Has anyone here had success with panning photography? I would like to get the smooth blur with a focused moving subject. I tried doing it with my son riding his scooter (for practice), and I will post a few of those shots when I get home for reference and critique from anybody... I have read a couple of tutorials on the subject, but they don't seem to totally work for me.
Panning...
- Thread starter Tom Grove
- Start date
PaulPosition
Senior Member
Might need to go for a smallish aperture if it's overly bright. As MoabMan said, keep panning it's like a golf swing.
Find out the vehicle trajectory in advance, pre-focus on the tarmac and maybe try to find a comfortable position that you'll be able to maintain ; that will help you judge when the vehicle is going through "the scene" and when to hit shutter (like when you feel your straight you shoot, or when your weight goes on your left leg you shoot, etc.) Of course, for each event you shoot you'll get a few crap ones while you find your marks but the rest will be at least 50% keepers.
Find out the vehicle trajectory in advance, pre-focus on the tarmac and maybe try to find a comfortable position that you'll be able to maintain ; that will help you judge when the vehicle is going through "the scene" and when to hit shutter (like when you feel your straight you shoot, or when your weight goes on your left leg you shoot, etc.) Of course, for each event you shoot you'll get a few crap ones while you find your marks but the rest will be at least 50% keepers.
singlerosa_RIP
Senior Member
I shoot a couple of track events a year for the Porsche Club. I've gotten better at panning over the years. First shot is from last year
D7000 w/17-55 2.8 @ 1/80 sec. Second is from our Spring event this year D600 w/ 24-70 @ 1/80 sec.
D7000 w/17-55 2.8 @ 1/80 sec. Second is from our Spring event this year D600 w/ 24-70 @ 1/80 sec.
Don't be afraid to pick my photos apart... I am very thick skinned (and thick headed according to my wife) and am looking for all the helpful criticism and advice I can get... I have only been dabbling with photography for about three months and am reading everything I can get my hands on... I keep trying any technique I can just so I can say I did it... This way I can not only become well rounded, but also assess what type of photography suits me best (and enjoy most) so I can hone my skills.
I've been watching this thread, but haven't commented because I have never really tried to blur the background and have no real-life advice. It is a nice effect though and I will practice.
I had some thoughts though. Maybe a little too much blur in your shots, especially the first shot, I think I see some up/down blur that does not look right. Jim's car shots look like a good amount of blur.
In general (again, I haven't done this, lol), I think you need to start out around the minimum recommended shutter speed for your focal length, 1/focal length. First goal is to get a reasonably sharp shot of your main subject considering that you are moving the camera following along. Too slow and your main subject will be too blurry.
Goal 2 is to blur the background. For this goal, too high of a shutter speed will freeze the background. Too slow and you risk unpleasant vertical blur. The speed needed will vary depending on focal length and how far away the background is. So my approach would be to take a few practice shots before the main subject arrives. Start at 1/focal length. Pan at an approximate speed and see what shutter speed gives the most pleasing blur to the background. I think you will end up with a shutter speed within 1 or 2 clicks either side of the minimum shutter speed for your focal length. That speed should be fine to freeze your main subject.
Again, I'm just thinking out loud here, I haven't tried this.
As a side note, you might have some fun with flash and rear curtain sync. Probably not good to flash cars or athletes, but you can get some neat effects with a slow shutter speed and and then freezing the subject with the flash.
I had some thoughts though. Maybe a little too much blur in your shots, especially the first shot, I think I see some up/down blur that does not look right. Jim's car shots look like a good amount of blur.
In general (again, I haven't done this, lol), I think you need to start out around the minimum recommended shutter speed for your focal length, 1/focal length. First goal is to get a reasonably sharp shot of your main subject considering that you are moving the camera following along. Too slow and your main subject will be too blurry.
Goal 2 is to blur the background. For this goal, too high of a shutter speed will freeze the background. Too slow and you risk unpleasant vertical blur. The speed needed will vary depending on focal length and how far away the background is. So my approach would be to take a few practice shots before the main subject arrives. Start at 1/focal length. Pan at an approximate speed and see what shutter speed gives the most pleasing blur to the background. I think you will end up with a shutter speed within 1 or 2 clicks either side of the minimum shutter speed for your focal length. That speed should be fine to freeze your main subject.
Again, I'm just thinking out loud here, I haven't tried this.
As a side note, you might have some fun with flash and rear curtain sync. Probably not good to flash cars or athletes, but you can get some neat effects with a slow shutter speed and and then freezing the subject with the flash.
Ok, I poked my head outside and tried my own advice. 40mph cars on road about 100 yards away. I had to go slower than I predicted, but I think that will vary quite a bit depending on distance and focal length and pan speed. 300mm at 1/200 , 1/160, and 1/100 for these shots.
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How is the shutter speed for each focal length determined... or is it a trial and error thing? I'll give it a try though... Most of my sport photos have been during the mid day so flash wouldn't make a difference... I'll try some night shots at the skate park though and give the flash idea a try as well.
Thank you... The sun was going down towards the end when I began to get the technique somewhat...
1/focal length is the customary minimum hand held speed. So for 55mm, they would say 1/50 is a safe hand held speed. I think that same formula is a good starting point for these pan shots. In the end though, you will need to experiment because distance and pan speed are going to have a big affect on the blur that you get.
If you have an external flash, you should have enough power to get the blurred flash effect in daylight. The onboard might work too if the subject is pretty close. You want some daylight to contribute to the exposure. The daylight gives the blur and the flash gives a freeze frame.
Here is a regular front curtain shot of my salt shaker. It was standing still and I panned across it from right to left. 1/15 second. Had it actually been moving, I would need to set the flash for rear curtain sync or else the blur would be in the wrong direction. Front/rear curtain just tells the flash to fire either at the beginning of a slow shutter speed or at the end of the cycle and that will determine which side of your subject shows the blur. Give it a try, it can make some fun kid shots.
You can shoot high iso with your D7000. Don't be afraid to bump it up. I have shot many times in the 6400-10,000 range.