Motorcycle Pan

Lawrence

Senior Member
I'd really like some feedback on this photo taken after sunset.

I hadn't ever tried a really fast panning before and saw this biker approaching from some distance.
I was in manual in Single point focus.
I like the photo but not sure if it has any technical merit so will leave that to feedback from you guys.

Motorbike pan.jpg


I could have cropped it so that there was less road and more background too.

EXIF Data:
Nikon D5100
Nikkor 18-105 mm taken at 32mm
1/90th @f5.6 ISO 4500
 

Vincent

Senior Member
Panning is a challenging sport with low keeper rate, keep that in mind, one shot will rarely do. You generally need to crop since you need some extra space in the picture to track the subject as it moves towards you.

You do ask for feedback (do not take it badly, it is to help you to improve).

I really like the emotion in the picture, one of the strong points of panning.

I generally evaluate on 4 criteria:
Subject: Clearly the motorcycle, however that it is out of focus seems like a lack of panning (technique or luck), keep on trying.
Background: this is preparation and the house is disturbing.
Light: is not ideal, I would have put some highlight on the motorcycle in post processing.
Composition: I do believe the motorcycle is not present enough on the picture.

I´m not good at panning either though, start with subject moving towards you, shooting later and later. Do try to follow-through after your shot, that is after the shutter closed again you should still be tracking the subject.
 

Lawrence

Senior Member
Thanks Vincent that is a big help. For this situation I had just finished shooting a sunset when he came hurtling along.
I am definitely keen to try and perfect this.
Much appreciated.
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Practice, panning is a challenge. I have done a few race tracks with slow enough shutter speeds to get blurring in the wheels etc. Good light is a must and I tend to use centre focal point and pan there following the bike/car. It takes alot of practice to get the right speed and smooth action so keep trying and if you have a chance to go to a race track then do it ;)
 

crashton

Senior Member
Nice first try. Like Vincent said one shot is usually not going to do it.

Shoot in continuous high & follow through all the time shooting. The odds for a keeper get better.

Your picture did not miss completely, the point of focus is at the center of the rear wheel. Had you followed through the point of focus would have moved along the bike & presented you with a keeper.

Keep shooting!
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
If I had the full size RAW file to work with it would look a lot better but... Here's a quick and dirty suggestion:

Moto Pan.jpg

Nice shot, by the way!

...
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
The crop really helps.
I did crop it pretty hard but I also blackened the background *in* the crop (using Clone Stamping) to get rid of the bright spots and make the background consistent and non-distracting. Then I extended the white line (I'm guessing it's a curb) behind the motorcyclist a bit to keep things looking natural.

I think it turned out pretty well but working with small JPG's is a draaaaaaag. :p

....
 

fotojack

Senior Member
Here is an example of good panning. Taken at a local motorcycle race track, where I was not only the photographer but a corner flagman as well.

DSC_9434.jpg

20100627_129.jpg
 

Lawrence

Senior Member
Those are awesome @fotojack. @crashton and [MENTION=13090]Horoscope Fish[/MENTION] thanks for the tips. Going to work on the RAW a bit to get it looking better.
Reading your comments I did really well (even if only the back wheel was in focus :)) as the light was minimal and preparation time was like 20 seconds from first seeing him come up the hill to firing - and then on single exposure.
Definitely going to try this again and again.
 

Lawrence

Senior Member
LOL I had a quick attempt to improve my original and failed to even match Horoscope Fish's effort.

back to PDF to brush up on "sharpening"
 
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