The Benefits of Remote Control Shooting by Bob Coates

Intro by Skip Cohen

Long before Bob Coates became a Panasonic LUMIX Luminary, we were good buddies. We've hung out together a lot over the years and with each new project/subject I'm amazed at his diversity. 

This new Luminary Corner post hits on another feature of many of the LUMIX cameras - the ability to control everything from your iPad or iPhone. In fact, as the industry's low-tech poster child, even I have it mastered. For Shutter Magazine, each month I've been doing my video for the online edition with a LUMIX FZ1000 and using the Panasonic Image App Bob mentions in his post.

Diversity isn't just one of Bob's qualities as an artist, but the entire Luminary team. Visit the LUMIX Lounge and get to know each one of them, their work and their teaching schedules. There's no such thing as having too many of them in your network!

Also, take the time to check out Bob's blog, Successful-Photographer. It's loaded with great content, all meant to help you raise the bar on your skill set, marketing and business.

Visit the LUMIx Lounge

Successful-Photographer

Exterior night shot photographed over a 45 minute timeline, then blending images. The iPad view allowed for remote shooting without disturbing the camera.

By Bob Coates

This hotel has had an eight million dollar remodel and I’ve been photographing it over the past six months or so...

Being able to control the camera from the IPad (or the IPhone after dropping the Ipad in the middle of the shoot!) using the Lumix GH4 using its built in WIFI and the Panasonic Image APP (free download) has made shooting much easier. You can see exactly what the camera sees as you move around the room.

A bonus in operating and controlling the camera from the IPad (or IPhone or Android device) is when making multiple exposures to handle lighting situations with bracketing, the camera is not touched. This allows for exact registration for blending various exposures using Adobe’s Photoshop Layers and Masks.

Another bonus to shooting from a remote system is being able to ‘paint the room’ with multiple pops of a flash and see the results as you go. These images are blended into the final scene adding light where necessary to fill shadows or creativity for esthetic reasons to add interest. I used a Paul C Buff light with a strip light box attached and a Vagabond battery pack to stay mobile. The Buff wireless triggers complete the remote set-up.

I’ve found the ability to ‘light my images’ with multiple exposures has made my shooting more efficient giving a better quality image to my clients. I spend more time in post production,  but my client’s time is not wasted and I’m able to get the property's  rooms back online so there is little revenue loss when I photograph.

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The Boardroom - I was able to blend interior with exterior using multiple exposures and adding some flash.