panning

Thanx. Im shooting a nedball game here in south africa on saterday morning going to try some panning aswell as on saterday after 12 a guy is going to pose for panning driving his bmw gs motocycle up and down i really hope i get the results i need for my conpetition....

If anyone want to recommend a shutterspeed for any of these scenarios feel free. It gan just be a good guess as it have been told its a trial and error situation....

Thanx

Thank you....

Whether you are shooting planes or cars, the subject needs to be close enough relative to your lens length so that you can see some detail -- with a prop plane that would include seeing the prop spin.

As has been said, shooting cars on a highway is a better place to practice!

As to Raw or jpeg, if you get a good exposure, jpeg would suffice. Raw is a great format to work with for photography, but for practice in panning it's not a big consideration.

For slower shutter speeds in the daylight you will typically need a narrow aperture, and that's a good thing anyway because it will keep more of the subject in focus!

Practice!

delko wrote in post #14435422
Thanx. Im shooting a nedball game here in south africa on saterday morning going to try some panning aswell as on saterday after 12 a guy is going to pose for panning driving his bmw gs motocycle up and down i really hope i get the results i need for my conpetition....

If anyone want to recommend a shutterspeed for any of these scenarios feel free. It gan just be a good guess as it have been told its a trial and error situation....

Thanx

Thank you....

Your shutter speed largely depends on the speed. If the motorcycle is driving fast, you can get by with a slower shutter speed. But start out by getting "up to speed" with something a bit faster, say 1/200 or 1/250, until you are comfortable with what you are doing.

I'd recommend some different subjects to practice panning. As stated, aircraft at altitude generally aren't the best candidate. Sports can also be very tough because, depending on the sport, the motion can be somewhat unpredictable. Motorcycles are a good choice, along with cars. Also, people jogging can be good. Lastly, remember that like a good golf swing (I don't actually play golf), follow-through is very important. Use AI Servo, start tracking the action, fire off a burst, and then continue following the action for another second. It definitely takes a lot of practice to get good at it. Play around with different shutter speeds as well. For some subjects, you may need something as slow as 1/15 to get the effect you want. For a fast moving object (like a motorcycle), you'll want something much faster (tonylong's recommendations sound like a good place to start).

Turn off your AI Focus... The focus keeps adjusting as you pan and it may be off because it cant focus correctly.

andbott723 wrote in post #14436416
Turn off your AI Focus... The focus keeps adjusting as you pan and it may be off because it cant focus correctly.

Doing this may cause you to miss focus.
You actually want to keep AI Servo focus on, because as the subject moves, the distance between the subject and the camera will change.
The only way you can pan effectively and still maintain focus on the subject at all times is to us AI servo mode.

andbott723 wrote in post #14436416
Turn off your AI Focus... The focus keeps adjusting as you pan and it may be off because it cant focus correctly.

Considder it Done.


Think i read about turning on al focus on in a scott kelby book... Not 100 % sure ....

Thank you.

I will post some pics after saterday.
Promise it wont be a plane flying though the blue skies which is blurry

Tom Reichner wrote in post #14436516
Doing this may cause you to miss focus.
You actually want to keep AI Servo focus on, because as the subject moves, the distance between the subject and the camera will change.
The only way you can pan effectively and still maintain focus on the subject at all times is to us AI servo mode.

That is true... Ive just actually had better luck shooting at like f/16 ish so more is in focus.

delko wrote in post #14436534
Considder it Done.


Think i read about turning on al focus on in a scott kelby book... Not 100 % sure ....

Thank you.

I will post some pics after saterday.
Promise it wont be a plane flying though the blue skies which is blurry

Test out different AF modes. I have the 60d too but I find stopping down a lot works better for me, for focus.

delko wrote in post #14436534
Considder it Done.

Think i read about turning on al focus on in a scott kelby book... Not 100 % sure ....

Thank you.

I will post some pics after saterday.
Promise it wont be a plane flying though the blue skies which is blurry

AI Focus combines two modes. As long as your subject isn't moving it locks the AF and works as One Shot AF. When the subject moves (the focus is "thrown off" it automatically goes to AI Servo AF.

But before it will go to AI Servo, it needs to initially get a focus lock, so it shouldn't be used if the subject is moving.

AI Focus tends to get a bad reputation because people say it tends to be too slow to switch to AI Servo. That may be, although I'd be interested to see some comprehensive test results, especially with newer cameras as the technology has evolved.

The one advantage of using either One Shot AF or AI Focus AF is simply that the AF will in fact lock with confirmation. With AI Servo AF there is no lock, no confirmation. I have used AI Servo a lot with stationary objects and am pretty confident in my AF, but sometimes I'll shoot in One Shot AF and, well, I like the lock/confirmation!

But definitely I use AI Servo if it's with moving subjects!

andbott723 wrote in post #14436535
That is true... Ive just actually had better luck shooting at like f/16 ish so more is in focus.

Shooting at f/16 is not a substitute for getting a good focus! Also, there are two reasons why f/16 may not be practical: First, it cuts down on the light entering the camera, meaning you may need either a slower shutter speed than you'd like or a higher ISO than you'd like, and second, using a wider aperture can give you a "selective focus" effect, where your chosen subject is sharp and other elements such as background elemtents are "softer", out of the Depth Of Field, which can be beneficial if you want "subject isolation".

tonylong wrote in post #14436776
Shooting at f/16 is not a substitute for getting a good focus! Also, there are two reasons why f/16 may not be practical: First, it cuts down on the light entering the camera, meaning you may need either a slower shutter speed than you'd like or a higher ISO than you'd like, and second, using a wider aperture can give you a "selective focus" effect, where your chosen subject is sharp and other elements such as background elemtents are "softer", out of the Depth Of Field, which can be beneficial if you want "subject isolation".

Yea, I mainly use that method in daytime with good light when I want everything in focus.

andbott723 wrote in post #14436788
Yea, I mainly use that method in daytime with good light when I want everything in focus.

Sure, just don't use it as an excuse for a sloppy focusing technique!

'Course, with a lot of scenarios your actual "plane of focus" can be "flexible", but especially in the discussion about "panning", focus is pretty critical -- unless you are going for a "creative blur", a subject you are panning should be in nice crisp focus!