Kev Malone Photography

Couples Valentines Shoots

2012-01-16T19:09:00.000Z

This weekend saw the first of my Valentines couples shoots.
The lucky couple, Adam and Rebecca, won my draw for a free shoot and are to be part of my marketing material for the coming year.
Cold as it was, we still had great fun in Stanley Park, Blackpool and we soon forgot about the plummeting temperatures.

The idea of my Couples Shoots is to capture the two of you completely in love. Nothing is forced. I just capture the happiness...

...the romance...

...the laughter...

...the love...

You can book your shoot and have your prints in time for Valentines Day, or you can book a shoot as a surprise gift with a Gift Voucher.

The shoot will normally last between one and two hours and includes a framed 7x5 print of your favourite image. It also includes a CD with all of the edited images in a low resolution format suitable for Facebook.

Further prints and canvases are available among other things but there is no obligation to purchase.

I'm back.

2012-01-15T11:36:00.000Z

Its been a while since I've posted a blog as other things have been taking priority. In October I decided enough was enough and if I were to make a serious impression on the world of wedding photography I had to make sure people took me seriously. The first step was a complete overhaul of my lifestyle. I now eat more healthily and exercise much more. So far I've lost 2 1/4 stone. Only another 5 to go.

Any way, back to photography.

This new year will see a much more pro-active (I hate buzzwords) approach to my business. Rather than waiting for people to come to me I'm going to them.
A new Facebook profile is up and running. (Go and add me, Kev Malone-Photography), a new website is in the early stages of development, and I hope to be a regular face on the local wedding fair circuit. I'm also hoping to attend some mother and baby fairs, to promote my portrait business and start advertising for commercial work.

So, if you're getting married, have a new addition, want family portraits or even new commercial images for your business, get in touch.

Over the coming weeks I'll be attempting to write some blog posts to aid in choosing your wedding photographer among other things.

Keep in touch.

Kev

Day out with Friends

2011-11-18T18:51:00.001Z

Following a family lifestyle shoot on Lytham Green last weekend, myself and my protégée, Shelley (aka my wife-to-be), spent the afternoon with some friends, Sam and Terri, and their family. Seeing as I had my camera with me it seemed rude not to get a few sneaky pics.
Here's a few to browse.

If anybody is interested in a shoot like this for their family, get in touch.

Instagram

2011-11-11T20:35:00.001Z

Just recently I've been taking walks at lunchtime. All part of my plan to get fit for next years wedding season.
The walk through Witch Wood in Lytham have given me some great opportunities to partake in the new phenomenon known as iphoneography.
You can follow these daily updates on my Instagram feed (search for 'kevmalone' in the Instagram App) or by following me on Twitter, @kevmalonephoto
A couple of recent shots are here.

http://instagr.am/p/Tg3qg/

http://instagr.am/p/TpZhZ/

http://instagr.am/p/TY8BN/

Image of the week

2011-11-02T21:05:00.000Z

A shot from a recent day out. Watching this group of people running away from the waves on Blackpool promenade was quite interesting to me. It reminded me of when I used to do the same thing as a kid. It was particularly funny at this particular moment when the wave came up a little higher than they expected and caught them all...note the young girl in the background trying to jump out of the way.

The next image is a bonus image of the week as I've not been keeping up to date.

The new comedy carpet in Blackpool seems to be pulling the crowds so I went to have a look. As I was wandering round I happened to see this and knew exactly what I wanted to do with the image.

Pixelmator 2.0 (Chamelion)

2011-10-28T22:05:00.002+01:00

This week saw the long awaiting release of Pixelmator imaging software.
For those that aren't aware, PhotoShop CS5 costs a staggering £952.80...The first version of Pixelmator was rumoured to supply about 70% of Photoshop's functions, but the release of CS5 and content aware fill left Pixelmator with a big catch up ahead.
I'm please to say that the new release has closed the gap again. And how much does it cost? £20.99.

Below is a before and after example of the new Content Aware Fill. In the past this would have taken a lot of time and effort to achieve...this took about 15 seconds...

BEFORE...

AFTER...

Image of the Week

2011-10-20T21:23:00.001+01:00

It's been 2 weeks since I last posted an image of the week.
Since then I've been quite busy with behind the scenes stuff as well as a portrait shoot and a Christening. I love Christenings when it comes to photos, kids are so photogenic.
With that in mind, this weeks image of the week is from the Christening I shot last week.

No secrets shared this week about the processing as there wasn't any apart from adding a custom Aperture 3 preset.

Image of the week

2011-10-05T20:46:00.000+01:00

This weeks image of the week is a re-visit of an old shoot with Shelley, one of my favourites.
Thanks to Aperture 3 and Portrait Pro I've created quite a striking image.
I'm not normally a fan of over-edited portraits and try not to do too much of it, but just wanted to give it a go to see what was possible.

The lighting was simple with a gridded beauty dish just above Shelley and a reflector underneath just out of shot.
The vignetting was naturally occurring due to the grid but amplified in Aperture.
A long time later and all of the stray hairs were cleaned up and a bit of definition added to bring the details out. Some saturation, contrast and sharpening was then applied to the eyes and a little dodge and burn around the eye area to clean them up a bit, followed by a bit of skin smoothing.

Finally a bit of tweaking of the colour tints, curves, saturation and vibrancy to achieve the overall look.

I've posted both the original and edited versions as a comparison.

Feel free to get in touch if you want to ask me anything about this image or any of the others you may have seen.

Summer mornings...

2011-10-01T19:42:00.000+01:00

Seeing as we were robbed of a summer this year, as soon as we got a few days of sunshine I went out early one morning to catch the early morning light.
A short drive out of Blackpool had me in the fields surrounding Staining. It's amazing that this is within 5 minutes of Blackpool.

The fantastic golden sun light made for these orange tinted images.

I'd seen pictures similar to these over the years and hoped to visit somewhere to capture such images. I never realised I could get them so close to home...

Image of the week

2011-09-29T19:33:00.000+01:00

This weeks image of the week is from the recent Springfield House Hotel wedding fair.

This is the floral detail of a fantastic wedding cake by one of the suppliers. Unfortunately, the name of the supplier escapes me at this time.

I processed the image using a vintage style preset in Aperture 3 and added a slight vignette.

Although it was shot using a high ISO (ISO1600) the noise is restricted by the fact that the exposure was almost spot on in camera.

If you know of anyone getting married who may like this style of photography, tell them to get in touch. I'd love to be part of their, or your, big day.

Christmas is coming!!!

2011-09-28T21:37:00.002+01:00

Over the coming months I'll be attending a number of wedding fairs as well as school Christmas fairs.
At the Christmas fairs I'll be selling gift vouchers that would be perfect gifts.
The gift vouchers will cost just £30 and will include a photo shoot either in the studio or out on location and a mounted 10x8" print (product size is 12x10") worth a total of £65.

Also, I'm currently offering a separate Double Print Voucher deal.
Normally, a shoot costs £50 and includes a £25 print voucher. If you book before 9 October, I'll double the value of the voucher.

In addition, if you recommend a friend and you both book before then I'll throw in an additional complimentary 7x5 print, valued at £15.

Two perfect ideas for Christmas gifts. You can either shoot now and buy the prints as gifts, or you can purchase the gift voucher for someone to have their own shoot.

You too can have images like these...

Or these...

Or even these.

Why not book your shoot today?

New GraphiStudio albums have arrived

2011-09-22T23:13:00.000+01:00

After 4 weeks of tense waiting, my new GraphiStudio albums have arrived. Just in time for the wedding fair on Sunday.

I'm absolutely blown away by the quality of these albums. Take a look...

Parent albums of varying sizes are available and are an exact replica of your full sized album.

This is the large parent book copy, 12x8".

This calendar is complimentary with every album purchased.

The Crystal Glance cover shown here is a great way of displaying your favourite image on the front of your album.

The high quality binding of the GraphiStudio albums is seen here.

Family shoot

2011-09-21T23:12:00.001+01:00

This last weekend saw our first family shoot in ages.
Here's a few of my 3 favourite girlies.
Fairly basic lighting on these. Just a beauty dish and a couple on the backdrop.

You can view the full set at http://kevmalonephotography.dphoto.com/album/96deas/

Springfield House Hotel Boutique Wedding Fair

2011-09-21T08:30:00.001+01:00

Just a quick reminder for anyone getting married. Head over to the super-posh surroundings of Springfield House Hotel on Sunday 12-4.
Even if you're not thinking of getting married there it's a perfect opportunity to meet suppliers of all kinds and see what they're about.

I'll have a selection of framed prints on display as well as (hopefully) my new collection of GraphiStudio albums.

Special offers available if you book on the day or within 2 weeks of the fair.

Come and say hi.

Image of the week

2011-09-19T20:14:00.000+01:00

This weeks image of the week is from a rare shoot that I did solely for fun. I don't get to take hobby photos anywhere near as much as I would like.
Following my little girls first school uniform photos, I left the studio up and dragged the ever (un)willing Shelley in.
The lighting and processing were inspired by Shelley's love of horror movies.

Two soft boxes were used on a fairly low power setting to give an even spread of light at the sides (I used one huge octobox and a small soft box as thats all I have, ideally I would have preferred to gridded strip boxes), and to add a slightly spooky feel, I placed a Nissin flash gun on the floor to give some up lighting. This was shot through a diffuser to spread the light a little. The lighting diagram shows rough scale.
Processing was done in Aperture 3 using a selection of brush tools.
A bit of dodge and burn around the eyes to bring out the focus points, followed by a little sharpening to make the eyes a bit more piercing. A little definition was brushed into the hair to sharpen up the framing a little and point more attention to the eyes. Finally a small amount of gamma vignette was applied to darken the hair slightly and ramp up the contrast following the definition increase.

New project

2011-09-14T00:00:00.001+01:00

I'm currently working on a new project, something a bit different. It's all going to be iPhone based and will be released in a limited edition pocket sized book. This is the sort of thing you can expect.
I've no idea on a title but it's a work in progress and will probably feature about 30 images.

Image of the week

2011-09-13T22:26:00.003+01:00

This weeks image of the week is from a (not so) recent event in Blackpool. The event was Sand, Sea, Spray, in which a number of urban artists from across the world joined up to decorate the walls of Blackpool. Controversial as the event was, it was great to see something like it in Blackpool. These works of art are still dotted around Blackpool so keep your eyes peeled.
This shot in particular, was captured at the end of North Pier, where the pavilion was turned into a working art gallery. I'm not sure if these pieces are still there, but I certainly hope they are, and I really hope the council allow another event like it in the future.
You'll have to forgive me, but I cannot remember which artist is responsible for this one, but if anyone knows feel free to let me know.

You can view the rest of the set from the day on my YouTube channel, here.

2011-09-05T20:13:00.000+01:00

Been a bit of a busy one this last week. I've managed to edit a wedding, design example wedding albums to order from GraphiStudio, redesigned my business cards, designed and ordered some coffee table books, been shopping for my daughters first school uniform and visited family in Nuneaton. It's been manic.
I thought I'd share my new business card design with you. Comments, as always are welcome.

Image of the week

2011-08-26T18:29:00.000+01:00

This weeks image of the week is a little late coming as it's been a manic week of paperwork, wedding editing, album layout design and emails, emails and more emails.
As of this week my wedding albums will be sourced exclusively from GraphiStudio. An Italian album company specialising in high quality photo albums and books. Please feel free to get in touch for prices. My example albums are en route as we speak and should be arriving some time soon.

Anyway, this weeks image of the week is from one of my first weddings. I saw the young bridesmaid spinning around and noticed what a fantastic image it made with her hair flowing and dress floating.
Just as I was composing the image, with the bush in the foreground adding interest, the bride walked into the frame from the doorway behind and it presented what is now one of my favourite wedding images.

A slightly longer shutter speed was used to capture the movement with a burst of fill flash to hold the details.

Wedding Fair at Springfield House Hotel

2011-08-20T22:09:00.000+01:00

September 25th sees me as a supplier at the Springfield House Hotel Boutique Wedding Fair, organised by CJ Tazz Entertainments.
This is a fantastic event that i'm really looking forward to. I should hopefully have received my new range of GraphiStudio Albums before then so come down and take a look.
I look forward to meeting a lot of you there.

Kev

Image of the week.

2011-08-16T22:19:00.000+01:00

This weeks image of the week is from last weeks wedding. Mike and Kerry got married at the White Church in Lytham and continued their celebrations at the De Vere in Blackpool.
We had fantastic weather on the day so in between, we went down onto Grannys Bay near Fairhaven Lake for a few shots.
This is my favourite from this part of the day.

YouTube

2011-08-12T20:58:00.000+01:00

Why not come and take a look at some of my slideshows on the new Kev Malone Photography YouTube channel?
I'll be uploading slideshows from most shoots and maybe even some of my favourite shots from each wedding, so subscribe and keep up to date.

These slideshows are available to purchase from your shoot as well, for just £99. They are produced in high definition so they will look great on any size TV and come packaged in a stylish metal tin.

Also, as an added bonus, the slideshow is half price if you spend over £150 on prints, canvases or other products, and is completely free if you spend over £200.

They make a fantastic gift for family members and are a fantastic personal addition to any DVD collection.

Most recent wedding.

2011-08-11T22:49:00.000+01:00

I know I've only just shared an image of the week but felt like sharing this one anyway. It's from the wedding I photographed this weekend for Mike and Kerry. The wedding itself was at the White Church in Lytham, followed by the DeVere in Blackpool. An excellent day all round including the weather...my first sunny wedding.
The sun made a really nice change and broke my cycle of bad weather weddings (I was beginning to think I was cursed).
Anyway, here's the first dance.

From next week onwards I'll be sharing a selection of images from portrait shoots and weddings rather than just a one off to show more of a story of each shoot.

Image of the week

2011-08-09T22:46:00.002+01:00

This weeks image of the week is from my recent coverage of the first St Annes Music Festival, a 'Fringe' style festival with multiple genres in various locations across St Annes.
Hopefully this festival will become an annual event as it was very well supported and very popular the first time around.
Follow the Facebook page for updates on next years event.

This image is one of my favourites from the weekend.
Charlese is an exceptional talent and will, no doubt, have a fantastic musical career ahead of her.
This was the first time I have seen Charlese perform and I really hope to catch her again in the future.

Kerry Blu

2011-08-07T21:39:00.000+01:00

Following on from the shoot a few weeks ago for Kerry Blu, her website has now been updated and a number of my images are now on display there for all to see, including this one on the front page.
I'm extremely proud to be able to help out another local supplier, especially an award winning jewellery designer.

Last weeks image of the week

2011-08-01T22:37:00.000+01:00

Following an absolutely manic couple of weeks, I'm now back up to date(ish) although I still have a 'to do' list as long as my arm.
And now for this weeks image of the week.

This weeks image is from a shoot I did recently in Stanley Park. The shoot was for a very talented jewellery designer, Kerry Blu. Kerry is an award winning jewellery designer with some fantastic tiaras and other accessories for your wedding.
Make-up was provided by Katie-Bee, a North West based Make Up Artist. I think you'll agree that she did a fantastic job of making our model, Lisa Hogg, look every bit the part. The final touch of the evening was the fantastic wedding dress, provided by Blush Bridal Boutique in Poulton-Le-Fylde.

You can view the rest of the images here.

New Blog

2011-08-01T19:02:00.000+01:00

Hi guys.

This is the new and final resting place for my blog. I will be updating this page over the coming weeks and months, and hopefully even years with the goings on with Kev Malone Photography. It will include the increasingly popular image of the week, details of upcoming events, special offers, and maybe even some guest bloggers along the way.
Thanks for joining me and feel free to add me to your favourites.
See you all soon.

Kev