Remote Shoots - How’s and Whys?

Hi Little Wren  

can I suggest that you have a look at Chris Conway and Amie Boulton and  Natasha J Bella  portfolios they seem to be right on top of remote shooting.  At least some of them have links to documents that explain the process they use.  You might need to check their castings or events to find the links.

Sorry I can’t help personally as it’s not something I know much about.

Little Wren said

what kind of equipment is required and can it be costly? Also, without sounding stupid, how does it all work apart from the obvious?

Hi Little Wren

The best results will always be from DSLRs with decent lenses.  The camera would be tripod mounted and tethered to your PC or Laptop and then the control of the laptop can be shared with the photographer using Remote Assistance on Zoom.  Using this method, the photographer can control all the functions of your DSLR themselves and press the shutter.  The photos are saved as normal to the camera memory card so then need to be sent via Dropbox or similar to the photographer to edit.

I have personally also investigated other methods, including directing a shoot using a laptop webcam behind a DSLR which wasn't compatible with tethering software.  I have also used remote technology to take over a Samsung phone to control the camera directly, and even taken screenshots from a zoom conversation from a model that was using an iPhone.

I'm sure lots of people would scorn the idea of screenshots from a Zoom conversation, but it enabled me to take shots from places that you wouldn't normally be able to put a DSLR... such as inside a fridge, or inside a washing machine.  Feel free to look at my Remote Shoots folder if you would like to see how it worked

Hope you get this sorted soon, and have loads of fun.

Pix Photography said

Little Wren said

what kind of equipment is required and can it be costly? Also, without sounding stupid, how does it all work apart from the obvious?

Hi Little Wren

The best results will always be from DSLRs with decent lenses.  The camera would be tripod mounted and tethered to your PC or Laptop and then the control of the laptop can be shared with the photographer using Remote Assistance on Zoom.  Using this method, the photographer can control all the functions of your DSLR themselves and press the shutter.  The photos are saved as normal to the camera memory card so then need to be sent via Dropbox or similar to the photographer to edit.

I have personally also investigated other methods, including directing a shoot using a laptop webcam behind a DSLR which wasn't compatible with tethering software.  I have also used remote technology to take over a Samsung phone to control the camera directly, and even taken screenshots from a zoom conversation from a model that was using an iPhone.

I'm sure lots of people would scorn the idea of screenshots from a Zoom conversation, but it enabled me to take shots from places that you wouldn't normally be able to put a DSLR... such as inside a fridge, or inside a washing machine.  Feel free to look at my Remote Shoots folder if you would like to see how it worked

Hope you get this sorted soon, and have loads of fun.

hi, cannot send equipment to model, cannot tell model which settings are needed. where to get tethering software from ? will software work fine with camera ?  will have a look at your remote shoot folder .... thks ... 

Foto Michi I can recommend https://purpleport.com/portfolio/natashajbella/ who has her own studio/camera equipment. She has a huge amount of experience and would be able to assist you on yout first shoot.

Contact me Little Wren :) :)

Pix Photography said

Foto Michi I can recommend https://purpleport.com/portfolio/natashajbella/ who has her own studio/camera equipment. She has a huge amount of experience and would be able to assist you on yout first shoot.

Pix Photography hi, thks a lot for info. how to say ? only my 1 st remote shoot. no need for studio equipment, only outdoor or indoor shoots. will ask her or experience related to remote shoots.  i know remote shoots by camera - laptop/destop usb-cabel connetion with remote-software included in camera-software. feel free to drop me any info by m related to this theme ..    

This is an interesting read - Thank you Little wren for asking this question, I kinda tried a distance related shoot with a model a few weeks after the lockdown came in, but it was quite a headache the way I was doing it - as I'm not that technically minded and couldn't work out how this worked. 
The way we ended up doing it - was the model and myself would talk through roughly what we wanted from the image poses / outifts etc and then she took the shot on her mobile and I took a photo of that on my screen..... the results - well not great, was fun as I like to experiment and learn as I go, but editing was a killer due to screen flicker etc. 

Pix Photography said

Foto Michi I can recommend https://purpleport.com/portfolio/natashajbella/ who has her own studio/camera equipment. She has a huge amount of experience and would be able to assist you on yout first shoot.

sent her pm. not sure which model owns her equipment ? neither sure how to get all these mentioned softwares. should you know where to get softwares from, feel free to send links by pm, mail, whatsapp. lets have a look which reply of her will come ? thanks a lot for helping ....  

Pix Photography said

Foto Michi I can recommend https://purpleport.com/portfolio/natashajbella/ who has her own studio/camera equipment. She has a huge amount of experience and would be able to assist you on yout first shoot.

well, how to say ? any general infos from internet needed. seems, she thinks want to book her. cannot share infos from her website to my port without her allowing ... thanks ...

Little Wren said

As a model to be involved in a remote shoot, what kind of equipment is required and can it be costly? Also, without sounding stupid, how does it all work apart from the obvious?

I’ve managed a couple of self portraits as I’ve only had a camera for about a month and half.

I am now part of a support bubble with my partner and he’s a professional photographer and we are planning a studio shoot next weekend on his premises.

I’m still nervous about working with other photographers even with social distancing in place and outdoors and was thinking if remote shooting would be an option for myself.

Thanks

Hi Little Wren,

You mention you have a camera already, you'll need a cable to connect your camera to a laptop, also a tripod.  You can use natural light, continuous lights or strobes.

Then you'll need tethering software, this depends on what camera model you have.  I have a Canon so I use EOS Utilities 3.

Then you need to choose a way to connect with the photographer, I use Zoom to give remote control to the photographer so that they can control the screen.

I have a couple of pages on my website which might help.  https://www.natashajbella.co.uk/shoot-tethered 

And an image here to show you what my screen looks like during a remote shoot.

(I made this as one whole image, it's just the top half that is on the screen.)

Natasha J Bella said

Little Wren said

As a model to be involved in a remote shoot, what kind of equipment is required and can it be costly? Also, without sounding stupid, how does it all work apart from the obvious?

I’ve managed a couple of self portraits as I’ve only had a camera for about a month and half.

I am now part of a support bubble with my partner and he’s a professional photographer and we are planning a studio shoot next weekend on his premises.

I’m still nervous about working with other photographers even with social distancing in place and outdoors and was thinking if remote shooting would be an option for myself.

Thanks

Hi Little Wren,

You mention you have a camera already, you'll need a cable to connect your camera to a laptop, also a tripod.  You can use natural light, continuous lights or strobes.

Then you'll need tethering software, this depends on what camera model you have.  I have a Canon so I use EOS Utilities 3.

Then you need to choose a way to connect with the photographer, I use Zoom to give remote control to the photographer so that they can control the screen.

I have a couple of pages on my website which might help.  https://www.natashajbella.co.uk/shoot-tethered 

And an image here to show you what my screen looks like during a remote shoot.

(I made this as one whole image, it's just the top half that is on the screen.)

wow - these are superb - love the mono at the bottom

Natasha J Bella said

Little Wren said

As a model to be involved in a remote shoot, what kind of equipment is required and can it be costly? Also, without sounding stupid, how does it all work apart from the obvious?

I’ve managed a couple of self portraits as I’ve only had a camera for about a month and half.

I am now part of a support bubble with my partner and he’s a professional photographer and we are planning a studio shoot next weekend on his premises.

I’m still nervous about working with other photographers even with social distancing in place and outdoors and was thinking if remote shooting would be an option for myself.

Thanks

Hi Little Wren,

You mention you have a camera already, you'll need a cable to connect your camera to a laptop, also a tripod.  You can use natural light, continuous lights or strobes.

Then you'll need tethering software, this depends on what camera model you have.  I have a Canon so I use EOS Utilities 3.

Then you need to choose a way to connect with the photographer, I use Zoom to give remote control to the photographer so that they can control the screen.

I have a couple of pages on my website which might help.  https://www.natashajbella.co.uk/shoot-tethered 

And an image here to show you what my screen looks like during a remote shoot.

(I made this as one whole image, it's just the top half that is on the screen.)

hi Natasha J Bella , may i ask ... why to use wifi ?  how to explain lightening to a model ?  how to manage camera position & handling of objectives ?  is zoom using ssl  ?  what's with zoom id  ?  are these images available for any download for viewing in detailed view ? sorry for many questions ... thanks a lot for all these informations. 

If it helps anyone here are some examples of what Natasha and I have created remotely

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&natashajbella

It relies heavily on the skill and knowledge of the model who basically has to do everything other that control the camera. This includes positioning of the camera, lighting, props, changing lenses if necessary. It also relies on the communication skills of the photographer to verbally direct proceedings. I’ve done other shoots with setups similar to Natasha’s

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&1sadie

But also with far less sophisticated setups. These were taken using 2 phones!

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&ellacainzos

Apologies the links haven’t worked - I’ve never managed to get a link work from my phone

Edited by ADWsPhotos

Hi hope you don't mind me joining the conversation, have made my own post, but noticed many have spoken in here.so I was asking who has found a good app for android based tech as it seems apple is trying to corner the market with facetime.

ADWsPhotos said

If it helps anyone here are some examples of what Natasha and I have created remotely

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&natashajbella

It relies heavily on the skill and knowledge of the model who basically has to do everything other that control the camera. This includes positioning of the camera, lighting, props, changing lenses if necessary. It also relies on the communication skills of the photographer to verbally direct proceedings. I’ve done other shoots with setups similar to Natasha’s

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&1sadie

But also with far less sophisticated setups. These were taken using 2 phones!

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&ellacainzos

Apologies the links haven’t worked - I’ve never managed to get a link work from my phone

Edited by ADWsPhotos

Clicky clicky ...

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&natashajbella

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&1sadie

https://purpleport.com/images-between/#adwsphotos&ellacainzos