10 tips for mastering panning

Lets me say right out of the gate that I have not mastered panning and I am certainly in no position to teach others how to do panning – as these images clearly show! So why, many of you are now asking, have I got the gall to write a blog post that suggests I have?  It either means I have an ego the size of some 3rd world country’s debt, or the fall from the camel last week has finally given substance to what many of you suspected for some time.

Well the truth is, I think I may have mastered the theory…just not its application. For those of you who were kind enough to read my previous posts on the outcome of my review with Ami Vitale, you could say I have mastered the science of panning, just not the art. But since photogrpahy is all about applying the science to create the art, I thought I would continue my trend of sharing the nuggets of advice that I am given as I journey to become a more competent photographer, but also in the hope that it might prove useful information for you and others.

When I was doing some research online, I found lots of information about the basics of panning spread over a wide range of sources, but no concise or easily digestible set of tips – no “a-ha” ideas that would be some secret sauce to successful panning. In fact the most useful tip I got was not from the web at all, but from Matt Brandon (aka The Digital Trekker), who was humble enough to admit that it was Gavin Gough whom had given him the idea!

So as I researched, I jotted down a quick checklist to help improve my chances, because the one thing that all the different sources agreed on was that getting panning right was definitely an art and required lots of practice. So here is the list I collated, pompously entitled “10 tips for mastering panning”, in the vein hope that it might help with my SEO ranking!

1. Go on a 1 day workshop with “Mr Panning”, Gavin Gough. Okay so not all of us can get to Bangkok in the next few months to be able to make this happen, but I did run my checklist by Gavin, and with his blessing, I have included much of his wisdom in this post.
2. Camera Setting: Set the camera to shutter priority mode: TV mode (Canon) or S (Nikon).
3. Shutter Speed: Use the following starting shutter speeds as a guide for different types of panning:

People running – about 1/15th sec.
People walking – about 1/8th sec (NB watch out for increased camera shake!)
Horses/donkey/animals/bicycles etc about 1/15th sec -1/25th sec depending on speed
Motorbikes/Tuk-Tuks/Scooters/Camels about 1/30th sec

4. Drive Mode: Set to multiple exposure if you have it (like a motor-wind). This will allow you to not “lock-up” at the critical moment of pressing the shutter, although you will end up with 20-30 frames – which if you are anything like me, you then can delete about 20-30 of them immediately – but it will increase your chances of getting a great shot especially early on in your panning experience.
5. Stance: This was the tip that Matt Brandon/Gavin Gough shared. Stand at 90 degrees to the line the subject will travel along, with your feet firm. Then rotate your upper body around to where the subject will start from. It feels a little awkward, but as you pan with the subject, so the arc of travel is smooth all the way through the panning, without an awkward twist midway through.
6. Composition: The subject can either be in the centre of frame , although off-centre can work just as well with panning, but then you need to adjust the focusing point to ensure that it’s going to fall over the subject as you’re panning. So move it to the left or the right of the frame, depending on where you think the subject will be. It’s often easier to get the subject in the centre though.
7. Background selection. Choose an interesting background with good colors that will create a nice blurred effect in te final image to help re-inforce the motion in your shot. If you look at my two camel pictures, the image with the red truck is more interesting, but unfortunately the focus is not as good as the second image.
8. Exposure: If you’re shooting against a pre-defined background with consistent lighting then switch to Manual and get the exposure correct by just pointing the camera at the scene where you want to catch the panned object and taking a meter reading. Take a frame, check histogram and adjust manual exposure. Otherwise adjust your exposure as normal after taking some test shots.
9 Focus. If you set the exposure manually, pre-focus and switch to manual focus then all you have to worry about is getting the person/camel/scooter in the frame. Otherwise use the AI servo mode on Canon or the continuous servo AF on a Nikon.
10.Dry Run. Do a couple of dry runs without actually taking a shot. Gavin told me that  ”It’s that “click” that makes people stop moving the camera. Think back to cricket nets, golf driving-range or tennis coaching, it’s all in the follow-through.” This is where the stance and the drive mode can really help, as you can swing through in a smooth arc and not worry about judging the critical moment.

The other piece of wisdom which you will recognise as soon as you go and try is that panning is REALLY HARD! So it does require lots and lots of practise.

So how did I get on?

Well you can see from the images included in this post that I had mixed results. Whilst sometimes I got my panning or my shutter speed right, I then forgot about my composition! The subject is either too early in the frame, there are other distracting elements or the background does not really work or I needed to crop more tightly to get a sense of more involvement.

I did learn that camels bob up and down as they run forwards, which make great panning shots almost impossible as you have two axis of motion to contend with! Secondly the faster a subject is moving (and I am not suggesting that Formula 1 racing cars are therefore the easiest thing to shoot!), the smoother my panning was. For example, the motorbike shots seem to be consistently better in terms of focus and panning effect, whereas the one of the camel herder running is less compelling as there is some camera shake involved too. Whilst the red truck in the second shot of the camel make a much more dynamic picture, the people in the foreground left distract and the camel needs sharper focus. In the first camel picture the sense of motion is there, but now the background is wrong and perhaps the point of focus should have been more on the camel rider rather than the camel.

Ho hum! It’s all part of the learning experience.

The best outcome  though of this was that my confidence increased enormously.  If ever you needed proof that obsessing about technique does not lead to great photographs then my morning session doing panning is living proof! Whilst understanding the “science” or theory helped to ensure the “mystique” of great panning was removed, it reinforced the realization that to get really good at this was going to require practice. A lot of practice!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 6:56 pm. It is filed under Travel, Workshops and tagged with Ami Vitale, Camel, Gavin Gough, Panning, technique, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.