I’ve been experimenting with panning techniques.  I haven’t quite mastered it yet, but this is one of the better shots that came out.

At the request of our readers, I’m going to share a little about my technique below the cut.

First, let me be blatantly honest – I am far from mastering this technique so please don’t take my notes here as grail.  If you have experience with panning, please share your tips and suggestions in response to this post.

Set Up – I set my camera to Shutter Priority mode so that I could control the speed and my camera would automatically adjust the shutter.  I also found that in some cases where the travel path is predictable, it’s best to leave in manual focus mode.  In this case, I believe I had the camera in Continuous-Servo Autofocus mode which adjusts the focus real-time to track a moving object.  It also helps to have a good background with good contrast so that the motion is apparent.  Lights are awesome, but leaves and clear skies served me well for this shot.

Experiment – I don’t have a formula for tracking shutter speed, so I started at a speed I knew was at the threshold of hand-holding:  1/60.  I snapped a few test shots and then worked my way down.  I wanted to find a speed that gave me enough motion lines but not too slow so that I couldn’t effectively pan to keep something relatively in focus.  In this case, I didn’t have to go far.  1/50 gave me the desired results.

Know the Path – I did a lot of experimentation that weekend and I found that being on the inside of an arc is easiest.  Surprisingly, objects moving in straight lines were hard to pan if they were too close – so keep your distance.  This was a challenging shot as the ride was moving at an arc away from me on an upward angle.  To reduce the effect of the arc, I chose to stand at a location so that the ride almost went over my head.  I then tracked the ride through the viewfinder to feel the motion of the ride:  speed, direction and rotation of my lens.

Stable Stance – I found out the hard way that you really need to balance yourself well.  My first attempt at panning this ride left me dizzy and I nearly fell over.  If standing, place your feet at least at shoulder width.  Lock your elbows, shoulders, neck and head together as much as possible and try to rotate your body at your waist for horizontal movements and in your torso for upward movements.  This will allow a smooth motion with stability.

Snap – When the shutter is opening, you will not be able to see through the viewfinder.  I try to focus my eye on one point and imagine that point’s path while the viewfinder is dark.  Obvously, this is harder on much slower speeds, but at 1/50, it wasn’t too bad.  I also found it best to overcompensate for the panning.  It’s better to have the shutter finish while you’re still panning than to stop panning mid-shot.

Finally, shoot as many as you can and save post-processing for the lab – not your camera.  Now admire your work.

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