Digital Camera World » panning

Movement photography: camera panning techniques to convey a sense of speed

crutter — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:02:41 +0000

Camera panning techniques look and sound complicated. In reality, though, anyone with a manual mode and the patience to practice can learn how to pan a camera. In this tutorial we’ll show you how you can use slower shutter speeds to add a greater sense of drama to your movement photography.

All images by Chris Rutter

Camera panning is a skill that takes practice to get right. Following fast-moving subjects accurately, and choosing the best shutter speed to balance getting the subject sharp and sufficiently blurring the background isn’t something that you pick up immediately in your movement photography. But it’s incredibly rewarding when everything comes together.

If you’re new to movement photography, start your experiments using camera panning with subjects that travel in a straight line, perpendicular to the direction you’re shooting in, such as racing cars moving along a straight part of the track.

In this situation you should set the camera to shutter priority mode, select a speed of 1/250 sec and make sure that the drive mode is on continuous shooting.

You should then manually focus the lens on the point where you’ll shoot your subjects. This will avoid problems with the autofocus changing the focus point during your pan.

Next, position yourself so that you’re facing the point you’ve focused on, and turn your body so that you can pick up the subject as early as possible as it travels towards you.

Swivel smoothly, keeping the subject in the same position in the frame, for as long as possible as it travels past you.

To get the smoothest pan you should try to swivel from your hips, rather than just your shoulders, and fire the camera in the middle of this movement.

Remember to continue panning well after you’ve finished shooting, because stopping too early can create a jerky movement, which will spoil your movement photography.

Once you’ve perfected this camera panning technique, and you can smoothly follow the action, you can start to reduce the shutter speed to give more blur and a greater impression of speed in your movement photography.

Start by dropping it to 1/125 sec and then 1/60 sec or even slower, but make sure that you’re keeping the main subject sharp.

With the basic panning action mastered, you can use this technique in more difficult situations such as when subjects are moving diagonally towards you, or on even more unpredictable subjects such as moving animals or footballers.

This random movement makes it trickier to get as much background blur, because you need to use a faster shutter speed than if you’re shooting something more predictable.

Unlike with subjects moving perpendicular to you, it’s also better to select predictive autofocus mode, because the distance between you and the target will vary..

PAGE 1: What is panning?
PAGE 2: 3 simple steps to panning like a pro
PAGE 3: How to choose the best shutter speed for movement photography
PAGE 4: Final tips for taking successful panning photos

Panning: how the pros capture motion (and the best shutter speeds to use)

jmeyer — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 04:00:10 +0000

Panning is a great way to capture a sense of movement in your action photography, by blurring the background, but keeping the subject sharp. Panning is often thought to be quite difficult, but in reality, with sound technique and some practice you can capture motion blur quite easily. Below we’ll show you how it is done and reveal the best shutter speeds to use for different common subjects.

1 Get set for panning
Use the Tv or S mode to set a slower shutter speed than you would normally need to freeze the action. What speed depends on how fast your subject is moving and your position in relation to them: are you on a fast or slow corner?

Are they coming at you three-quarters on, or hammering past you down the straight?

For most motorsports on a mid-speed corner, try shooting at around 1/125sec and see how sharp your subject is and how much motion blur is in your background. Increase your shutter speed if your subject is too blurred, decrease your shutter speed if the background is too sharp.

Experiment with different shutter speeds for different events and different locations on the track – see the table, right, for suggested speeds.

2 Pan and focus
There are two ways to focus when panning; autofocus (AF) or manual focus (MF). Autofocus can produce mixed results if you’re not at the right speed to follow the focus on your moving target.

On the other hand, manual focus can produce more consistent results, but it takes practice and patience. If you are using autofocus, focus on a part of the track that you know the car or bike is going to go over, then switch to manual focus mode to lock the focus.

Frame widely, so that you have plenty of space to fit in the fast-moving vehicle. Use motordrive, then track your subject, pressing the shutter just before they hit your spot on the track.

3 Move your body
The trick to panning is get a good spot trackside, with room to swing your big lens from left to right without anybody being in your line of vision.

Take a wide stance and, moving in a 90-degree arc with your upper body, smoothly track the car/bike throughout and shoot continuously.

Always remember to follow through the arc – avoid starting or stopping abruptly, otherwise the motion blur will be messy.

Motion Blur: how to create a sense of speed in your photos

jmeyer — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:00:55 +0000

Are you struggling with shutter speeds? Are your backgrounds sharp and cars look like they’re still, or everything is all blurred?

To create a sense of speed and movement, you’ll need to use relatively slow shutter speeds of about 1/60 to 1/90 seconds. Meanwhile, keeping the cars sharp while blurring the background requires good panning technique. To do this, spread your feet fairly wide apart, standing at right angles to the point you want to shoot. Then swivel your hips, rather than your shoulders, following the car as it moves and carry on panning for as long as possible, even after releasing the shutter.

Another neat trick is to set your drive mode to Continuous and fire a burst of shots so you stand more chance of getting  one or two sharp images from  a sequence. Even with the best technique and plenty of practice, the majority of panned shots using slow shutter speeds are likely to be unusable, so stock up on memory cards and shoot as many pictures as you can to be sure of some keepers.

Step 1: Use Shutter Priority
Switch to Shutter Priority mode and dial in a shutter speed of about 1/60 sec, checking that the aperture is within range of the lens. You may need a Neutral Density filter if the sun is very bright.

Step 2: Image stabilisation
Many lenses feature manually selectable or automatically detected panning modes. Image stabilisation technology applies anti-shake in the opposite plane to the direction of your movement.

Step 3: Pre-focus
Continuous autofocus will often be too slow  to track fast-moving targets coming towards you. Switch to single focus and pre-focus on the piece of track into which the cars are moving.

Mountain biking photography tips

dcworld — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:31:12 +0000

Mountain biking is a seriously photogenic sport. The sweat, the mud, the speed… it’s a great way to hone your cycling photography skills and to try out creative camera techniques like zoom-bursts and slow-sync flash.

Best of all, unlike many sports, you can get in close with your camera. You don’t need big, heavy telephoto lenses – a camera kit lens can give you lots of creative options.

Whether you visit one of the UK’s growing list of purpose-built trail centres or simply turn up at a race venue, there’s no shortage of riders willing to show off their skills in front of the camera. Follow our mountain biking photography tips below to do them justice!

1. The right camera and lenses for mountain biking photography

The great thing about mountain biking from a photographer’s point of view is that, unlike a lot of sports, it’s possible to get up close to where all the action is happening. And with a choice of viewpoints, often right up to within inches of riders whizzing past, there’s no need for a bag of fancy lenses to get great shots.

All you need is your camera body and a standard zoom, covering wide angle to short telephoto. A lens in the 24-105mm range can be perfect for the job.

If you want to increase your options, adding an ultra-wide zoom is a good bet for dramatic angles and a rider’s eye-view of the action. Look at a lens in the 10-20mm or 12-24mm range.

The other piece of kit that should be in any cycling photographer’s bag is a flashgun.

A touch of fill-in flash is useful for blending sharpness and blur in slow shutter-speed shots, and essential if you find yourself deep in the woods where the only available light is likely to be too poor to allow you to freeze the action.

2. Use the best camera settings

Cross-country mountain biking is slower moving than many sports and riders generally follow the same path; so there’s often time to use Manual camera settings to ensure consistent results. Here, we give you a foolproof guide to the settings that will bag you the best shots every time.

Focus mode

A bike and rider shot is full of holes that can fool the camera into focusing on the background. So pre-focus on a spot where the action will happen and lock the lens by switching to manual focus.

White Balance

Use a preset White Balance to prevent changes in colour and lighting, which may affect the overall tone of your pictures. The Daylight option is best and will make batch processing of a sequence of shots easier.

Drive mode

It’s more effective to plan your photos and take a well-timed single shot instead of a sequence. However, keep the camera set to the fastest continuous frame rate so you don’t end up missing a great action moment.

Exposure mode

Shutter speed is the most important exposure variable in action photography, so stick with Shutter Priority (sometimes indicated by ‘Tv’ on the camera’s mode dial) if you want the camera to handle exposure for you, or go with Manual for more control.

3. Choose the right shutter speed

Selecting the right shutter speed is crucial with mountain bike photography. Although top pro riders move at speeds most of us would never reach on a bike, the speeds are much lower than motorsports. Don’t try to always freeze the action otherwise it can look as though the riders are standing still. Here are some suggested settings to use as a starting point, although the result will depend on the light level, the speed of the cyclist and your panning skills (see below).

1/250 sec:
at this shutter speed, there is likely to be some movement, but it may not be enough to make it look as though the rider’s going very fast.

1/60 sec:
at this setting, the background may start taking on a smooth blur, but there should still be plenty of detail in the bike and rider.

1/30 sec:
it will be hard to hold sharp details on the subject at this shutter speed. It’s useful for creative effects but too slow for general use.

4. Cycling photography technique: panning

To give your mountain biking photos that all-important sense of speed, you’ll need to practice your panning technique. The idea is that you move the camera to follow the rider, so that they remain in the same position in the frame as you take the picture.

They’ll then be rendered sharp, while the moving background becomes a blur. If the rider’s head is sharp, the rest of the shot can be a blurred mess and you’ll get away with it.

To keep a rider’s head sharp it’ll need to appear stationary during the pan. Think of your viewfinder focus points as imaginary gun-sights. Pick one that allows a suitable composition and follow the rider’s head with it. Switch off continuous focus and instead manually pre-focus on where the rider’s face will be.

1 Get comfortable

Plan where you want to take the shot and make sure you’re comfortably standing, kneeling or sitting with your body facing where the rider will be, your legs spaced apart for balance and the camera pre-focused.

2 Stay sharp

Using the focus points in your viewfinder as an imaginary gun sight, choose the one that’s closest to where you want the rider’s head to be in the composition and hold it over their head as they ride past.

3 Be gentle!

Squeeze the shutter gently while the rider’s head is still covered by your pre-selected focus point. Never jab or put pressure on the shutter as you’ll create vertical movement, spoiling the panning effect.

4 Follow through

Follow through with the focus point still over the rider’s head until well after the shot’s been taken. This is important because it ensures you’re fluidly moving the camera at the correct speed and direction.

Top panning tips

• You need a clear view of your subject – if you’re shooting a race, get there early so you can grab a prime spot.
• Choose a spot where your subject will be moving across your path so you can achieve a smooth pan.
• Although panning will play down cluttered backgrounds, try to avoid things like advertising hoardings that may still look distracting. Grass and tarmac are ideal.
• High vantage points can work well, allowing you to look down on your subject. Corners in tracks are also good panning spots as your subject won’t be moving so fast.
• Use your lens set to continuous AF mode if you don’t feel your manual focusing is good enough – and select the right AF sensor so the lens keeps focus on your subject rather than the background!

Common panning mistakes

It’s tricky to get panning right and easy to get it wrong. Successful panning is all about control and confidence. If you feel you can do it, you can, whereas if you’re unsure you’ll keep making mistakes – panning the camera too quickly, firing the shutter either too early or too late. You’re bound to make mistakes to begin with, but instead of breaking out in a sweat when you do, learn from the experience and try again – eventually you’ll nail it. Here are some common mistakes to avoid:

Problem:
The panning action was uneven so the subject is very blurred. This shot actually looks quite effective in its own right, but as an example of panning isn’t great.

Solution:
Match the speed of your camera movement to the speed of the bike.

Problem:
In this case the pan was all over the place – you can tell from the shape of the streaks in the cyclist and background that the camera was panned upwards as it travelled right to left.

Solution:
Keep the pan smooth and don’t jerk the camera as you press the shutter button and release it.

Problem:
Ooops! Panning doesn’t get much worse than this. The shutter speed was far too slow and the pan wasn’t even so the subject is a mere smudge. Must try harder!

Solution:
Pick a shutter speed fast enough to provide some detail.