If you ever tried taking pictures of a moving subject then you must have heard of panning and how it greatly helps us catch some magnificent motion shots. In photo contests, panning is done by moving the camera horizontally as you scan a moving subject. Still can’t get it? To make it simple, pretend like moving your head along with a speeding car as it flies by and you’ve got the idea. As what most experts done in photo contest, you have to match your movement with the subject’s speed and directional path as much as possible to get a perfect shot. Panning is somewhat difficult but by practice and timing, you will be surprised by the shots you took by using this technique.
So how do you pan your camera?
For photo competitions, panning will be a lot easier if you will be able to predict the subject’s path of motion. Avoid subject that moves from side to side or randomly changing directions like birds or fish. As an experience in my recent photo competition, panning seems to work great with subject moving in a straight trajectory.
There are several steps on panning..
1. For photography contests, start by using slow shutter speeds probably between 1/60 and 1/8. 1/30 second is perfect or you can try to experiment a bit after absorbing the timing. Find a clean spot where you will be able to focus on your subject. There should no possible obstruction by anyone or anything and also consider your location to have a good background. In photography contest, plain coloured backgrounds will result to a good blur.
2. Now try to parallel yourself to the path of the subject to improve your focussing. If you find it hard to keep your camera steady, make use of a swivel tripod or monopad. Advanced camera has an auto focus tracking feature which allows the camera to find your subject by half pressing the shutter button. In picture contests, auto focussing could be reliable depending upon the camera’s focus speed if it could match with the subject’s.
3. If your camera fails to match the speed to focus the subject, you will need to pre-focus your shot. Here you need to time your focus and predict the spot where you will end up releasing the shutter. In picture contests, releasing the shutter is a vital part. You have to release it as gentle as you can while continuing to pan the subject to make the motion blur smoother from start to finish.
4. Avoid using old digital camera if you want to make great motion shots with a magnificent background blur. Old cameras are prone to shutter lag, where a slight delay in the shutter is experienced. Also keep in mind that panning could also become frustrating especially when you become anxoius of the resulting photo.
Panning is great way to make a stunning and equally unique photos of a moving subject. Learn it, have with it, and even you won’t believe how magnificent your shots could be.To see how John Warton, senior photo editor at Photo Laureates reviews photographs and meet, go to www.thephotochallenge.com.
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