panning help

[va-guy]

i have a lot of tracks around here rolling hills, birch creek, lake sugar tree, south boston speedway, and vir. looking to improve my panning shots.
i shot these in tv mode so it would control the f stop and i just have to pick the Shutter Speed most of the pic i shot at 1/125 to 1/320. it seem on manual the f stop changes because of the lighting or should i use a other mode. also i changed to manual af to a sinlge point seen to help and i use al servo. still getting to many spoliers need a is len would help. canon xti kit lens

[va-guy]

shot 3 and 4

[xknowonex]

Meter the scene an shutter priority first and see what shutter aperture combo it gives u then input those numbers in Manual mode. Your exposures will be a little more consistant

[jimken61]

If your going to shoot in M set your shutter and aperture where you want it then adjust your ISO to get the correct exposure. You might have to give a little one way or another on shutter speed and or f-stop if you cant get where you want to with the ISO. You should be able to use the exposure meter inside the viewfinder to get you in the ball park. Hope this makes sense and helps. Good luck and keep practicing!!
Jim

[va-guy]

thanks for the tips

[Cali Agent]

Sorry I hope you dont mind me doing this. But a little post production helps as well. Did a quickie for example.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3297/3454436889_262e90eab7_o.jpg

[Bicknell55]

An IS lens won't help much if any with panning. What is the XTI kit lens?

[crricha13]

i was there this past weekend. :) those don't look bad panning.

[Zilly]

its off road so to start with its never going to be as easy as panning on road and personaly I think you have done quite well considering its bikes and its on rough terrain

[S.E.V.]

Not to shabby. What I do is shoot in Manual mode. Making sure the the exposure is at 0 or under by a hair. Try using a ND filter as well so you can drop your shutter speed while keeping your f stop open. It only takes practice to get better. IS tends to effect the focusing and panning. It also helps on a long lens. Also shoot at 100 iso. Try different setups to see which one works best for you. And try to have a steady hand. Also learn the rule of thirds. Google rule of thirds. Makes the images all that much better.

[va-guy]

thanks everyone looking forward to trying some of these tips out. going to vir this week to try the Daytona Prototypes.

[silvex]

Put the camera in Tv mode using 1/125 and meter for the ground. Now switch to M and use the 1/125 plus the Fstop of the metering above. Take a shot of the bike. Check the shot histogram and adjust f-stop down until in the middle. I usually go for +1/3 stop.

[Zilly]

thanks everyone looking forward to trying some of these tips out. going to vir this week to try the Daytona Prototypes.

Bit of a cheeky plug but I did a post on my Drag Racing and motorsport blog (http://blog.modernpics.co.uk) about the art of panning (http://blog.modernpics.co.uk/2008/11/16/the-art-of-the-pan/). Might be of some intrest to you ;)

[John Thawley]

Respectfully, I believe you are getting a lot of mixed input here. Some of it good... but collectively, it is misleading and in many ways, an inexact approach.

Panning is about YOUR movement. After all, the camera should appear to be connected to the subject as you follow it. So, the resulting blur is the background... and the degree of blur is based on how much the camera is moving relative to the SHUTTER setting. That's it... plain and simple.

Well, maybe not so simple.

Your movement is no different than that of an athlete. Golf is the best analogy here. A golfer has "his swing." For the most part, his game is based on the development of his swing. It's consitent. It's controlled. It's his game.

Now... when a golfer approaches a shot, he reviews the distance he needs to accomplish, and all the other objectives of the shot and then selects the right club that will accomplish his goals BASED ON HIS SWING. He's not going to drastically change his swing to accomplish the goals. He'll let the right club do that.

We must do the same. Establish your swing. Get a smooth motion to your pan and establish the most consistent comfortable motion that you can replicate over and over.

Now.. when you approach a shot, you will assess the speed of the subject and the distance you need to be away from the subject to be able to pan in YOUR comfort zone. Obviously, we can't always determine where we get to stand. So, we need to choose the right club... or lens. So, by finding the right combination of addressing the speed of our subject, where we are standing and having the right focal length lens, we shouldn't have to drastically alter our swing.

If we have the right combination as described above, we should find our swing in "the zone." Smooth, consistent and predictable. Given that, we should be able to begin to drop the shutter speed with increased accuracy. Keeping in mind that the slower shutters naturally inherit softness on the front and back edges of our subject (car)... if we have our swing down, we are now in control to CHOOSE what effect we want. If I want radical, I'll drop down to 1/30th or even 1/15th shutters. If I need crisp and sharp... I'm going to keep it in the 1/80th - 1/125th range.

My point is, your motion is the determining factor of your success. The tools give you choices to better control and increase your choices of the type of shot you ultimately want.

If your "swing" is too fast, your pans will be erratic and your composition unpredictable. If your "swing" is too slow, your pans will be wobbly. You must be smooth and consistent.

The comment about panning off road was correct. Now you're dealing with your subject bouncing UP and DOWN... it's going to be difficult to shoot real slow in that situation.

Regarding exposure.... that has absolutely nothing do with panning. Exposure is exposure. It's either correct or it isn't. Yes, if you try to shoot down at 1/15th on a bright sunny day, you're probably going to max out your lens's aperture settings. But regarding the correct exposure, you need to learn the basics and adjust your exposure compensation accordingly.

It's not unreasonable to assume on a bright sunny afternoon, you might want to drop down 1/2 stop. But, getting exposure right is a learned skill and will come in time.

I shoot all my pans in TV mode. The only time I will vary from that is if I'm going for the absolute slowest shutter possible, then I'll shift to AV and put the camera at f/22 (or whatever it will go to) and start hanging it out. Even then, though, I'm not all that comfortable panning in AV. Because the light may shift as you move accross the scene, you can have changing shutter speeds across the pan. If they're really slow, the audible can be disconcerting.

I have a journal entry on panning here (http://www.johnthawley.com/journal/2008/8/18/the-pan-shot-taking-control.html). You might find some useful tips by giving it a read.

JT

[silvex]

John,
you nailed it on the swing, I forgot to mention it. It is all about "waist swing". For the exposure, you still need to have proper exposure. Else it will be either no blur, under/over exposed.

most of my pans are 1/100 or slower. I try not to go over f/13 else it will look very soft.

[DC Fan]

Actual panning shot from last weekend.

http://www.kevinlillard.com/racing/20090417a1468.jpg

1/80 shutter priority. Chose the shutter speed based on the subject's speed across the frame. Focusing in AI servo. Set the camera in continuous frame mode, held down the shutter as the car moved through the turn, picked the best frame.

This was a great angle from the outside of the turn because it showed the hard-working right rear tire (and far enough back to not get sprayed with dirt). However, the number of good frames was destined to be low because the cars changed direction as viewed from the outside, from right to left and then left to right.

What made it more interesting than usual was that the view was through a chain-link fence. Fortunately, the fence was painted black, the sun angle didn't light up the fence, and the combination of the 1/80 shutter and 300mm focal length took the fence out of play.

An old trick that seems to work with panning shots: take one foot and aim it straight at the turn along the radius line. Pivot around that hip - if the car is moving right to left, pivot around the left hip with the left foot aimed at the center of of the turn.

[va-guy]

wow lots of great reading here thats why i wanted to post my pics here so i could nail down panning a little better. going to try some out at vir this week with the cars.