Why You Need a Curved Monitor for Photo Editing
- How to Choose a Monitor for Photo Editing
- Make the Most of Your Dual Monitor Setup With These Simple Tips
- Monitor Buying Guide: Features that Minimize Eye Strain
- The Best Upgrade I’ve Made to My Editing Studio
We see the world naturally with our own eyes in 3D with automatic exposure control, automatic color correction, and a centrally focused panoramic wide view with the center point-of-view being sharpest. Using curved monitors for photo editing and video editing is the closest to this type of immersive view, bringing us several benefits.
Let’s look at the benefits of curved monitors for photo editing. I’ll also show what changes I’ve made to my own editing studio for both photos and video.
Immersive Viewing
Immersive viewing is one of the top benefits of curved monitors for photo editing. Immersive viewing means that the view from the monitor is closer to real life vision than using a flat screen monitor.
A curved monitor makes you feel like you are a part of the scene, since it mimics the way you see in real life. We see in 3D, not 2D, so a curved monitor will be a closer approximation to a natural view of an actual scene.
Less Eye Strain
Using larger screens for editing is a great idea, but with very wide field monitors that are flat screens, we tend to lose edge sharpness. With smaller monitors this isn’t a huge issue, but with very large, wide field monitors, we end up introducing a little bit of eye strain because the corners and edges are viewed from an awkward angle.
Any amount of eye strain will build up after a long editing session, causing headaches and poor focus. Many times when I start editing, I end up at my workstation for several hours, so any little bit of eye strain builds up, becoming a problem.
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Less Distortion
Since the screen of a curved monitor is slightly curved, the edges are actually closer to our eyes and the view is from a more comfortable angle. This allows us to see the entire image or video footage more clearly which means we can more accurately judge what our editing is accomplishing.
Ultra Wide View
An ultra wide view, provided we can comfortably see it, is preferred for both video and photo editing. One reason for my own workflow is that I can tile programs on the screen, in other words, I can view two or three actions and windows at once instead of having to click through for each different view.
An ultra wide view also means that you don’t have to minimize any view of an image or video footage in order to see it all at once.
My Editing Studio Upgrade
I have recently made a major upgrade to my own editing workspace which I use for editing both video footage and photographic images. I decided to use a two monitor setup for an incredibly immersive view and the ability to have every program I need open at the same time. These are the images I’ve been showing in this article.
For the main screen, I went with the ViewSonic VP3881 curved monitor. It’s a 38 inch wide screen with superb sharpness and color fidelity. The smaller monitor up top is the ViewSonic VP3481 34 inch curved monitor.
If you decide you want to use one monitor in addition to your laptop or existing desktop monitor, I would recommend getting the largest you can comfortably fit and afford. Though the 38 inch is only 4 inches of screen difference, the physical size of it compared to the 34 inch curved monitor is fairly significant.
The reasons I chose ViewSonic for my editing studio upgrade with curved monitors are their great price, the extremely high resolution they have, and the excellent color rendition they have with the ability to show 4.39 trillion colors.
Whatever you choose for your own editing studio upgrade, using high quality ultra wide curved monitors for photo editing will change how you edit and will increase your enjoyment of the editing process.
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