A little later than I planed, but today I have for you a review the 34 inch monitor LG 34UM95. Due to some problem I had to return the first one, and I’m now on a second, but I will get to it soon. So let’s take a look at it.

Size & Resolution

This monitor is just huge. I upgraded from a 24 inch monitor, and the difference is really recognizable. It’s not a 4k monitor, as the resolution of 3440×1440 is only aroud 2.5k. You could look at this as a downside, but I think it’s actually a plus. Due to this resolution, your PC does not have to be crazy strong to be able to run it, and also, the ppi is still low enough, so you don’t have to scale the operating system. Operating systems and programs are just not yet all ready for a high ppi screens, and scaled UI elements just look ugly. On this screen, you can keep the default scaling, and it’s still really usable.

Panorama on whole screen

Panorama on whole screen

Working on it

Working on it is just a pleasure. You have so much space as on two 20 inch screens, without the ugly border in between. After a few days I rearanged my Photoshop to show all I’m using at once and I still can have a panorama photo opened in a nice size. Also if you are editing a lot with Lightroom, creating a nice setup is very easy.

For other work, you can easily have three pages opened next to each other will everything having a proper size. This makes for instance editing my blog much easier, as I can have the page preview, page edit and my portfolio opened all at once and just copy and past from one into another.

Working with Photoshop

Working with Lightroom

All this splitting is made easier with a bundled piece of software called Screen Split. In this small utility, you can choose how you want to have the screen split, and all windows you then drag around the screen will automatically snap to the predefined areas. It’s very handy if you tent to use the same (or similar) setup all the time.

Movies

As this is a 21:9 resolution screen, you movie experience differs very much based on a movie you watch. If you watch a movie in this aspect ratio, it’s just a huge pleasure. No black bars, great colors, huge viewing area. Of course if you wantch a movie with the aspect 16:9 or even 4:3, this gets much much worse. You will get huge black bars from the sides and the viewing experience is greatly diminished.

4K trailer 2.35:1 ratio

Full HD trailer 16:9 ratio

For me this is perfect as I don’t own a TV, and all my movie watching is on my PC. Just not good for watching TV shows full screen.

Games

Similar to movies, you game experience will greatly vary based on one thing. If the game supports a 21:9 aspect ratio resolutions (2560×1080 or 3440×1440) you will get a perfect experience. The wide viewing area is very immerssive and the new look will get you playing games you finished a long time ago. Again, if you play something that is not 21:9 this gets much worse. You can choose either stretched view or the black bars on the sides. Neither of this options is that great.

Bioshock Infinity

NFS Most Wanted

To make things a little more complicated, even games that support the required resolution, don’t always have the UI and the menus working correctly. So you get cropped off parts, missing UI and similar. In some cases you can use a program like Flawless Widescreen to correct this, but in my experience that does not work in all cases. Either way, some experimenting and PC knowledge is required.

Problems

There are three problems with this monitor. First is the still very new aspect ratio. Not yet everything supports it, but I believe this will get better over time, as more monitors with this aspect ratio are release.

Secondly the stand is not the best. It’s too low, with the hight not being adjustable. It’s also not that stable, and any stronger shakes to the table will result in the whole screen shaking. Sometimes even just typing on the keyboard a little faster can cause this. Luckily, the monitor includes a VESA mount, so in the worst case one can replace the stand with a different one or a mounting arm.

Backlit problem on first piece

Backlit problem on replacement piece

Thirdly, the biggest problem, is a backlit bleed. This was the reason I replaced the first one I got, but the second one has almost the same problem, even if not so visible. Maybe you will be luckier and there will be none, but I haven’t seen one like that. The problem is mostly visible at night and if you are running a content that does not fill the full screen. From my view, it varies. Sometimes I don’t see it at all even with dark content on the screen, sometimes it’s very distracting.

In the end

So after two weeks with the monitor, I decided to keep it, even with the problems. I just can’t go back to a smaller one, this size and aspect ratio are just perfect for me. I found out, that I can see the backlit bleed only about 3-5% of the time I use the monitor, and I can live with it (even if maybe I send it back for a repair some months later) If you are looking for a new monitor, you should definitively have a look at this one or a similar one of the same size (there is only one from AOC currently and that is hard to get by, Samsung and Dell will have some later on, sometime next year). But if you can, be sure to try it before buying or buy from a place where you can return it. Maybe you get lucky to get a one without any problems, but why take the risk :)

You can find more photos and my initial thoughts in this post.. Also if you are curious about the current price of this monitor, here it is on Amazon – LG 34UM95

For this Monday, I chosen a little more complicated photos from Dubai. Not only did I used two series for this one, but I also replaced parts from the image to get a better symmetry. But lets get started :)

Let’s take a look at the final and the original exposure. You can see I changed the colors a lot, and also the crop and the distortion.

Finished photo

Original photo

I started as always in Lightroom. I used two series with the same settings, but one focused on the city in the background and one on the foreground concrete. I did this so I had both in focus. Just stepping down the aperture would not work, as this was an extreme DOF. I corrected the lens distortion and synced the settings to all the exposures. I left the corner as it is, as I didn’t want to crop that much away, and I knew I could fill that in in Photoshop.

All exposures

Lightroom edit

From here I exported them all and merged both series in Oloneo Photoengine. I used the same settings for both, so I can easily blend them together later. AFter that I continued in Photoshop (layers numbered from bottom up):
1. Oloneo Photoengine result, exposures focused on the foreground.
2. Copy of the left part of the first layer, flipped and then manually painted into the image, to create a better symmetry, but still keeping a different texture, so it’s not so obvious :)
3. Oloneo Photoengine results, exposures focused on the background. Masked out the whole foreground concrete from it.
4. Corrected the sky using content aware fill.
5. Corrected the highlights using the -1EV exposure.
6. Still few more highlights to correct from the -2EV exposure.
7. Color Efex Skylight filter, to get more color into the photo.
8. Color Efex Detail Extractor, to get more detail in the foreground, and a little bit in the city.
9. Noise reduction using Imagenomic noiseware.
10. Color Efex Cross processing, to shift the color of the city more towards the blue.
11. More contrast to the city.
12. A little bit more of retouching, as there appeared a little glow around the foreground. I just used the Clone stamp tool to darken it a little down.

Oloneo merge

Photoshop edit

And that’s all I did with this image. To find out more on how I edit, check out the guides and before after categories on this blog, or check out my video tutorial series here:

Black Friday is really a great day to get the software you are still missing for you editing. Not so great for me, as I already own all of them, but all these discount could be great for you :) And since there are really many of them, I will list them in this post.

Oloneo Photoengine

Let’s start with tonemappig software. Oloneo Photoengine is currently my favourite. It’s fast, easy to use and creates great results. You can find more about it in my review. Until December 9th, it’s 40% off with the coupon code AUTUMN2014EU56. That’s 89 USD instead of 149.

Get it from Oloneo website.

Photomatix Pro

Secondly, the most used tonemapping sofware, and also the most versatile. You can see my review of Photomatix Pro here. Until the December 1st, you can use the code BLF2014 to get 25% off, that’s 74USD instead of 99.

Get it from Photomatix website.

Topaz Plugins

Topaz plugins is a huge collection of different editing plugins for Photoshop, and you can find my review of the most well known Topaz Adjust here. There are having a 40% off sale on their whole plugins bundle, where they sell it for 249USD instead of 429. The discount code is BLACKFRIDAY2014 and is valid until December 1st.

Get it from Topaz website

Imagenomic Noisware

Imagenominc is having a sale on all of their plugins, but my favorite is the Noiseware one. For me it’s the best noise reduction for Photoshop, and you can see my review here. Until December 1st, you can use the code BF2014 to get a 30% discount.

Get it from Imagenomic website

Onone plugins

Another set of Photoshop plugins you can get much chaper today, are all the ones from Onone software. You can get most of them 50% off until December 2nd. No code required.

Get them from Onone website.

Trey Ratcliff tutorials

So it’s not just software, Trey Ratcliff is also having a big sale on all his tutorials, ebooks and presets. You can get 35% off until December 1st. No coupon code requires.

Get it from Stuckincusotms store.

Jimmy McIntyre tutorials

My friend Jimmy McIntyre is also having a Black Friday sale for his tutorials, and using the code BlackFriday you can get 20% off from the normal price.

Get them on his website.

Smugmug

If you are looking for a good place for a photo portfolio, how about one of the best Smugmug. Until November 29th, all new customers can get 40% off from the price of the account. You can find my review of Smugmug here.

Get it here on the Smugmug website.

HDRshooter sale

And don’t forget my sale, which is of course still active, and you can use the code BFFORTYOFF to get 40% from the price of my video tutorials. Get it here.

I edited a lot of photos today, but none that I can share here with you. So no photo today, but instead, how about a Black Friday discount on my video tutorials Master exposure blending. So from now, until Monday, you can use the code
BFFORTYOFF to get 40% off from the price (that’s 20USD) and get the tutorials just for 29USD.

To get all the info, and sample videos on the series, please check the Master exposure blending page.

and hear you can see the introduction video, to see what it’s about

So my crazy weekend is over, 4 night of taking photos at parties and also some during the day :) Haven’t slept much, but I need to quickly get back to my normal routine, so how about to start today. So as always, a new process post today for you.

Let’s first look at the final photo, and the starting exposure.

Finished photo

Original exposure

As always I loaded all the exposures into Lightroom, where I corrected the horizon, white balance and also chromatic aberrations. From there I exported all the files and loaded them in Oloneo Photoengine. I changes the strength and the contrast to get a blend I wanted and continued in Photoshop.

All exposures

Lightroom twaks

I loaded all the exposures in Photoshop and did the following edits (layers numbered from bottom up):
1. Oloneo Photoengine result
2. I created a second result in Oloneo Photoengine, a brighter one. Here I used a lights luminosity mask to brighten all the white parts of the water.
3. Original exposure, to correct the moving people on the bridge
4. Brushed out the railing as it didn’t fit the composition I wanted.
5. Color Effex polarization, to bring more blue into the sky
6. Color Effex Pro contrast to get more detail
7. I added more overall saturation here, as I felt there is not that much color in the photos
8. Nik Dfine to remove noise
9. Brightened the bottom right corner, as it looked too dark
10. Little bit of overall contrast

Oloneo Photoengine

Photoshop

And that’s all what I did with this photo :)