Cuba Gallery Design Blog Page 3

New Zealand's Incredible Black Sand Beaches

by Andrew Smith August 09, 2017

New Zealand is filled with pristine natural environments, one of the most intriguing and dramatic is the black sand found in a number of beaches scattered across the country.

Nike Bounce to this Campaign: By Bureau Borsche

by Andrew Smith July 31, 2017

Bureau Borsche worked together with Nike’s in-house team to produce this graphically strong 'Bounce to this' campaign.

Malik Bros Brand: By Sebastian Bednarek

by Andrew Smith July 31, 2017

Malik Bros provides hand-made, custom attire, that is perfectly tailored for each customer. The Malik Bros identity, designed by Sebastian Bednarek, is an extraordinary piece of branding work. The visual identity combines simple pattern work with deep green and bronze colour tones to create a truly luxurious finish. These elements have been tastefully rolled out across a variety of collateral and products resulting in a consistently beautiful, crafted and lavish brand.

Inspiration: Incredible gestural painting by Lü Shoukun (1919-1975)

by Andrew Smith July 03, 2017

This incredible abstract painting by Lü Shoukun was just the inspiration I needed today. I love the energy and dynamic qualities this painting has. The challenge is really how we bring the same energy to photography.

Trabant 601 - Pure driving Posters | design by Institute of Design, Düsseldorf, Germany

by Andrew Smith July 03, 2017

I love how these posters are a beautiful union of graphic design, photography and typography. A brilliant piece of work by the Institute of Design, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Inspirational Artist - Julie Wolfe

by Andrew Smith June 29, 2017

I find these abstract explorations extremely interesting. Lot's of interesting compositional techniques and shapes, it has a beautiful graphic approach to the design. On closer inspection the images look painted onto pages from a book creating some some stunning layered effects over the text.

A step by step beginners guide to how a digital camera works

by Andrew Smith June 28, 2017 1 Comment

Ever wanted to know the basics behind how a camera works? Need a quick reference guide with out all the jargon? Well you have come to the right page.

Below is a step-by-step guide to how your DSLR camera works. The key functionality of your camera is set out with easy to understand infographics along with a simple explanation. Once you have mastered the basics take this guide with you the next time you're out and start putting your new found skills into practice.

Inspirational Typografik Cover Designs

by Andrew Smith June 11, 2017

I love these beautiful type based cover designs by Typografik books. It reminds how simple things can always be the strongest.

Two vintage radios found on opposite sides of the world

by Andrew Smith June 11, 2017

A few years ago I found this very rare vintage radio in Auckland New Zealand. I took a few cool shots of it and it's been used on a number of commercial projects. A few days ago I had a nice email from someone 12,000km's away in Colombia who found another one of these vintage radios! My friend Hernando took a pic of it, here it is below - totally cool. I love how social media allows us to connect with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and geographic locations. It made my day!

10 Beautiful Shots of Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia

by Andrew Smith May 28, 2017

Bondi Beach is one of the most visited sites in Australia, it's located about 7 km east of the Sydney. It's definitely one of my favourite spots to visit and take photos. There are loads of things to do, including surf lessons. If you get bored of the beach there are loads of cafes and an eclectic array of shopping markets. If you are up for some exercise don't forget the coastal walks.

Lightroom Editing: Basic Steps

by Andrew Smith May 27, 2017

Define the square crop
Increase vibrancy and saturation subtly
Add cool blue tones to both shadows and highlights
using the split tone palette
Add light with a central radial gradient filter, also
add a small amount of clarity to this filter.
Darken the sky with a vertical gradient filter
Add blue tones to the vertical gradient filter to help match the sky with the rest of the image.

Beautiful Cook Island Beaches

by Andrew Smith May 25, 2017

Using Split Tone Colour with Lightroom

by Andrew Smith May 23, 2017

In simple terms split toning is the process of adding different colours to the shadows and the highlights of an image. It can be used to create more emotive colour palette or used to replicate various effects. Split toning is perfect for vintage film processing, advanced black and white techniques, and also controlling colour when desaturating.

Creating great black & white textures

by Andrew Smith May 21, 2017

Using camera raw files and Lightroom can really help extract a huge amount of extra detail. This shot shows off the detail and depth possible when editing Blank and White shots.

Installing Lightroom Presets Video Tutorial

by Andrew Smith May 14, 2017

I've together a very simple video tutorial for installing Lightroom Presets. This will be useful for anyone new to Lightroom or people that need a quick re-fresher course. Generally these principles will apply to Lightroom CC and people using an Apple Mac to process their images.

Vintage beach processing.

by Andrew Smith April 30, 2017 1 Comment

I've added some slightly vintage processing to this shot of St Heliers Beach in Auckland New Zealand. This includes softening the sky colour and making sure the sand and timber colours were pushed towards a more burnt orange. It definitely reminds me of those long hot New Zealand summers at the beach.

Inspired by GQ magazine layout

by Andrew Smith April 28, 2017

I've always loved both the image by Cedric Angeles and layout by GQ magazine. I thought it was worth mocking up something similar with one of my own images to see how a travel style shot would work in this environment. Admittedly I love the style of this, and would love to do more work in this genre.

11 Amazing Photography Locations

by Andrew Smith April 27, 2017

I’ve been lucky enough to travel to some of the most incredible locations around the world. This post is dedicated to the ones that stopped me in my tracks.

Great Ocean Road Australia

by Andrew Smith April 24, 2017

The Great Ocean Road around the coast of Australia has to be one of the worlds best road trips. It's located approximately 3hours drive from Melbourne and serves up some of the best beach scenery in Australia.

Lightroom Presets for iPhones

by Andrew Smith April 19, 2017

There is now a fantastically simple trick to using Cuba Gallery Presets on your iPhone with Lightroom Mobile. If you love your iPhone and you love Lightroom then this trick is for you. It will revolutionise the way you post on mobile platforms such as Instagram. Keep reading for all the details.

Photographic Diary

by Andrew Smith April 14, 2017

I have been wanting to design a travel photography book for a while now. I've started putting together some new cover designs around the idea of Kilometres, or in this case just Kilo. I like that it can be interpreted in a number of ways. I love documenting the trips I take and then sharing them with family and friends. In many cases thousands of images usually just stay on our computers never to be viewed again.

New Lightroom Presets

by Andrew Smith January 06, 2017

The brand new Cuba Gallery two step Lightroom processing will revolutionise your color grading. The Color Grading+ and Lightmap+ presets work in tandem to give you a highly flexible and powerful processing tool. The Color Grade+ presets adjust hue and tonal effects. The Lightmap+ presets then shape the image.