UKC

My first attempt at panning, was marshalling at a local TT and lucky enough to get posted to the roundabout. The featured shot have been PS'd a little so not as taken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanzler666/6865768326/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanzler666/7014427737/in/photostream/

This harder than I thought, especially when having to pan by hand as I had done a scholl boy error and left the camera - monopod interface at home - LOL.

In reply to PanzerHanzler:

Cool pictures mate.

What sort of shutter speeds where you using? And do you think the mono is essential?

Onion

In reply to Onion: The second one was
Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 83 mm
ISO Speed 100

the metadata is on flickr if you click the camera name on flickr (right hand side)

In reply to PanzerHanzler:

Nice work! It's all in the hips (and mode 2 IS)

Ninja skills start at around 1/10 or so...

http://www.andyhuddartphotography.co.uk/Galleries/Events/content/IMG_4670_l...

In reply to Onion:

Mono would have made things easier:

I've have fixed the height at which I was shooting - I was having to roughly sit the camera on my knee. However, after practice (there were 50ish riders) my technique did improve.

It would have been one less plane of motion to stabilize, and I may have got away with a slower shutter speed and more blur.

In reply to hindu:

Cheers for the link & tip.

In reply to PanzerHanzler:

A couple more cycling shots - local MB event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanzler666/7054851011/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanzler666/6908810100/in/photostream

In reply to PanzerHanzler:

REALLY like the 2nd MB one! More please!
The panning ones are good as well! #overweightmiddleagedblokesonexpensivesbikes! )

In reply to PanzerHanzler: I'm a novice photographer- does anyone fancy explaining how the first two shots were taken? I like the effect (I understand shutter speed etc.)

In reply to Jurgan C:

The theory is easy, the practice difficult! You simply select a relatively long shutter speed, and as your moving subject comes past you, you track it with your camera, while releasing the shutter. This produces movement artefact in the stationary background, but because your camera is following the moving subject, it remains in focus. Easier said than done!

A relatively high f number (small aperture) helps maintain depth of focus. It can help to prefocus on a spot you know the subject is going to travel through rather than relying on autofocus.

In reply to edmitchell:

wouldn't you want smaller depth of field and hence a wider aperture?

In reply to edmitchell: o, thanks. I'll try that.

In reply to PanzerHanzler:
Great shots , haven't done much panning myself so can't really add anything constructive but like them. Good work

In reply to Morgan Woods:

smaller (not the smallest!) aperture helps with keeping your subject in focus, as the subject is not a constant distance away from your camera if you are just panning to take a shot. It may also help keep your shutter time 'acceptably long' on a bright day to introduce motion artefact in the background

In reply to edmitchell:

Getting the mix of aperture and shutter correct was a bit hit and miss as I hadn't researched this much, when the stream of shots are seen you can see how they improved with time.

In reply to Jurgan C:

What I did was:

Select a spot with the sun behind - lit the subjets nicely.

Used a low angle, i.e. sat on my bum (take a small cushion).

Used my knee as an ad-hoc monopod (this helps eliminate vertical movement), a proper monopod would have been better as I could have set it to the height I wanted (one thing to worry about).

Worked out where I was going to get the better shots along this section, tracked the incoming cyclists and fired away in sport mode just before they got to the sweet spot and kept going until they were out of. As the day wore on I found I was using this less and firing off one to two shots once got the hang of it.

I used spot focus in servo (continuosly adjusting) mode.