Panny shots. ?

[BenWall]

Hey.

Got out of the office today and went to take some picture for a bit of fresh air, ended up at the side of a dual carriage way practicing my panning shots, got some ok shots of some bikes going by etc, but they seem to be a little blurred when zooming in on them...ill upload them later but at work at the moment.

Do I really need to use my tripod for panning to get the no blurred results? Other that that they look pretty decent and the background is completely blurred

Advice?

 

[Clart]

It does take a while to master it, no tripod required, monopod can help at slower shutter speeds, but i found most of my best shots were without one.

 

[BenWall]

Whats a monopod?

 

[Clart]

like a tripod with one leg, help eliminate vertical movement

 

[Rhod.L15]

I gave panning a go for the first time last weekend, I came up with this:

What shutter speeds were you using? I got that picture at 1/100th IIRC.

 

[Clart]

1/60th i think

 

[BenWall]

I was using 1/25 I think earlier. I will check though.

 

[BenWall]

The ones I took on dinner break

 

[ukaskew]

I was using 1/25 I think earlier. I will check though.

That might be your problem, you could shoot all day at 1/25 and only get a few sharp shots. Change it to 1/200, once the photos look reasonable on the screen start working your way down, try 1/160 then 1/125, by then they should be looking pretty good with lots of blur in the background.

I have to say though, those couple of shots are quite effective, just a bit too much vertical movement by the looks of things, that should be eliminated by shooting at a slightly faster speed though.

 

[BenWall]

I don't think there bad for my 1st attempt. I will have ago on 1/200 then and see what results I can get. Would like a monopod though to eliminate the vertical movement as you said.

 

[BenWall]

Did another. Getter better.

 

[Nigel]

1/125 seems to work well. It depends on the speed of the item your trying to capture. Last time at santa pod I got some good results at 1/60, but that was probably 3 or 4 out of every 10 shots.

For me as well once you've started to get the hang of panning then I'd try and work on the composition of the shot with the biker about a third of the way in from the right rather than the left as you have.

 

[Rhino172]

some good pics here...some of mine...I'm still not quite got it but i'm getting there...I alwasy seem just a tiny bit too slow and end up with the back of the vehicle in focus rather than the front..

 

[ukaskew]

Good efforts, if the cars aren't moving exactly parallel to you it does tend to happen that some of it is out of focus, particuarly at very slow shutter speeds. If you manage to get the sharpness at the right place they can look pretty good in my opinion and certainly show a sense of speed.

Here are a few of mine from last weekend, most at the fastest point of the circuit so probably 120-140mph...

1/40

1/125

1/30

1/125

and one that that didn't quite work...

1/100