Thirsty Thursday

Comfort Food

The Beer

Wellington County Dark Ale from Wellington Brewery is anchored in traditional brewing processes, and for fans of dark ales that’s comfort food. Rick and dark like a good chocolate, it covers the palette in a welcome blanket of warm malt and toffee before it washes clean away, ready for the next sip.

The Process

The can was easy to shoot, its warm tones cover the entire can, eliminating the harsh reflections from exposed metal. A simple white point adjustment and some dust removal (love the Spot Healing Brush) and removal of the Best Before stamp and this can was ready togo.

Thirsty Thursday

Before beer there was… Mead.

Oh my, this is good. Mead is one of the original fermented beverages and Trafalgar has put their own spin on it. Trafalgar’s Braggot Mead blends hops and malt with fermented honey, producing a mead that is amazing. Starting with a crisp aroma reminiscent of white wine, the first notes are hoppy like a beer and the traditional honey mead cleans the palate as it finishes. Did I mention this is good?

The Process

I wanted to show case the warm tones of the clay bottle so  I used a simple Black/White point adjustment Curve, applied an ‘S’ curve to the composite histogram to up the contrast. Some Dodging on the label to open the colours and a final curve to blow out the background.

 

Thirsty Thursday

A House Favourite

Mill St. Tankhouse Ale is a go to beer in this house. Up front and quick, this ale has a full spicy taste with a tart finish that lingers pleasantly. Enjoyable when you want a beer with substance, this isn’t a rink fast kind of ale.

 

For the shoot set up, I’d created some new light boxes and was trying to use a back light behind a fabric drop. Overall the highlights are too harsh, but some repositioning should take care of that.

Thirsty Thursday

The Beers of Summer, Part 4

Lime and mint and beer, oh my! I never thought I’d positively review anything to come from a mammoth American brewery like Anheuser-Busch, but Bud Light’s Lime Mojito is a great summer time drink. Surprisingly refreshing and very tasty. This flavoured light beer makes one feel positively genteel and refined while sipping this modern take on a classic during the long, hot days of summer.

 

Link List, volume 46

More Photoshop and Web Design

More Grids.

A collection of grids for various screen sizes.

Based on the 960 Grid System, the Golden Grid is for those who like natural proportion systems.

Tips & Tricks

Pixel perfect alignment in Photoshop.

An overview of Photoshop features for web design.

Wireframes

Beginners Guide to Wireframes.

Making wireframes in Photoshop.

More wireframe tips.

Which is the best app for wireframing? InDesign?

Optimizing for the Web

Exploring the Save for Web interface.

Optimizing your PNGs.

Thirsty Thursday

The Beers of Summer, Part 3

Classic draught in a bottle!  Sleeman’s Original Draught can be  enjoyed on your own patio without having to worry about slow service, unless you get stuck in a sunbeam. Starts clean & crisp across the palette and finishes with that classic skunky taste that denotes a draught. Again, another easy to drink summer beer that is refreshing and not demanding of attention.

Link List, volume 45

Photoshop and Web Design

Plug-ins

Guides and Grids are essential for web design and there are a couple of plug-ins that make the task of setting up your framework much easier.

• GuideGuide is my favorite Grid plug-in. I like that it works as a panel so I can easily access and view it.
• 960 Grid is an action that allows you to quickly lay down a 12, 16 or 24 column grid
• Modular Grid is an interactive tool that lets you see the grid you are creating and provides you with a .jpg to use in you Photoshop file as reference

The Grid System is a great resource on designing with grids, offering articles, templates, plug-ins and inspiration.

Tutorials

Here’s a very thorough tutorial on using GuideGuide to add columns and a baseline grid.

Another walk through on setting up you Grid & Baseline.

Tips & Tricks

Pixel perfect alignment in Photoshop.

Thirsty Thursday

The Beers of Summer, Part 2

Beer number 2 of my summer list is not what you’d expect for a summer beverage: a dark ale. From Upper Canada Brewing their Dark Ale is surprisingly light and refreshing. It’s not overly sweet or heavy but still has that tangy citrus and molasses taste that makes a true dark ale. Enjoyable on a hot day without feeling heavy and thick.

Link List, volume 44

Keeping your eye on Colour.

Colour correction is one of the key uses of Photoshop. In fact, Photoshop has been considered a digital darkroom for years. Understanding how, why and when to use your adjustments will allow you to determine how to best correct for printing and how to use these adjustments for creative control.

Tips & Tricks

The ultimate guide to Curves.

A quick look at Auto Curves.

An in-depth exploration of the Gradient Map’s hidden gradient options.

More fun with Gradient Maps.

How to convert an image to Black & White. Some ways are better than others.

Using Unsharp Mask effectively.

Sharpen with Surface Blur.

Tutorials

Here’s something fun: how well do you see color? X-rite has a color perception test.

Use Blending modes with Hue/Saturation and Curves to selectively control the saturation in an image.

Achieving the Instagram effect.

Selective color in a Black & White image.

Another approach to using the Highpass filter to sharpen images.

Another look at using Curves, this time focusing on individual color channels.

Thirsty Thursday

The Beers of Summer, Part 1

With fall upon us it’s time to look back and reflect on the halcyon days of summer. BBQ, lakes, heat and beers that quench and refresh. First up in my presentation of ‘What I Drank on my Summer Vacation’ is Lakeport Brewing’s Honey Lager.