Tutorial Moving Objects and Panning Technique

CT

CT

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Panning Technique - Panning Technique

OK, you've managed to get a great position at the side of the track and Mario Andretti is coming out of the bend to your left with his clog down. He's going to pass you like the proverbial brown stuff off a stick, and at no time is his speed relative to you greater than when he's passing you at right angles, which is just where you want to get that pin sharp side-on panned shot. You'll obviously pick him up early in the viewfinder. The bad news is he's probably accelerating all the time as you...
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Very good information CT, what I want to know is where you got the little pic of the feet from?
 
I went out and got my shoes all muddy then took the shots off the kitchen floor. :shrug:
 
Or....

Get Michael Schumacher to park as shown to slow the ****** down a bit. :D

pan2.jpg
 
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:LOL: Schuey probably would wouldn't he?
 
CT said:
:LOL: Schuey probably would wouldn't he?
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Did ... dinnee ! :LOL:

It makes it loads easier to pan, especially if you are doing it over an extended period ... if you use a monopod ... obviously preset to the correct height and with flexible head movement but not too loose ... :p
 
Joe T said:
Good thread CT. I hope people find it useful. :)
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Well I'm not claiming it to be the definitive or only technique, but when I was doing a lot of clay pigeon shooting, it always struck me how the technique for fast crossing clays applied equally well to photography.

I've modified the foot positions a little from a strict shooting stance , but otherwise its essentially the same technique.
 
Good thoughts CT, thanks :)
 
Bugger! I'll have a word with Bod and see if they're backed up anywhere. If not I'll have to redo them as I don't have the originals. Bear with me Joe. :)
 
Very useful, thanks.

One thing I find is I can't really drop below the shutter speed of the reciprocal of the focal length.

e.g at 100mm I can't seem to drop below 1/100, the car is never sharp at say 1/60. I know the car speed has some part to play here (I've only shot fast drag racing) so it's not too bad, but I'd like to get it down anyway.

How do some people manage 1/60 at 300mm and still achieve a sharp image?

Could a monopod help?

Thanks
 
Thanks CT, I wish I'd seen this before I went to Goodwood.
 
30psi said:
Very useful, thanks.

One thing I find is I can't really drop below the shutter speed of the reciprocal of the focal length.

e.g at 100mm I can't seem to drop below 1/100, the car is never sharp at say 1/60. I know the car speed has some part to play here (I've only shot fast drag racing) so it's not too bad, but I'd like to get it down anyway.

How do some people manage 1/60 at 300mm and still achieve a sharp image?

Could a monopod help?

Thanks
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Well, theoretically, as long as you keep the subject centered in the viewfinder throughout your swing, and as long as you maintain your smooth swing at the point of pressing the shutter, the shutter speed isn't that important. It's obviously all down to technique and loads of practice, and a good dollop of luck doesn't go amiss either- motor sport isn't easy, so you shouldn't expect a 100% hit rate, or anywhere near that.

I'd imagine a monopod would help with heavier lenses, but otherwise, I can't really see a benefit.
 
Very useful thread CT thanks(y).

Now to practice:)
 
TinySpark said:
Cool :)

What focus do you use?
(i know nothing...lol)
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Servo AF for sure. Whether you use a single AF point or all of them would depend very much on the amount of detail/contrast in the subject.
 
cheers for this.
i'm going to have a go at this next time im on a track event.

Dion!
 
Good advice there CT. (y)

Couple of other tips from me, if you're using a zoom lens have it set to the focal length you want when you take the shot so the vehicle fits nicely in the frame, you don't want to be zooming out while panning.

It might only be me that does this, but even after I've taken the shot I try and follow the car (in my case) for a bit after, rather than stop straight after I've taken the shot...

Probably obvious, but start with a relatively high shutter speed and gradually go slower when you get used to the technique, obviously the slower you're shooting at the less likely you are to get a sharp shot. :bonk:
 
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sounds simple the feet positioning, bud id been doing wrong, cheers for the tut :)
 
Good information here and thanks. I hope my grey cells will remember all these great tips. At least I can practice on boy racers down my own street :)
 
Well I'm not claiming it to be the definitive or only technique, but when I was doing a lot of clay pigeon shooting, it always struck me how the technique for fast crossing clays applied equally well to photography.
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Wonder if i could adapt my tecnique to practice this version on the boy racers instead.
 
Thats brilliant info, but I have a bit of a problem.

When I was rummaging through my Oulton panning shots, a lot of them were either soft focus or had a narrow depth of field that seemed to be focussed halfway along the car.

My set-up was ISO100 (for cropping later), multi point focussing on continuous mode. Shutter priority @ 1/100th. I know the low ISO isn't going to help, but it was a sunny day and I'm pretty sure my panning was OK. It's just the focus falls on the wrong part of the car. How do you guys get such amazing and accurate focussing results?

*if I sound like an idiot, please be patient. This trackside lark is quite new to me.
 
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exalto said:
Thats brilliant info, but I have a bit of a problem.

When I was rummaging through my Oulton panning shots, a lot of them were either soft focus or had a narrow depth of field that seemed to be focussed halfway along the car.

My set-up was ISO100 (for cropping later), multi point focussing on continuous mode. Shutter priority @ 1/100th. I know the low ISO isn't going to help, but it was a sunny day and I'm pretty sure my panning was OK. It's just the focus falls on the wrong part of the car. How do you guys get such amazing and accurate focussing results?

*if I sound like an idiot, please be patient. This trackside lark is quite new to me.
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I'm not sure I understand your post entirely. If the car was side on at 90 degs to you then focusing anywhere on the side of the car should ensure that the car is sharp along it's length. I could understand this issue if the car was at more of an angle to you, e.g., coimg out of a bend. We really need an example shot.

With regard to AF generally though you have to understand that regardless of how many AF points youi have enabled, the active AF point only has fall for a fraction of a second on any part of the car with no detail such as a bit of plain paintwork and the AF will hunt until it finds detail to focus on again with the result you'll get a soft or blurry shot, even in a sequence where others may be sharp.

Track cars are usually emblazoned with all sorts of graphics which should enable your AF system to lock on, but sods law says that occassionally you're going to get the odd few duff shots regardless of how much practice you get.
 
Good post - I was doing the second (and incorrect) diagram - looking forward to trying the correct way!
 
CT said:
I'm not sure I understand your post entirely. If the car was side on at 90 degs to you then focusing anywhere on the side of the car should ensure that the car is sharp along it's length. I could understand this issue if the car was at more of an angle to you, e.g., coimg out of a bend. We really need an example shot.

With regard to AF generally though you have to understand that regardless of how many AF points youi have enabled, the active AF point only has fall for a fraction of a second on any part of the car with no detail such as a bit of plain paintwork and the AF will hunt until it finds detail to focus on again with the result you'll get a soft or blurry shot, even in a sequence where others may be sharp.

Track cars are usually emblazoned with all sorts of graphics which should enable your AF system to lock on, but sods law says that occassionally you're going to get the odd few duff shots regardless of how much practice you get.
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Sorry CT, I'm referring to the car as it approaches, firing at 45˚. I got the furthest half of its flank 90% of the time. Rereading your post, I think it's my panning technique. Going to go up to the dual carriage way and practice my swing... brings a whole new meaning to driving range :bonk:
 
That was one thing I learnt myself, to stand facing the track side on. I twist at my hips slightly so I can track the car a little more, but generally it's about being steady and secure as you fire the shots. Being off balance can cuase you to squeeze the camera too much, or lean over too much. I always hold the end of the lens too, when on a monopod.
 
Great thread, right up my street,
It is important to remember that the longer the lens the easier it is to get a sharp image with a blurred background, a short lens gives a wonderfull effect of movement where only the part of the car kept in the center of the image is sharp? shutter speed 125th for 300mm and with a 24mm go down as low as 15th
As to focus F1 cars almost always pass exactly on the same piece of road so I used to focus on the road before the car was in sight , for head on shots, servo focusing is fine even with a F1
The best place to practice with a short lens is on a roundabout so you can get near to the cars.
I will try to scan some relevant images later or this evening.


As you see it does help to have a stomach to rest your elbow on
 
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Interesting thread.

Whats the general view regarding use of IS for panning - mode 2 or switch it off?

Steve
 
OK, I was giving my motorsports photography it's annual dusting off yesterday and I'm very frustrated at the difficulty obtaining shots which are sharp throughout the length of the car when panning and shooting at any angle other than square on to the side of the vehicle. This is definitely not a DOF issue, but one I think of angular velocity. However, the severity of the effect has me shocked. Is there something I could do to improve my results? Here is an example....

Full image, resized....

20100323_102112_4824_LR.jpg



100% crop of front end - you can see the sharpness completely changing even over the short length of the text on the car, in the space of a foot or so....

20100323_102112_4824_LR.jpg


100% crop of the back end of the same shot....

20100323_102112_4824_LR.jpg



Here's another example at 1/50. I couldn't have shot any faster than 1/50 because the car simply wasn't travelling fast enough to get adequate blur at faster shutter speeds....

20100323_102150_4827_LR.jpg



The 100% crop once again shows how the sharpness changes quickly over a very short space of distance on the car....

20100323_102150_4827_LR.jpg



I know 1/50 is quite slow, but I wanted to obliterate the background with a long pan. I'm delighted at the sharpness I achieved at the front end, but the back end is unusable. I have many shots from the day that I've dumped due to this phenomenon, but I can only stand viewing so many images of cars either head on and frozen in time or panned from exactly 90 degrees to the side. I want to shoot panned 1/4 angles with lots of background and wheel blur, but keeping the whole vehicle sharp. Is that asking the impossible? Is there some way to reduce the effect while maintaining the same degree of blur in the background? Is this the sort of situation where I should have fitted a 4 stop ND filter and shot at 1/100 and f/2.8 instead of 1/50 and f/16, for example, so at least I'd increase the background blur through shallow DOF, even if not through panning motion?

Thanks. :)

p.s. I also hope to be going to the Mach Loop in June to shoot jets against a background of land. Once again I will be looking to obtain significant background blur through panning, so I hope any advice here will stand me in good stead. As the planes will be few and far between, the last thing I need is to screw my shots up by suffering any more of this malarky.
 
What lens was it Tim, and what shooting distance? Curious that you say you're not getting the problem with a 90 degree side- on panned shot, which seems to rule out curvature of DOF as the culprit.

It makes me think limited DOF may well be the culprit, probably aggravated by angular velocity as you suspect?
 
The problem in my opinion is the perspective of the car (i.e. it's angle to the camera) has changed through the pan.
 
Both shots above were with my 100-400 at 150mm and f/16 on my 1D3. I'll have to estimate the shooting distance but I'd guess something around 20-30m. DOF tables suggest DOF to be a total of 14.5m at 20m and 38.5m at 30m when viewing at normal enlargement and viewing distance. Even at 10m subject distance the DOF should be 3.31m total, which is more than ample to include a few words of text no more than 40cm wide. Given how sharp parts of the image are, there is no way the problem here is DOF or field curvature of my "L" lens.

If you look at the blurred areas, especially on the Chevrolet, you will see a strong directional component to the blur, very much fore-aft, in line with the vehicle's movement. So this does not suggest a lens focus/DOF problem, but very much something to do with the panning speed not matching the speed of the car along the full length of the vehicle. So, assuming the car is not separating into two parts, or shrinking in length, you'd think the front of the vehicle would be travelling at the same speed as the rear, and a good pan would be a good pan, throughout the vehicle's length.

If you look at the last image on page 1 (AON car) in this gallery - http://blzeebub.com/index.php/new-gallery/special-events/category/44-btcc-media-launch-2010 (not mine) - you will see I'm not the only one experiencing this phenomenon. Note that the blur in that last shot is strongly fore-aft, and seemingly all about the panning speed, not DOF or focus.

The conclusion I'm reaching is that this is just the way things are. If you want to reduce the effect then shoot from exactly 90 degrees or use faster shutter speeds. Optionally, slow the shutter speed more and take advantage of the phenomonon as a creative effect. If that's the right interpretation then it probably makes a useful addition to the panning tutorial. If I'm wrong then it would be good to know what is going on and how to deal with it.
 
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