Panning Practice

Went out to get more practice panning today. I'm definitely getting better, but still not a ton of keepers. These were all at 1/60s. One Issue I'm having is only part of the vehicle/rider will be in focus. I'm assuming this is because when they go by it contracts/expands at different rates. Any tips on how to minimize this other than a faster shutter speed which will result in less bg/wheel movement?

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Whilst I haven't done much panning work myself (slack really, i've definitely gottah go give it a practice) I I know what you're talking about with the front of the subject being sharp and the rear being slightly blurry. I'd also like to know how to go about working around this, as the few time's I have done panning i've definitely noticed it.

Shot's are looking pretty good though, you're getting enough keepers out of what you're doing from what I can see .

JMartel wrote in post #11201915
One issue I'm having is only part of the vehicle/rider will be in focus. I'm assuming this is because when they go by it contracts/expands at different rates. Any tips on how to minimize this other than a faster shutter speed which will result in less bg/wheel movement?

Correct. That's the unpredictable way that panning images work. Example at 1/60 where a portion of the rider is blurred.

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Yeah, it's just frustrating when I'm trying to get the wheel "spokes" to disappear and I get a bunch of shots that would be keepers except only small area is sharp. I've noticed that they pretty much have to be even with me to minimize this. I'm assuming another way of minimizing this is to be at the center of a constant (or near constant) radius turn?

For instance, at Deals Gap, there's about 4 or 5 professional photographers that take panning shots of people riding the dragon and they not only get the wheels blurred, but there's none of the contracting/expanding going on. I don't think that the vehicles are usually going any faster than what the bikes were that I shot.

Yep, nothing you can do about it.
It's the laws of physics at work.
Essentially it's caused by different parts of the subject moving at different rates to the film (sensor) plane during the exposure time.
The only way to overcome it is by making the exposure whilst the subject is equidistant to the camera for the whole duration of the exposure.

Complete with diagrams, this is the best explanation of it ever https://photography-on-the.net …=487139&highlig​ht=how+can

Thanks for the link. Would it be better to have a longer lens on and stand farther away to help minimize the expansion/contraction? These shots were at 30mm approximately 5-15 feet from the roadway.

Doesnt make a great deal of difference especially if they are going through a corner.

These are pretty nice.

It depends on the distance to the subject, the angle of movement to the camera of the subject, the focal length, the speed of the subject, the smoothness of your pan, & the effect that you're trying to get.

A longer lens might have made it easier to get a smooth pan, so that + a faster shutter speed probably would have worked. Best solution is to try a few test shots to get the minimum settings for each location, & to expect to throw some away.

I shoot sometimes trying to get an interesting blur. There are some links in this thread:
Dream Cruise 2010 - Sitting on the curb...