Tethering: The Benefits, and Some Tips

Why I Tether and the Benefits of Tethering

We begin by explaining the benefits of tethering, which involves connecting the camera directly to a laptop or iPad. Noted that while it's an extra step, and while not many beginner photographers use it to begin with, this step becomes useful for most photographers eventually, as it allows you to immediately see your photos on a larger screen, making it easier to check for focus and other details. This is especially helpful for food photography, where small details matter. I advise you to rely on your big screen to check for mistakes rather than the camera's small display.

By tethering, we can make sense of what we are capturing because we are able to see more clearly what we are doing.

We check for details of the food, messiness of crumbs/oil/etc and focus.

Tethering software can also be helpful for being able to see on a larger screen what is happening live.

Note the laptop on the right: the left side of the screen is the captured image, and the image on the right side of the laptop screen is the live view.

Can you imagine trying to view this on a tiny LED screen?

Tethering can also be useful because you can edit the photo on the go. These edits and changes are made in the catalogue, which means they won’t necessarily be made to the RAW file unless you save the software to save it.

Side note: I also mention the importance of removing the memory card when tethering to avoid connectivity issues. Don’t stress if your camera says “No card in camera”, your photos will be saved on your laptop, provided you have set your tethering software to save it to the laptop or external drive.