Don’t go too far
You have a great camera, great lens, sharp sensor and a tiny LCD. Even if you have a large LCD on the back of your camera, it’s not as big as your computer screen. So should you run back and forth dumping your photos after each image is made just to see if everything is really sharp? You can zoom in on your image on the back of your camera to check the sharpness of the image. (You did read how to do that in your manual, didn’t you?) Almost every digital camera has this ability, but there’s a better way if you aren’t going to be moving around a lot. Make your photos while connected to your computer. Of course a laptop is a good choice here. This is my basic setup (Flash on top of the camera is not necessary.)
A six foot USB cable is generally a separate purchase, since most USB cables that come with your camera are generally three foot or less. So if you need to pull the camera off the tripod, having that longer cable will give you more flexibility. But you have to make sure the cable can handle the data transfer. Not all USB cables are equal. So when you buy one, make sure you keep your receipt in case it doesn’t perform. If you can find a shielded cable, that’s a pretty sure bet that it’ll work. The next step will be to have some software that’ll download the images and control your camera. If you have a Canon, the software likely came with your camera. If not you can use several other options. If you are using a Mac, try http://www.sofortbildapp.com/ If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, check out http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=38
In some cases, once the software is setup, you need to have it go somewhere to be displayed. I use Adobe Lightroom for this task. It allows the photos to automatically have certain setting applied and have your copyright meta data added. I can quickly see the photos and pick the keepers, and send a photo to print. The really nice bit about using Lightroom is having a second monitor so the image can display to the client and they can see how good they look. You can even use an HDTV as that second monitor if you want something really large. I’m quickly becoming a proponent of tethered session for all my “in studio” photography. It really allows you to see the photo Later this week I hope to have an interesting tethered setup and show you a more extreme use for this sort of session.
