Latest News Update

• 11

  January

• Adobe Lightroom: New Zealand Summer Sunset. Before & After

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 18:32 on 11 January
  This was a great opportunity to add the color and atmosphere of this sunset back into the photograph - much of the warmth and evening color was lost in the RAW image. I managed to bring this back  to life with Lightroom, the main adjustment was with the color in the shadow areas which I warmed up. I also pulled a bit more detail out of the cloud areas and generally lightened up the the image. After Processing Before Processing

• 10

  January

• Adobe Lightroom Evening Beach Landscape. Before & After

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 21:31 on 10 January
  I really enjoyed processing this shot. The raw image needed a lot of work to bring out the true atmosphere. I have added some subtle color hues to the sky and foreground.  After Processing Before Processing

• 09

  January

• Hidden Pictures Album Cover Collaboration with Jordon Gray

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 22:04 on 09 January
  I was very pleased with this new Hidden Pictures CD album cover featuring one of my photographs. This is my second collaboration  with designer Jordan Gray - he has done a superb job of the typography. i felt this was a great union of type, design and image from two very different parts of the world. Check out Jordon's design work:  Jordan's flickr stream  

• 09

  January

• Adobe Lightroom Beach landscape with people. Before & After

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 15:59 on 09 January
  This image really helps describe the vast beauty New Zealand has to offer. As with the previous post this image was taken high above the beach from a cliff top. You get a real sense of scale with this image, the people help give a reference point to show how vast and empty the beach is. The Lightroom processing in this image was pretty simple, I boosted both the saturation and vibrancy adjustments, and then added some shape to the image with gradient filters. The gradient filters have lighten the foreground and created a nice glow around the people below....

• 08

  January

• Adobe Lightroom Summer Beach Bird Cam. Before & After

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 17:20 on 08 January
  This image has a great perspective and I love the simple collection of elements. I used my Nikon D3 and the 70-200mm f2.8 lens (no it wasn't attached to another bird) I managed to lean over a cliff edge to get this shot, it has a great effect - almost like I'm flying. I did some pretty simple processing on it, just enough to pull the colors out. After Processing Before Processing

• 08

  January

• Adobe Lightroom Summer Beach Image. Before & After

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 01:08 on 08 January
  I almost jumped for joy when this kid pedaled into my landscape shot, she added a great focal point along with a bit of extra color. I really like the bike reflection on the wet sand. The Lightroom color grading adds a slightly retro feel to the image. After Processing: Before Processing:  

• 02

  January

• Adobe Lightroom Macro Nature Shot - Before & After

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 00:49 on 02 January
  This is a good example of how Lightroom can really enhance the depth and richness of the colors. I like the processed version looks a lot more three dimensional.

• 31

  December

• Bugmania

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 13:08 on 31 December
  To finish off the year I thought I would share a short series of macro images taken outside my back door at home in New Zealand. For all these shots I have used my Nikon D3 with a basic 55mm f2.8 manual lens. It was pretty tricky getting such a short focus range to work with the manual focus but I was very pleased with the results. As always I have had a bit of fun processing the images in Lightroom.

• 31

  December

• Interview with My Modern Met

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 03:29 on 31 December
  Here are a few of the questions from the interview: Q: Can you tell me about your recent trip to Europe? What did you hope to capture? A: My trip to Europe was purely a vacation, photography is what I do to relax. My goal with photography is always to turn everyday objects or scenes into pieces art. I felt like I achieved this on my trip. Q: Can you please describe your style? I noticed a cinematic feel to them... A: All my images have a graphic feel to them, I really see myself as a designer with a...

• 01

  January

• New Lightroom Preset Released: Blue Bombay Sapphire

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 10:09 on 01 January
  If you are into Lightroom and love using presets, then we have just the thing for you. The Blue Bombay Sapphire preset is designed to give your landscape images a real lift, it will intensify the clouds and add a blue/green hue to the image. At this stage the preset is made for RAW images and seems to work best for horizontal landscapes. Take a look and let me know what you think. Click here to check the new Blue Bombay Sapphire preset.

• 30

  December

• Cuba Gallery Facelift and Refresh

  Posted by Andrew Smith at 00:31 on 30 December
  We are very excited at the release of our shiny new website. To celebrate our move into 2010 over the next month we will be releasing a range of exciting new products for all those who love to create things. As always our focus will be on superb design, photography and graphic art. Stay tuned for more soon.