Panning success rate

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Dominic
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I've been doing a bit of panning photography lately (people, cyclists, horses) and just wondered what an acceptable success rate is, not so much for those that do this on a regular basis (motor sport for example), but more the casual photographer.
I understand it's all technique and practice.
Where would be the best place to start, short lens, long lens, 1/60, IS on or off?
 
interesting,
speaking as an amateur, depends upon the subject I think. also how many chances you have a repeat. I liked trying my hand at panning at a go-kart track. then tried it when they were going around corners.
so shutter speed depends upon their speed. IS on but mode 2 (normally) presuming that you're panning horizontally in landscape orientation. Long lens I would have thought too.
 
Depends on the speed of the subject. I usually pan using continuous high speed focus and continuous low speed frame rate (can't remember exactly what that is!) in bursts of 3-5 shots per sequence, of which 2-5 are usually in focus and 1-3 framed perfectly as well.
Focal length depends on the subjects, speeds and location - for example, I've shot airshows where 500mm is needed and at Wiscombe Park hill climb where 24mm on FF is too long.
FWIW, I shoot at Dawlish airshow (now seemingly defunct. :() once a year and at the VSCC's meeting at Wiscombe, again once a year so the first few attempts are to get the rust out!
 
There are various aspects that will affect your success rate. How smooth is the subject moving? If it is, say, a runner, not just moving sideways but also up and down (the slight jumping motion that happens), then you have to take that into acount with your selection of shutter speed.
Motorbike - what kind is it? A Jap 4 will have virtually no vibrations but an old Harley going at town speed will be vibrating like hell, so you need to cancel those out, or the vibes will cause 'shake' in your image. Likewise the road surface, if smooth you can go much slower shutter speed than if it is a rough and again causes vibrations.
Generally i find it easier to pan with a longer lens. The subject is not crossing you as fast. An aeroplane in the sky is doing 600mph - yet it hardly seems to be moving.....now get a low flying biplane just 50 yards from you and it whizzs past in no time, even though it is only doing 80mph.....relative distance is what is causing this. So a subject further away shot with a longer lens is easier to keep steady in the frame than one closer with a wide lens.

Why do you need a big hit rate? You are only after ONE good frame, so provided you get that in your sequence, all is well, the other frames are really just overlaps to get you in the right place of the swing for the one that works.
 
Thanks for the replies.
The reason I was asking was, I've tried panning a few times and never really been very successful. So wanted to get some views on a starting point.
As the saying goes, 'practice makes perfect'
There are various aspects that will affect your success rate. How smooth is the subject moving? If it is, say, a runner, not just moving sideways but also up and down (the slight jumping motion that happens), then you have to take that into acount with your selection of shutter speed.
Motorbike - what kind is it? A Jap 4 will have virtually no vibrations but an old Harley going at town speed will be vibrating like hell, so you need to cancel those out, or the vibes will cause 'shake' in your image. Likewise the road surface, if smooth you can go much slower shutter speed than if it is a rough and again causes vibrations.
Generally i find it easier to pan with a longer lens. The subject is not crossing you as fast. An aeroplane in the sky is doing 600mph - yet it hardly seems to be moving.....now get a low flying biplane just 50 yards from you and it whizzs past in no time, even though it is only doing 80mph.....relative distance is what is causing this. So a subject further away shot with a longer lens is easier to keep steady in the frame than one closer with a wide lens.

Why do you need a big hit rate? You are only after ONE good frame, so provided you get that in your sequence, all is well, the other frames are really just overlaps to get you in the right place of the swing for the one that works.
Thanks for this, it's very helpful.
 
There are various aspects that will affect your success rate. How smooth is the subject moving? If it is, say, a runner, not just moving sideways but also up and down (the slight jumping motion that happens), then you have to take that into acount with your selection of shutter speed.
Motorbike - what kind is it? A Jap 4 will have virtually no vibrations but an old Harley going at town speed will be vibrating like hell, so you need to cancel those out, or the vibes will cause 'shake' in your image. Likewise the road surface, if smooth you can go much slower shutter speed than if it is a rough and again causes vibrations.
Generally i find it easier to pan with a longer lens. The subject is not crossing you as fast. An aeroplane in the sky is doing 600mph - yet it hardly seems to be moving.....now get a low flying biplane just 50 yards from you and it whizzs past in no time, even though it is only doing 80mph.....relative distance is what is causing this. So a subject further away shot with a longer lens is easier to keep steady in the frame than one closer with a wide lens.

Why do you need a big hit rate? You are only after ONE good frame, so provided you get that in your sequence, all is well, the other frames are really just overlaps to get you in the right place of the swing for the one that works.

The bigger issue, rather than minor road bumps or the engine causing vibrations, is that panning a motorbike will require a slower shutter speed in order to preserve the motion blur of the rotating wheels. A vibrating Harley won't really be an issue and I doubt that it would affect the image in any way.

Similarly a jet flying at, more realistically 250mph (600mph is only really reached at higher altitudes), can be shot at a very fast shutter speed since motion blur isn't required (unless there are visible propellors like with vintage planes or helicopters).
 
I think sometimes the end result can vary, depending on what you want to achieve. By this I mean that most people would want to see the who subject in focus but at other times, maybe just the front of the car or a face creates a more pleasing final image.

For me, if I'm shooting a slow moving car then I might go down to 1/6s but if I'm drag racing then it's usually 1/50-1/125s depending upon where the vehicle is on the track. I can't say I've noticed any real difference in the number of keepers with VR/IBIS on or off.

Best place to start will always be a short lens. The longer the lens, the more a tiny movement when holding the body is exaggerated leading to OOF results.
 
I do panning shots on virtually a daily basis, either powerboats, or bikes. Boats are working in three dimensions, so they aren't just going left to right and up and down, but also twisting side to side, with the movement of the water. The boat I am in is also pitching and rolling at the same speed. You have to stand, balanced, and shoot.

Bikes, the HD engine most certainly makes a big difference - I know it from doing it since 1985 as the chief photographer for the biggest custom bike magazine in Europe.

You are right, in that you need to blur the spokes. Wire wheels are easier to blur than cast three spoke ones - because each spoke is moving more with multispoke wheels. 3-spokes are a real pain to get blurred to the same extent. This was 100th at 100mm (70-200) VR off, because I really haven't worked out how to use it yet.

DSC_3372.web.jpg

It is a balancing act, and the trick is to get the SAFE shot first. Using a slightly faster speed, then start to play with slower ones, because if it fails, you have the safe one to fall back on. These are just what I could find in short notice - everything gets chucked on an external hard drive once the client has received, nothing lives on my confuser.

Chapparal 246.web.jpg

This was for Riva and Fiat. When they launched the Fiat 500 Riva, I was there shooting the launch for both Riva and for Fiat.

View attachment 114205

See how the boat is rolling as she runs over the photoboat wake, just visible as humps on the surface. The spray and water surface can blur, but the boat has to remain sharp. You don't take too many chances in this kind of situation.

Aquariva.web3.jpg

Safe shot in the can, slow it down a bit. You still need enough shutter to stop the motion of the boat though.

Aquariva.web.jpg
 
Sometimes I will even tip the camera 45 degrees, but no, that horizon isn't off enough to worry. When you are in a moving boat you can't be that critical. It would be corrected at a later stage - as I said I just grabbed the first few I came across.
 
I went to the Silverstone Classics a little while back and successfully manged to miss some of the cars entirely as I was panning. :(
Ok, so i shouldn't like this, but it is a little bit humorous.
I think i need to start with something that has a predictable path and movement. Rather than something that moves in more than one direction, for example a horse and rider.
 
How about doing it the old fashioned way with pre-focus which is how I learnt. Turn off autofocus, prefocus on a part of the track or point the subject will go past, then pan with the subject and shoot as they get to that point.
 
I think the advice above is sound.

Of course lots depends on what bits you want sharp. Sometimes it's nice to have a static background and have the subject blurred to show its speed. Other times you may want to have the subject pin-sharp and the background blurred - again to show relative speed.

And then it's about just how much movement you dial in. Use the shutter speed/focal length to guesstimate it before shooting.

Pre-focussing does mean there's one less thing to worry about.
 
How about doing it the old fashioned way with pre-focus which is how I learnt. Turn off autofocus, prefocus on a part of the track or point the subject will go past, then pan with the subject and shoot as they get to that point.

The proper old fashioned way, you still need to focus during the eposure...you turn the focus ring at the same time as panning, with Fuji Velvia 50, polarised we had as much as 12 ASA (ISO) - so anyone complaining that 200 is low needs to go and look at themselves in a mirror, properly. In order to amintain focus during the exposure, you sat yourself on the inside of a decent bend (usually Coppice at Donnington) and as Raymond Roche came hurtling past, or Tardozzi, not only did you pan, but you also had to follow focus, with the mirror up.....and todays photographers think they're skilled. If the stitches in the leathers weren't sharp, it went in the bin.
 
The proper old fashioned way, you still need to focus during the eposure...you turn the focus ring at the same time as panning, with Fuji Velvia 50, polarised we had as much as 12 ASA (ISO) - so anyone complaining that 200 is low needs to go and look at themselves in a mirror, properly. In order to amintain focus during the exposure, you sat yourself on the inside of a decent bend (usually Coppice at Donnington) and as Raymond Roche came hurtling past, or Tardozzi, not only did you pan, but you also had to follow focus, with the mirror up.....and todays photographers think they're skilled. If the stitches in the leathers weren't sharp, it went in the bin.

Well one could say the proper old way is to use multiple cameras as pioneered by Eadweard Muybridge in 1877 and 1878 .....and todays photographers think they're skilled :D
I've never followed focus when panning (without autofocus) as it negates the whole reason for the prefocus technique. Todays modern camera, with the autofocus modes set correctly are just a completely diffent toolset, leading to many more successful images
 
I almost feel guilty now, using my camera's Auto 'Scene' settings. 'Sports' mode gives me focus-tracking and a 10-shot burst, then the ''Bird-Spotting' mode gives focus-tracking+single or multiple shots.

Then again though, being a bridge-camera, I don't have time to fiddle with the menus to set manually without losing the shots, but I do get stuff like this though.....





 
Panning success rate for me depends purely on shutter speed and distance from the subject (excluding BIF here).

The closer you are to a fast moving object the harder it is to pan/get the shot as the relative speed you need to pan is greater.

However, assuming I’m shooting motorsport from a ‘standard’ distance then if I shoot at 1/200 and above the success rate is high, probably in the high 90% (again there’s a lot of variables). If I shoot at 1/50 then hit rate is severely reduced, maybe around 20%. 1/25 and I’d say it’s under 5%. Some people can get a much better hit rate at 5% but I guess my hands aren’t that sturdy and my techniques not so good.
 
There are too many variables to answer fairly.

Also, you will find your own nuances with things like panning. I am better at panning something moving faster, than something moving slower, even at the same shutter speed when actually halving it for the faster subject may be fairer.

The other thing you will find is subjects moving towards you at an oblique angle, even with effect panning are hard to get front to back free of motion blur. It is like one part of the subject is getting closer to you at a different rate to another.
 
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