Improving Your Portfolio with Tethered Photography

Tethered photography is a great way to increase image quality, efficiency and client communication during photo shoots. Here are 5 reasons to shoot tethered.

1. Watch Your Work: Art directors and clients love the ability to see your images mid-shoot on a larger screen and having a workstation that allows them access to images is paramount for keeping the camera and your workspace free from distraction.
2. Communication Tool: Shooting tethered increases on-set communication between photographer, assistant, stylist, makeup artist and subject. When everyone can see what’s being captured, they can all work toward the desired image in a cohesive manner.
3. Refine Your Skills: Shooting tethered helps you learn and incorporate what you’re learning so that you become a better photographer faster. How, you ask?  Understanding settings and exactly what is being captured mid-shoot vs. deciphering captures during the post-production process helps you make better on-the-spot decisions. Tethering enables you to evaluate and then tweak your settings, lighting and composition to improve your work mid-shoot rather than waiting to incorporate what you’ve learned into the next shoot.
4. Control Settings: Tethering capture programs like Canon EOS Utility and Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 let you control camera functions, exposure mode, ISO, image quality, and more directly from your computer.
5. Increased Speed: When you shoot tethered, you’re sending data directly to your computer drive instead of a small CF or SD card, which are likely transferred during or after the shoot for post-production or client sharing. Shooting direct means a faster, more efficient shoot for you and your workflow. Send images directly from your camera to your client via email (or to their iPhone or iPad) before they even leave the shoot. Your client will appreciate the quick service.

What the pros are saying… “I use a tethered setup when running photography workshops. This allows my attendees to see and verify the topic I’m teaching, along with camera settings, lighting, posing and exposure.” – Eddie Tapp “I’m currently shooting tethered to Capture One with the Leaf Credo60 and Canon 5DMKIII. I like the fact that my images are backed up right away. Tethered shooting is also a vital part of my teaching process because it’s the only way students can immediately see photo results and interact with settings.” – Frank Doorhof “If I had to give my top 3 benefits to shooting tethered, they would be: speed, detail and efficiency. I can see the results I’m getting on a large screen right away and check that photos are good and sharp. Tethered shooting is efficient because images are saved directly to my computer and I don’t have to waste time loading up image files from card readers.” – Glyn Dewis To learn more from top pros shooting tethered, visit our Who’s Using Tether Tools page.