Tiny Tips 19: 5 Top Tips When Shooting Tethered

Shooting tethered for the first time can be tricky, and doing it for the first time in front of a client is definitely not recommended. Here are some tips from my experiences of shooting with my camera tethered to my computer with Adobe Lightroom and Capture One Pro. Pay attention so that you don’t have to improvise like I had to.

Tips for Shooting Photos Tethered to a Computer

Shooting tethered for the first time is daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Follow these tips.

1. Try it out beforehand with the particular computer and camera that you will be using. Hardware has a way of doing strange things when you least expect it.
2. Shoot to card and drive simultaneously. You can set up your camera to take a photograph even if there is no recording medium (SD or CF Card. However, we don’t recommend doing that. If your file gets corrupted en route to the computer, you’ll at least have a backup in the card.
3. Ensure that you have enough storage space in both locations (SD card and your computer’s storage). We tend to shoot more photos when tethered, so mark the good ones, and immediately delete the rejects.
4. Secure your Electronics: Make sure that your power outlets and computers are well-grounded. Improperly earthed outlets could end up sending a current through the camera’s body giving the photographer shocks and putting all your equipment at risk of short circuits.
5. Keep a backup cable in your camera bag, and an extension too. Bring a lot of duct tape to tape it down to a secure surface.
6. Bonus Tip: Back up your data immediately after the shoot, or risk losing all your precious image data.

These are the basics when it comes to tethered capture, if you have any other tips that you would like to share, please share them in a comment below.