imported_bdougr

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Someone asked for my technique for panning on-coming cars.

First why should you always pan the action?
Because no matter how steady you are and no matter how high your shutter speed is the car will always have some blur.


To minimize the motion blur of the car we rotate our bodies as the car passes us to get more exposure time on the car while it moves. I try to keep the focus point of the camera locked on a high contrast area of the car, door handle, A-Pillar, fender well, etc while doing the pan. The longer you are able to hold this spot the more the car will not be blurred.

Why would we want to shoot slower shutter speeds?
Using a slower shutter speed while panning ceates a sense of speed by allowing the wheels and background to motion blur. Having the backgrounds blurred has the added benefit of making the photo less distracting. (not too many autox or race venues have really stunning backgrounds)

What are the downsides to shooting slower shutter speeds?
Well, I tend to have a lot of bad images. When I just started shooting I got about 30% keepers at 1/125th sec after a several tens of thousands of shots I was getting 80% keepers at 1/60th second. Don't be afraid to have some bad images. Shoot lots to make up for it throw the bad ones away and show off the good ones.

When I pan shots I like to face directly toward the area where I would like to have the photo taken, then rotate my body in the direction that the car will come from. Now when the car enters the viewfinder I start my rotation, half press the shutter button to start focusing and when my body reaches the neutral position I take the shot. If I try to take photos whith my body in other positions I tend to get a lot of crappy images.

Equipment : What helps?
I use a monopod most of the time. Some track shots where the car is much lower than the camera I handhold the camera. A cheap sturdy monopod with a basic tilt only head is all you need.
My prefered lenses are VR to reduce vibration while panning
I almost always use either a polarizer or Neutral Density filter to cut some light. Cutting the light helps to get the lower shutter speeds while still keeping the apeture in the sweet range (f/5 to f/11)
I almost always shoot JPEG normal. Heck autoxers will never see the benefits of anything better. When specifically asked for shots I will go RAW. Otherwise save your storage space.

Where the car is moving directly across the photographers shooting area in a straight line. This is the easiest to shoot since the car is moving at a nice steady pace.



Where the car is getting ready to change direction.

Pretty hard to shoot since the photographer will start tracking the car normally then be required to slow his rotation down during the exposure. Anticipation is the key but every driver handles the car differently at the turns. (and every time they go thru the same curve) This shot is the most rewarding. It conveys a lot of energy. Wheel is ****ed, car is off balance and hopefully the front wheel will be lifted.

and where the car is moving relatively straight towards the camera.

This is one of the hardest to capture. Since the photographer will only rotate the hips just a litle bit the background and cones will only be blurred a little.
[IMGO]http://www.sportscarimage.com/Autox/scca_july23/images/scca-july23_0319.jpg[/IMGO]

Last point to make is Panning looks best when there is something in the background or foreground to blur.
[IMGO]http://www.sportscarimage.com/images/wallpapers/Bestz3/images/1600/NasaAug22_0023.jpg[/IMGO]

OK this got to be much longer than I anticipated
keep shooting

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Nikon D2X
70-200mm f/2.8 VR AFS - 80-400mm f/4-5.6 VR
17-35mm f/2.8 AFS ----- 50mm f/1.4
60mm f/2.8 micro ------- 85mm f/1.4
SportscarImage.com

XtremeModifier

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thanks for the advice, and I will be trying it (btw - I use film, not digital). Kinda makes those mistakes a bit more expensive, lol. But, I guess the reward is worth the mistakes.

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ryans ®³

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My dad gave me a good tip using film. Keep a pen and notepad handy. Keep track of what setting you use when you take pics. That way if you get some good ones you know what settings were used.

imported_wolf

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how do you stay focused with cheaper cameras that don't show you the viewfinder while it is grabbing the image? in other words non SLR cameras

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imported_bdougr

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My advice is to not use the LCD screen as the viewfinder. My wifes point and shoot camera has a optical site (a hole) that I always use instead of the LCD.

another trick I heard about was to keep both eyes open. I could never do that though - goes against what I was taught.

The biggest helper will be to shoot lots of practice shots. You will get good.

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Nikon D2X
70-200mm f/2.8 VR AFS - 80-400mm f/4-5.6 VR
17-35mm f/2.8 AFS ----- 50mm f/1.4
60mm f/2.8 micro ------- 85mm f/1.4
SportscarImage.com

i'm Ty

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thats an awesome write up. i'll definitly use that info in the near future. I'm a 4wd guy so i'll try out those techniques next time i go 4-wheelin. I'll prob do mine in film too. i can enlarge color prints in school and i prefer using that old school method over the new school dig stuff. digital images are still awesome though!