I felt a little indulgent standing for 20-30 minutes trying pan after pan when there was so much going on around me, but allocating at least this type of time, Gavin explained, is how you master the technique, and how you capture that compelling image.

So I thought I would share a few images as I progressed through the tips that follow. Clearly the early images are not ones that I would normally publish and I have not made any adjustments – they are exactly as shot, but some of you might find it helpful in understanding the tip or learning not what to do! There is a slideshow further down too of more images.

Panning too quickly meant my framing was just off

Gavin taught me a couple of extra things that were really helpful, and I want to share with you. I won’t repeat my earlier post about the settings – 10 tips for mastering panning – the distance, the stance etc – but do read this as it is an integral part of how to master panning – but Gavin did share me with 4 additional tips, the first of which was how to set-up my custom functions correctly, to allow me to rapidly move to panning mode.

I am a Canon user – but I know Nikon will have something similar – so I have 3 custom settings I can record on my Canon 5d Mark II, so I set up C3 for panning. The first thing to do was to set up the camera for a “generic” panning shot – a starting point, if you like.

I switched to TV mode, selected a shutter speed of 1/30, and changed the AF-Drive settings to AI servo and multi-shot. I put the ISO on Automatic, and evaluative metering. Then I went into the Main Menu options and selected from the Yellow settings menu, Custom User Setting>Register, and stored under Mode Dial:C3.

This meant that when I was shooting something in say AV mode on a fixed ISO, with single shot and spot metering and I saw an amazing panning opportunity, I had just 1 turn of the main mode switch, to C3, to be set up for panning. It all means there is just less to worry about – let the camera do the work!

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Mistakenly focusing on the elbow not the face has reduced the impact

The second tip was obvious once Gavin had said it. Keep your focus point welded to the bit you want to stay sharp, throughout the pan. Easier said than done mind you, but this is what will make the face or the hands or the flower that you are focusing on jump out of the picture.

The third tip was to also consider panning in low-light situations, using a flash. The only additional setting here is to select second—curtain shutter for your flash, so that any light trails are behind the subject being panned, not in front! You need to turn the flash down probably 1 or 2 stops – enough to create the effect, but not enough to startle the poor man on his moped with some blinding X-Files like light!

The fourth tip was to pre-select the focal length to the aesthetic you want in the final picture and stick with it. Lets say you have a 24-70mm lens, and you want to take the final shot with the subject large enough in the frame to be interesting, but sill with some negative space or composition elements to make a compelling shot. When you track to the right or left to start your pan, the subject will seem tiny at that focal length. Don’t be tempted to re-adjust the focal length. Leave it on that pre-determined setting, focus on the subject – keeping that focal point on the key area of sharpness that you want – and pan at the same speed as the subject. As the subject reaches your pre-determined point, press the shutter. This sounds obvious, right? I can’t tell you how many times I found myself adjusting the focal length as I was panning!!

Playing around with the flash - not quite there yet!

After that it really is trial and error, making tiny adjustments to the flash or the shutter, depending on the light or the speed of the subject. As you can see from the images in my slideshow, it is harder than it sounds, or maybe I should say I found it harder than it seems!

Practice really does make perfect in the case of panning, and boy, do I need to practice! If you want to see some great examples then head over to Gavin’s blog an check them out.

Pulling it all together, for a decent Panning shot