Capture the action! I like motor sport and have been trying panning techniques, but with limited success. What’s the secret?
Panning is one of those techniques that are easy in theory, but harder than you think to get spot-on. The more you do it, the more you get a feel for it. I actually think that a wellexecuted panned shot is often much better than a fast-shutterspeed frozen-motion shot, answerePAhdovtiosor your questions d simply because it gives a much more evocative sense of speed.
You can pan with any moving subject – someone walking, a bike rider, a running animal and so on. The faster it’s moving, the faster you need to move the camera. It’s also impossible to say what shutter speed you should be using, as it varies depending on the subject and speed they are moving at. I’ve panned with shutter speeds from as slow as a 1/15 sec to as fast as 1/500 sec.
In the first sample shot (above left), I used 1/100 sec to get the look I wanted, and I just worked it out by trial and error. I was trying to get the subject fairly sharp, but wanted the wheels to show some rotation blur and the background and track to streak. In the second image (above right), the shutter speed is 1/250 sec. Although the kart wheels show movement, the background and track are less streaked because of the faster shutter speed. There’s no right or wrong: it’s just what you prefer. All I do is have the camera’s AF setting in Continuous mode and select a small group of AF points at the centre. When the subject is approaching, I lock on to it and follow it with a smooth sideways motion, but don’t fire the shutter until the subject is directly parallel with me. I keep moving the camera in a slightly exaggerated sweep. If your movement is erratic or juddery, it’s easy to mess it up.
If you are doing this and still not happy with the results, you need to assess how smooth your panning motion is and whether you have a fast enough shutter speed. As I said, it’s trial and error – so keep trying and you’ll soon master it.