Panning photography

[minh_nguyen18]

<p>I hope I'm not going to get yelled at for asking this question but I tried looking up how to take these types of photos and the most I have been able to get at is "a low shutter speed", but I'm not quite sure how panning really works. How is the ISO, aperture and shutter speed correlated so that the object is in focus and the background is blurred? Do you have your camera with the moving object on the tripod or do you leave it still while the object moves? If its at night is there a difference? I have a SB-600. Also, does the lens that you use affect your shot? I have a 50mm 1.8 and a 10.5mm lens, I am looking towards picking up either a 16-85mm / 18-70mm lens in the near future. Any advice would be helpful, thanks! (Sorry for the amateur question)</p>

[seismiccwave]

<p>ISO, aperture and shutter speed is important in getting the proper exposure. Shutter speed is the major factor that is important in doing "panning photography". A shutter speed that is slow enough to give you the sense of motion in the background is the factor that is necessary to do panning photography. <br>

That said, panning photography is about following the subject so the subject is in focus but the background is blurred. Your shutter speed is determined by the rate of speed of your subject. If it is a race car thundering down a straight than you may use a fairly high shutter speed. Since you are panning fairly fast following the race car most of the back ground will be blurred anyway. <br>

If you are following a human walking than your shutter speed will have to be slowly because the human walks slower.<br>

Generally lens focal length is not that critical as long as you are far enough away from the action and not get hurt. However the longer focal length will be more prone to unwanted motion blur.<br>

Tripod doesn't make much sense unless you can set the tripod so the camera pan on the same plane that your subject is traveling. Most successful photographer that do panning photography actually handhold their camera and pivot their body. Sometimes a monopod will help.<br>

Low light and night time works better to get the blur depending on the speed of the subject. Sometimes the subject is not moving fast enough so you have to close down the aperture and use lower ISO to enable a slow enough shutter speed. So there is a situation where there is too much light. However that is not very common.<br>

Ok, I am distracted and started to ramble. When I organized my thought better I will post again. In the meantime if you can think of anything specific feel free to ask.</p>

[erica_cooper]

<p>Another thing to keep in mind is to have a colorful and varied background. The motion blur is much more interesting this way than if you were to have a solid block of a single color behind your subject. <br /> Shutter speed is the most important aspect. Play around with it on a street-side while panning with the cars until you get the hang of it. <br /> Here's one of my first panning attempts at an indoor track meet</p>

<p>One important thing to note is that rarely will your subject be tack sharp, but the goal is for them to be relatively sharp compared to the background. Play around with it and go for different effects. The blurred arms and legs here contribute to the motion of the shot. I particularly love his shoes. </p><div></div>

[minh_nguyen18]

<p>Thanks for all the advice, I will be sure to take many practice shots and see how everything works out. The tip about a colorful varied background is interesting, I never thought about that. Anymore input would be greatly appreciated, thank you!</p>

[rarmstrong]

<p>Minh, this is one of the coolest things about digital...you can shoot as many shots as you want, review them right away, and figure out what works best. Hansen has really covered it well. Most of the time for panning you will be handholding the camera. The most critical aspect is keeping the focus point on your subject and following through as you take the shot. It's very similar to skeet shooting if you are familiar with that. Using a zoom lens so you can get a little distance from your moving subject is helpful. Another easy way to try this is is for you and the subject to be moving while the background goes by. You can do this on an amusement ride like this shot from The Magic Kingdom at Disney. This was taken at night with a D300, the Nikkor 18-200 mm VR zoom, at f4.5, 1/4 sec, iso 3200, 40 mm handheld. I was in another rocket.<br>

Experiment with it and have fun!<br>

Dick</p><div></div>

[johnw63]

<p>I've tried some of those shots, at Disneyland. I find that staring through the veiwfinder makes me a bit... queasy. :( </p>