5 Tethering Essentials | Inside Fashion and Beauty Photography with Lindsay Adler

Tethering is an essential part of all of my studio shoots. Tethering allows me to preview and backup my images, check focus, review exposure, and make color grading adjustments throughout my shoots.

What is tethering? Tethering allows you to connect your camera to your computer so that images are reviewed/imported as you take each frame. On any commercial shoot, tethering will be required so that your creative team (hair/makeup/wardrobe) can review how the images look and of course so that the client can see the progress of the shoot.

In this video, I’d like to share 5 elements that are essential for tethering.

1. Tether Cable: A tethered cable is what connects your camera directly to the computer. When you purchase a cable, remember that it will be specific to both your camera and the computer. In other words, you have to look at both ends of the cable to make sure it works within the system you area using. I shoot with a Canon R5 and a MacBook Pro, therefore I am using a USB-C to USB-C cable. I recommend taking a look at a right-angle cable for a more secure connection (I use the one from TetherTools).

2. TetherBlock: A TetherBlock helps you to secure the tether cable to the bottom of your camera. This prevents the cable from wiggling/disconnecting during your shoot, or accidentally being ripped away from your camera. This is important for maintaining a consistent tether to your computer as well as preventing any damage to the port on your camera.

3. Tether Table: When tethering, you’ll need something to set your computer on. Sure, you could use a regular table, but it is more convenient to use something that can move around the shoot with you. A basic setup is a TetherTools Aero table. It has a grippy surface so that your computer is stable and I can attach the tabletop to a rolling stand. There are more robust tethering tables and carts (Inovativ), but anything mobile is a good place to start.

4. Tethering Software: You’ll need some sort of computer program/software to ingest/import photos will you shoot. This could be Lightroom, CaptureOne, or software specific to your camera brand. It doesn’t matter which one, though CaptureOne is what is most common on a commercial set because of its speed.

5. Harddrive (SSD): When tethering it is important that you are backing up your images during a shoot. You may be shooting to your computer’s desktop and the camera’s memory card, or shooting to your computer’s desktop while also simultaneously backing up to an external hard drive. I recommend a solid-state drive by G-tech (now Sandisk Pro) because solid-state drives are durable— if you accidentally drop your drive, an SSD doesn’t have any moving parts and therefore is much less likely to break/lose data.

SUBSCRIBE AND BE PART OF THE ADORAMA FAMILY:

__________________________________
Be the first to shop our great deals and sales by signing up for emails from Adorama!

__________________________________
✘ PRODUCTS USED:

Canon R5

Canon RF 24-105mm 4.0

Profoto D2

Profoto Large Umbrella + Diffusion:

Savage Fashion Gray Background:

TetherBlock:

TetherTools Aero Table:

TetherTools Tether Cable (USB C to USB C):

CaptureOne:

G-Tech SSD Drive:

#tethering #canonr5 #adorama

__________________________________
❐ LET'S GET SOCIAL ❏

❐ MORE ADORAMA ❏

__________________________________
Photographer: Lindsay Adler

Makeup: Joanne Gair
Hair: Linh Nguyen
Styling: Raytell Bridges
Video: Samuel Bouret

__________________________________
Inside Fashion and Beauty Photography with Lindsay Adler Playlist

__________________________________
THANKS SO MUCH FOR WATCHING!

[GuidoNietmann]

This is not an ordinary person. Its really a teaching goddess. Thank u again!

[aalene]

Incredibly educational. Not just a list of recommendations, but solid reasoning behind every decision, and it's all explained concisely and in an easy to understand manner.

[CappuccinoLife]

M1 MacBook Pro + Lightroom Updated to M1 = Amazing!

[philippmonihart]

Even tough I've been shooting tethered for years, there's still always something to learn from Lindsay. Thank you very much!

[StevenSmith-nqxe]

Another essential, beautifully produced, crystal-clear video. No one does them better. Thank you, Lindsay!

[fountainvalley]

Awesome information. I would suggest tie wrapping the cable to the bottom of the stand. That way when you trip over the cable you are pulling on the bottom of the stand which probably won’t cause the stand to tip over or pull the laptop off the stand.

[Maximilan]

Very educational, simple and straight to the point. Thank you

[andyraeber]

Lindsay absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing

[capturemeinpictures]

There is a simpler way to tether, although with fewer features. My primary use for tethering is to be able to view images in real-time on a larger screen. I want to see them instantly without a buffering pause. I achieve this by connecting the HDMI output of the camera directly to a USB port on my laptop (using an HDMI cable and an inexpensive video capture card that has a USB output). I simply use the "Camera app" in Windows and images from the preview are visible. You can also scroll through the images on the camera card. An external monitor could also be used without a capture card. This is a simple, inexpensive option that does not require software, secondary backup (my camera has 2 card slots), etc. Hope this option helps a few fellow portrait photographers.

[jer]

Lindsay, great rundown and great tips too, thank you very much. FYI, for your viewers with modest budgets, Tethering is available in On1 Photo RAW. It is very fast, well, for 20± MP cameras anyway— I don't know about 40MP cameras. I use it for my in-home-small-studio portraits and just about anything else I shoot indoors. All the On1 editing features are available on the tethered screen just as they are for any photo. Currently it supports Nikon and Canon cameras. Enjoyed seeing your use of tethering, thanks!

[marcelmarcoshierro]

😍10;58 and 11:01 shoots!!!! Thanks as usual!

[JBGuarino]

Lindsay is a great teacher clear explanation, straight forward brought a few of her courses on CreativeLive.

[josephchan]

I see the advantages of having it. I usually wait to edit the photos at home since it personal work. If it was for work I would consider tethering.

[zacgrimaldo]

Lindsay has a gift for teaching, I'm a professional shooter and still learn tons from her! Lindsay, some fashion shooters shoot everything horizontal and then just crop it vertical if they need to, do you switch back and forth or shoot everything in landscape when shooting a commercial job?

[mikeydmalden]

i'm in the market for a portable tethering station like this. Who makes the rolling stand you mentioned around 4:15?

[yassyn]

This video comes at the right time i hope its gonna help me after being disappointed yesterday where i used WIFI Tethering which was really boring and took half of my time in photo session, Thank you Adorama for this amazing Lessons.
Many greetings from Germany

[rimRapr]

The orange Tethertools cables come in handy as you won't spend much time telling your cables apart and find the tethering cable.

[AJMac]

This was beautiful. Thank you, I learned a lot.

[tubelator]

The SD/CF card saves your files. The macbook is a backup, if you make a lightroom directory straight in dropbox/googledrive, your files are already backupped in cloud. If your connection is fast :)

[wendsignstudio]

Thank you very much Lindsay & Adorama