Panning

Tried doing a couple of panning shots of my daughter's friends Mustang. I don't think I am doing something right because most of them had too much OOF on the car, not just the background.

No one replied? Dang!

Your doing fine. Remember as you pan, the distance changes as you as you rotate. For best results try to time you pan so your firing when the subject is at 12 o'clock. Anything before or after risks having the focus issue you refer to. That said, sometimes its a neat effect. Really creates focus.

Keep going.... and experimenting. You'll find something that looks the way you want...

duckster wrote in post #19404603
Tried doing a couple of panning shots of my daughter's friends Mustang. I don't think I am doing something right because most of them had too much OOF on the car, not just the background.

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forum: Motorsports

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Looking at the photos as closely as I can, it appears that your panning speed was was just slightly off from the cars speed. I find that closely checking the door seams where they join the front fender or rear quarter panel will provide a clue. If the gap is not tack sharp, then that usually indicates that I didn't match speeds correctly.

A second possibility is that the car was either accelerating or decelerating at it passed. Trying to pan a car who's speed is changing slightly is very difficult as you need to match that change exactly.

Another point, panning at 1/50 or 1/60 takes practice. You did not mention if this is a early panning effort for you. When teaching other photographers panning, I liken it to learning to play golf or tennis. The swinging/pivoting body movement involved is very similar when panning. People spend lots of money, time and effort to develop a great golf or tennis swing. Panning takes an equal amount of practice.

Try upping your shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 and practice there until you get a consistently high keeper rate. Then progressively attempt slower shutter speeds.

3/4 pans are challenging for the reason that Croasdail alluded to. The physics is a bit complex, but the fundamental issue that different parts of the car's body are travelling at slightly different relative speeds to the camera as it passes by you. There is also the issue of depth of field to consider. A Mustang is approximately 16' long. Assuming the car's line of travel is roughly 45 degrees to your camera, that make the required depth of field about 11' to capture the entire car in focus. With the EXIF data you supplied, and assuming the car was maybe 15' away at the time of the shot, your depth of field would have only been 7'. You might consider increasing your ISO and shooting at f/16 when the cars are quite close. If you are shooting from a greater distance, DOF becomes less of an issue.

Keep practicing and enjoy the experience.

Grand Dad wrote in post #19410152
Looking at the photos as closely as I can, it appears that your panning speed was was just slightly off from the cars speed. I find that closely checking the door seams where they join the front fender or rear quarter panel will provide a clue. If the gap is not tack sharp, then that usually indicates that I didn't match speeds correctly.

A second possibility is that the car was either accelerating or decelerating at it passed. Trying to pan a car who's speed is changing slightly is very difficult as you need to match that change exactly.

Another point, panning at 1/50 or 1/60 takes practice. You did not mention if this is a early panning effort for you. When teaching other photographers panning, I liken it to learning to play golf or tennis. The swinging/pivoting body movement involved is very similar when panning. People spend lots of money, time and effort to develop a great golf or tennis swing. Panning takes an equal amount of practice.

Try upping your shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 and practice there until you get a consistently high keeper rate. Then progressively attempt slower shutter speeds.

3/4 pans are challenging for the reason that Croasdail alluded to. The physics is a bit complex, but the fundamental issue that different parts of the car's body are travelling at slightly different relative speeds to the camera as it passes by you. There is also the issue of depth of field to consider. A Mustang is approximately 16' long. Assuming the car's line of travel is roughly 45 degrees to your camera, that make the required depth of field about 11' to capture the entire car in focus. With the EXIF data you supplied, and assuming the car was maybe 15' away at the time of the shot, your depth of field would have only been 7'. You might consider increasing your ISO and shooting at f/16 when the cars are quite close. If you are shooting from a greater distance, DOF becomes less of an issue.

Keep practicing and enjoy the experience.

Thank you for the information! Yes, this was my first attempt at panning shots. I appreciate your tips!