptop if it was just adjusted and the thumbnails look good. I have adjusted monitor brightness lower but it only makes it darker and doesn't restore the richness and good contrast shown on the camera LCD and in the thumbs on the laptop. I'm about to pull my hair out. Anyone have any suggestions? Is a laptop just that different from a desktop?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

First off, I'd suggest that you invest in a monitor calibration tool, such as Datacolor's Spyder Pro. That will relieve you of any concerns that your monitor is not adjusted correctly. Secondly, RAW files never look like the jpg thumbnail when they are initially opened. Additionally, I'd check your settings in ACR. Make sure all of them are at 0 for the initial opening of your RAW image.

Additionally, a statement regarding the histogram indicating the exposure is "perfect", has little meaning. Histograms are statistical graphs of how many pixels are at what level of illumination from 0 to 255. Don't overly depend on them to determine if an exposure is correct or not, especially if capturing images in RAW.
--Bob

Bill_de Loc: US

Maybe you adjusted the laptop to make a bad image look good.

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Kuzano

Monitor calibration is not "Set and Forget". Particularly laptop monitors. You do, as the previous poster remarked, need to invest in and learn to use properly, your own tools. The settings on monitors wander. The older technology (CRT's) held settings longer and you could get by with less frequent (1-3 month) calibrations.

With current screen technology, you're lucky if you get a week before the drift is noticeable.

30 years Computer Consulting.

Bill_de Loc: US

Another thought is to download Nikon Capture nx-d. It is a free program that as a default retains all your camera settings when opening an image file.

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via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Your camera histogram and the picture on the screen are all JPEGs, not RAW. Histograms do not read RAW data nor is the RAW data shown on the screen. RAW means untouched, no editing and that is how they will look on your computer, somewhat flat in many cases. You need to edit them to give them "life." OR, you could just shoot in JPEG and what you get should closely resemble what you see on the screen on the back of the camera. You might run a test on this with your camera to ensure that is what is occurring.

frankie c Loc: Lake Havasu CIty, AZ

Don't pull your hair out.. I been there it really didn't help. Anyways, Laptops are a problem, at least for me with images cause the way you angle your screen can greatly affect what you see (from over contrasty (that prolly aint a word) or washed out). I always have to angle mine to see the image like it's posta look. Ok,,, that said. Do you has a friend? Check your images out on their computer (preferably not a laptop) and see how things look. If stuff looks good you prolly gots an issue with the Dell. Looking at the lens you are using in your little id photo. I am guessing you really know how to use your camera and set up a proper exposure. Plus the screen images on you camera looked good. Don't jump off the deep end and buy a lot of calibration equipment you prolly can do without (I don't have time to write a book on that subject). If anyone asks why just tell em Frankie says so (lol). I will send them a copy of my book as soon as it is published. Anyways good luck... KEEP YOUR HAIR :)

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

How about showing a couple of them .

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Do your JPEGs look wrong as well as your raw images? If so, then as Bob has suggested, it's time to invest in a calibration tool (and perhaps an external monitor).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If online photos taken by other people look good, then the problem is with your pictures. If the computer's images and color look good except for your photos, then the problem is not the computer. In over thirty years of computing, I have never had a need to calibrate a monitor. Thumbnails and images on the camera's LCD don't show enough to show defects. Since it's your images that are looking less that perfect, maybe they are to blame.

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

As stated above, before you go out and spend all kinds of money on calibration tools, start by viewing your shots on a different computer and monitor.

My previous Dell desktop computer was attached to a poor quality monitor, which prevented me from editing any photographs on it. I got the server, which was converted to a desktop computer brand new for free, so I didn't look that gift horse in the mouth!

I'm not a fan if any Dell products, and personally I won't buy their products.

What are the specs on your Dell computer and monitor? Was it designed just for general office and Internet surfing, or does the laptop have a graphics card that was designed for high quality graphics use?

The problem may not be your camera or your photographic skilks, it might actually that the Dell can't handle the high quality graphics that you need to view and edit your photographs! Not all computers are created equal!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Apparently you purchased the Dell laptop for travel and have a desktop at home? Why not just store your images and do post processing after returning home?
Your Avitar shows a huge Canon telephoto lens? That being the case, I suspect you know how to store images.
Mark

Jrhoffman75 Loc: Conway, New Hampshire

Adjust monitor so this image looks as good as possible on screen.

http://www.outbackphoto.com/printinginsights/pi049/essay.html

tdunkin Loc: Delaware

Have you tried right mouse clicking on your desk top screen and gone into graphic/Display options. You can try tweaking color display options on the laptop from there.

Tom...

FotoPhreak Loc: Whittier, CA

Your description reminds me of my first attempts with digital cameras about 10 years ago. I purchases a Nikon DLSR and shot RAW. Back then I used Adobe Elements and Nikon's Capture NX2. When I first imported my pictures, the RAW images appeared to lack any punch and appeared to be much as you described the pictures you imported. But both Elements and NX2 had a magic fix up button and when I hit it, the washed out RAW images were magically transformed into vibrant, colorful images. I recently imported some photos from that era into LR and the images were similarly unimpressive. But with a few tweaks in LR, the images blossomed into a really vibrant pictures. I am not that familiar with PS, but I suspect that it does not have a magic photo fix-up button. But from my past experience, you need to make adjustments to your photos to bring out what you see in the jpegs, just like I do in LR. The camera jpegs are generated from the raw images using algorithms developed by the camera manufacturer. So I really cannot explain why your imported jpegs are similarly washed out. I doubt that calibrating you laptop monitor would help much, particularly if the images you view from the internet are vibrant and colorful.