The way tethered shooting helps me and might help you.
A quick recap of what tethered shooting actually is. It's baically either with wires (USB) or wirelessly connecting to a device. A great company called Tethered Tools provides lengthy cables and all sorts of other accessories for this type of shooting. Since I shoot with Canon cameras, I also use their free software for remote shooting. I've found that the wireless network that the camera creates in order for the computer to connect is rather good, so most of the time I will chose the wireless option. As you can imagine, doing it this way, the speed is limited so I select shooting in RAW/small JPEG with only the later going to the computer so that I get the fastest results. I don't want to wait all day for the photos to transfer after every shot I take and bore myself and the talent to death. However, when using the cable, I have no problem of transferring RAW files to the computer. When using the wireless method, one thing to keep in mind is not to go too far from the computer, because otherwise the connection gets corrupted and you might lose the last photos you've taken. This is the scenario that happened to me. I was in a larger space, using natural light and moving around a lot with the talent and I guess I went far enough for the connection to drop. At this point reviewing the photos is not as crucial because the pace is much quicker, we're moving around a lot and it would be impossible to have the laptop in sight for reviewing. Imagine an assistant running around with a laptop following you…. since I don't have to adjust any lights, it's just me with the camera, maybe a reflector, and the talent. The issue I had is that my camera got stuck on one screen(can't remember what it was), basically locked up and the only thing I could do is to reinsert the battery to get the shoot back going. I lost some of the photos from that transfer, but we quickly redid them and all was good. You might not get as lucky to do those shots again, because as we know, sometimes amazing moments happen that you simply can't recreate. Would I've liked to not have this situation in a shoot, absolutely, cause you don't want to seem as if you don't know what you are doing. Sometimes you really might not know what you are doing, but if it's on purpose, then just sell it as if you own it!!! :) From my experience, remote shooting to a bigger screen is crucial when doing product photography, and for two reasons. First is that in comparison to portrait shoots, you probably have a lot more time and you can really spend time reviewing the photos. To be fair, I'm not saying you shouldn't or can't do that that for portraits. The second reason is kind of the continuation of the first, which is that you really need to look at the details of the product, make sure that things are really the way you want/need them to be. Looking on that small camera screen will really strain your eyes and you are likely to miss some crucial detail in the shot which might later be a pain to work with in post, because you might not have the product on hand anymore to do it again. Also, then you can easily use a USB connection to the computer and even transfer RAW files. Just make sure that you get the right cable, even though at the time of writing this article, I feel like things are getting more and more standardized and all widgets and gadgets are using USB type C, therefore on your computer you will either also have a type C or type A port. Even though the 5D Mark IV did use that weird flat microUSB with a tail. Some hard drives also use this connection, but I really hope that that goes out of fashion forever. Being tethered this way gives me the option to try something out in Photoshop right away, without the need to get the card from the camera, therefore possibly moving it and potentially ruining the next shot. A little side note about pixel peeping portraits on the spot with the client. To be honest, I try not to do that too much, otherwise they will notice some wrinkle or blemish and get really conscious about it. They will never see it in the final photo anyway, so why ruin the moment :)
That being said, here is a huge ass screen and it worked great, because people were plenty far away from it and in this case this was the right size. So again, back to evaluating the situation and see what fits best.
I'd like to mention shooting tethered via the phone app that Canon has. It's a pretty straight forward without, how they say, flashy bells and whistles and does it's job. I meant to say it did do a great job up until Android 10 came along and everything got screwy. Let's say that you want to do a remote photo with you and your friends at a party at your place. You connect the camera with the phone and everything is dandy until the phone drops the Camera hotspot for a better connection, which obviously is your WiFi. Bummer. I suppose it's not correct to put the blame on Canon, because this is something Android is at fault of, but then again Canon could step up their game and try to fix things on their end, because it is freakin' irrrrritating. However, if you don't have this issue, it's really nice to use and I often use it outside taking photos of nature, especially with long exposure shots. I can step a bit away from the camera and still be in control. You could even set up a tent nearby where you are shooting and do photography from the comfort of your tent :) Now, that's what I'm talking about!!!! There are various features that I have not explored in the app, but I could see those come in handy for someone. Sometimes I download the photo on my phone and make a quick edit for instant sharing. At the end I'm thrilled that this app works at all, because there are so many big companies out their with some app for their toaster, washer and whatnot, that are simply unusable. Well, to be fair, your experience might differ, but I hope not, because I want you to have a good experience as well! We're all in it together! Oh, I just remembered how I used the app to shoot fireworks, because it was flippin' cold on that darn roof. Probably should've used a shutter release cable, but you live and you learn :)
If there was anything at all from all of this that helped you in any way, my mission is complete. Have a great day/night :)
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