Part 16 of 50: Color or Black & White? A Photographers Dilemma
This is part sixteen in a series of blogs on my recent artistic adventures in Mexico. I’ve been writing a lot about how I decide whether the photographs I create are going to end up being in black & white or color. Perhaps it’s time to share my opinions on that further after the last [...]
Professor Billy teaches DSLR Filmmaking at fxphd.com
If I didn’t have the opportunity to do what I do, I’d probably be a teacher. I love knowledge sharing. And this summer- in fact, this week- I’m beginning to teach a 10 week course on Digital Filmmaking at fxphd.com. The good people at fxphd and I have been trying to get together for a [...]
My Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group talk on 5D Mark II CineStyle and Neutral Density Filters
It’s always nice to be invited back to the Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group to discuss a topic I hope will be useful and interesting to those attending. Tonight I returned to give a talk about some tips I use to make my Canon 5DMark II motion footage look the best it can be. [...]
What the LUT? – HDSLRs, Picture Styles and Look Up Tables Give Your Footage More Color Grading Options in Post
I’ve spent the last three years shooting motion with my Canon 5D Mark II. It was a fairly easy transition for me because I could use the same lighting concepts and composition techniques I had become accustomed to in the years of shooting film and then digital still images. The closest comparison I can make [...]
Building the Brand of You. How Giving It Away Helps You Get Something Back.
The first time I heard that a person could be a brand was way back in the early 1990s. Anyone remember MTV’s House of Style with Cindy Crawford? I met her when she was promoting her book, Cindy Crawford’s Basic Face. She discussed the concept of Cindy Crawford being a brand. She talked about how [...]
Now With 25% More People!
I’ve been meaning to write a blog about new things going on at Billy Sheahan Photography for some time. It’s been difficult though because of all the new things going on at Billy Sheahan Photography. One of these new things, or at least more than usual is that I’ve been shooting a lot of people [...]
The TwitPic Backlash – Are Social Networking Sites Selling Your Photos Without Paying You?
UPDATE: The ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) is advising photographers not to use TwitPic as of this week. They too are recommending MobyPicture to share photos from your Twitter posts. It seems like never more than a few weeks go by before Facebook has made some sort of privacy change and we all have to shift [...]
In Praise of a Good Accountant at Tax Time
This should probably be one of my Billy Sheahan Photography School Courses. But for now this will have to do. I’ve had the same accountant since 1993 when I got my first real financial scare. I had been working a lot of freelance work the prior year and didn’t understand the importance of putting some [...]
The Beauty of Failure and Why it Should be Embraced
In my last blog posting, Photography Class 103 – Finding Your Style, I mentioned how failure was an important part of my early process as a photographer and how I still rely on a degree of failure in my current creative process. But before I completely move on to the next topic, I’d like to [...]
Billy Sheahan Photography – Class 103 – Finding Your Style
Billy Sheahan Photography Class 103 Finding Your Style This is part three in a series of photography discussions to help you make the most of your photographs. If you haven’t read Class 101 or Class 102, you may find those interesting. I’ve been sharing the technical aspects of making photographs in previous classes, but most likely [...]
Billy Sheahan Photography Class 102 – Choosing a DSLR Camera and Lenses
Billy Sheahan Photography Class 102 Choosing a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) Camera and Lenses This is part two in a series of photography discussions to help you make the most of your photographs. If you haven’t read Class 101, it will probably be easier to follow Class 102 if you do so first. DSLR [...]
Billy Sheahan Photography School – Class 101- Exposure Basics
From time to time I’m often asked to help emerging photographers learn about their cameras. I’m always happy to do that. When I was just starting out, I was like a sponge soaking up information from pro photographers who I would meet. I haven’t forgotten their generosity.
So in that spirit, I’m offering a bit of online instruction through my blog. It’s my attempt to break down the basics of using a camera on the manual settings, which is really the only way to make sure your photographs look exactly the way you want them to.
This 101 class pertains to Exposure Basics or how your choice of ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture all work together to create a proper exposure
The Survival of Photography as a Career Depends on Every Photographer
A fairly old statistic offers that only 1 in 500 photographers looking for a full time career in photography will actually achieve it.* The odds are probably much worse than that today. I begin this entry with that sobering statistic not to scare, but as a call to do something positive about the nature of [...]
Television of the Future
Ten years ago, I was the guy who had the first everything. If it was new and it involved technology, I was the first kid on the block. At some point, either I became too busy to keep up with everything or I simply discovered it was financially more sensible to wait a bit. You [...]
Keeping Photography Imaging Fresh in the Digital Age
Digital is a funny animal. It certainly took a while for it to look as good as its analog ancestors. But it does… looks as good now, in my opinion. It has come in very tiny steps though and will probably continue to evolve in ways we can’t imagine. Those steps can be a bit [...]
Taming the email Inbox… a few tips
Email is a wonderful thing. It’s also a horrible thing. It’s gotten to the point where people get so much email, they’re not even reading it any more. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to a colleague, did you get my email about the such and such, and they just look at [...]
Protecting your Labor this holiday weekend: backups, passwords and more
As we all enjoy this three day US holiday weekend, consider this my public service announcement to protect all your hard labor this past year and into the future. Taking a few minutes now to refresh yourself on proper backups and password protection will prove to be worth it in your digital future. Hard Dive [...]
What to charge when pricing photography services?
As we continue to crawl out from under the recent economic unpleasantness, it’s a good time to reevaluate what we’re charging for our photographic services. I get a lot of questions from both emerging and established photographers asking about how they establish or update their pricing. Some of these answers depend on the market and [...]
The CHIFCPUG lecture from March 24, 2010
For many of you regular readers, some of this blog entry may not make sense. I was honored to be invited to speak at the March meeting of the Chicago Final Cut Users Group this week, hosted by one of the top Chicago Advertising Agencies, DDB. Years ago, I was one of the co-founders of [...]
“Confess” – Making Jillian Ann’s new music video
“Confess” by Jillian Ann from Billy Sheahan on Vimeo. I thought I’d take a little break today from opening my Christmas cards (Yes, I’m that far behind schedule!), and write a little about the music video we released yesterday. A month ago to the day, our cast and crew assembled in Chicago to begin the [...]
Rain, Directing Beauty, Fun, Ben Franklin and Model Scams
As Chicago continues to suffer through the rainiest early summer I can remember (this first photo was taken at noon last Friday), we can all at least be happy in the fact that warmer temperatures have finally arrived. It feels like summer, although maybe summer in a rain forest. And after what seems like an [...]
Photographing the music of ARIISK
I’ve always enjoyed photographing live music. I used to play in bands back in the day so I feel a certain connection to music. Last night I was invited to photograph ARIISK as they were performing some new material at a great local lounge. ARIISK sounds to me like so many things I never thought [...]
