Panning
This item was submitted by Paul Cavill – a former motor-cycle racer, now an extreme sports photo-journalist. His advice is given in the context of shooting at race meetings.
What Is Panning?
Panning involves moving your camera to follow a moving subject. But getting impressive panned action takes a bit more than just moving your camera.
Impressive, Fast-Action Panning.
The goal here is to convey the speed of the subject by getting them in sharp focus while the background slips into a blur.
What's the Trick?
The primary trick to this is to adjust your shutter speed according to the speed of your subject. You want a shutter speed that is fast enough to ‘stop’ the subject, but not so fast that the background comes into sharp focus as well.
Shutter Speeds.
For example, with a shutter speed of 1/1000 you'll be able to capture a racing motorcar in sharp focus, but the track and crowd will be sharp too, leaving the photo with a static, fast-as-in-a-parking-lot feeling. Similarly, with a shutter speed of 1/125 you likely won't get the racecar sharp, even if you're panning perfectly.
For most fast action panning shots a shutter speed of 1/250 or 1/500 will work, depending on the speed of the subject. If your camera does not have shutter priority controls, turn your mode dial to action and select you highest ISO setting (see note below). The ideal is to find a shutter speed that will ‘stop’ the car or bike – but leave some blur in the wheels.
Additional Techniques: Here are some other important points to keep in mind:
1. Pick a good vantage point that lets you follow the subject through the largest arc possible. This will give you more time for your shot and may even allow you additional shots in a single pass.
2. Turn off your flash if the subject is more than 6 yards away.
3. Pre-focus on the subject as it comes into view then press the shutter release button down all the way when your shot is nicely framed.
4. Follow-through by continuing to track the subject after you've got the photo. This will help you perfect the panning
motion and will prevent you stopping short just as you release the shutter.
Note: Using high ISO settings may cause a significant loss of quality on some digital cameras. You may want to test the ISO results on your camera before relying on it for an important photo assignment.