mountain bike (motion blurr)

Panned with subject, slow shutter speed, and fill flash to attempt to freeze motion.

This was my first time trying this effect, and he was the only rider I came across :-(

I'm trying to get better at action stuff, so any tricks/tips/insights are very welcome!! Next time I'm going to bump up to 400 ISO for a faster shutter speed, and just keep working with my panning. The blur here seems a bit too long, and the rider not as "frozen" as I would have liked.

Thanks for your help!

This can only be achieved with alot of practice and off course move with the subject, shutter speed is good IMO, but move your camera!

so do I actually move along with the subject, rather than just standing still and panning?

Panning is a difficult technique to master and requires quite a bit of practice. It is done with your feet stationary and swiveling your upper body in a smooth motion to match the movement of your subject. It's that smooth motion and holding the camera steady on the subject that's tough to master, especially with longer lenses.

 

The basic parameters for a panning shot are low ISO, low shutter speed and high f stop number. The motion blur in a panning shot is from the movement of the lens over a static background while the movement of the object you're photographing is constant in relation to the lens. If you have a shutter priority setting on your camera I'd suggest practicing with that until you master the basic techniques. Also, I'd suggest practicing with cars rather than bicycles. The faster the object you're shooting the higher the shutter speed you can reasonably use. It's virtually impossible to achieve the results you want with the 1/8th of a second shutter speed you used with this shot. With street cars on a highway a range of 1/60th to 1/200th is more reasonable. Start at the higher shutter speeds and work your way towards lower shutter speeds as you master the basic body motion required.

 

Expect a lot of bad shots as you practice. If you're using a digital camera film cost won't be a consideration so you can practice without worry. Once you master the basic techniques you can then begin to think about off-center composition, angle of view, etc. Good luck and practice, practice, practice.

 

PS: You can see some examples of panning shots in my portfolio that demonstrate what I've described here.

What Fred said :)