When Do You Use The Technique?

As already discussed, sports photography is one of the areas of photography where the panning technique is used most often. Races, rallies and athletics are classic examples. In fact, shooting on a race track makes panning photography comparatively simpler since the camera-subject distance remains practically constant as the subject travels on the race track, in its defined track width. This makes life much easier for the photographer, and we will cover more on the technicalities later in the article.

We understand that most everyday camera users may not have the equipment or the time/interest to seriously consider sports photography. So where else could you make use of the panning techniques? Well, anywhere that you have a subject traveling horizontally or even vertically for that matter! If you have a moderately long focal length lens, something like a 200 mm for example, you can take panning photographs of your pets as they run. However, it is simpler to start off shooting subject that move at predictable speeds and patterns. A jogger in a park can be a good subject to start with, and you could even take the help of a friend or fellow photographer for this. Another good subject could be a vehicle as it moves down the road. All you would need to do is find a comfortable spot to set up your stand, and then simply wait for a vehicle to show up. Long stretches of roads without traffic signals usually allow vehicles to travel at their cruise speeds, and this again makes it easy for you to track their movement in your view finder.

Birds in flight are probably one of the hardest of subjects, since they are able to change the direction and speed of their flight, in quick succession. However they are also one of the most pleasing subjects to photograph. A birds in flight against a completely out of focus background, accentuated with streaks resulting from a pan, makes a great image any given day.

And then, shooting an image of a child as it runs is another nice example of what can make a good panning photo. Kids, especially toddlers tend to laugh as they run, and this gives you a perfect opportunity to take great panning photographs. Next time you are at a park, you could keep an eye on children playing, and if you have your own children, this is a great way to keep yourself occupied while you literally keep an eye on them! If running children are too hard to capture at first, work on images of children on swings or see-saws! Both devices give you a predictable movement, and this is a great opportunity to take panning photos. We’ve given you a few examples of where panning techniques can be employed, but the list is obviously limited only by your creativity.

Technicalities

The Grip

Your grip on the camera is important whenever you shoot, and it becomes vital when using the panning technique. As a reminder, one needs to hold the camera (we are speaking of a SLR) pressed against the face, the left arm being used for maximum support and stability, while the right hand holds the camera grip, the right fore finger being used to fire the shutter. When using the panning technique, the same grip is to be maintained, with an additional stability on the left hand if possible. In the absence of a tripod, you can use a support like a wall to lean your left shoulder on, or even your own knees. When you fire the shutter, ensure you do not use a jerky movement, but squeeze the shutter release down much as you would squeeze a trigger on a gun so as not to ‘miss’. A jerky movement would result in an image with evident shake.

The Tripod

Using a tripod where possible, will go a long way in ensuring you get the best results out of the panning technique. In most situations, you would be using the horizontal pan, and all tripods would work just fine for this. When you use a tripod, you need not worry about undesired shake, and concentrate on the vital aspects on subject focus and subject tracking through the view finder. If you are shooting in a scenario where you need to change position often, a monopod may be a good option at the very least, if a tripod is not practical. In unplanned situations, use a wall or some kind of support to give maximum stability to your camera. Camera stability becomes vital when using the panning technique, since we purposely use slow shutter speeds, as mentioned in the next section.

The Shutter Speed

If you know a little bit of physics, shooting panning images and understanding the idea behind the technique becomes much simpler if you can draw parallels with the theory of relativity. The idea is, to ‘slow down’ a moving subject by tracking it within the viewfinder and thereby reduce or preferably stop its relative speed altogether, in relation to the movement of the camera. In other words, a subject that would appear blurred at a shutter speed of say 1/30 of a second, no longer appears blurred since you are moving your camera angle just at the right speed, with the subject. No doubt, this takes practice and you will probably get many unusable images till you get the hang of moving your camera angle at just the right speed without causing undesired vertical movement. However, the practice, dedication and time that you put in are well worth the effort. Anyway, we will purposely use a slow shutter speed so as to get a blurred background while ‘stopping’ the subject thanks to our panning motion. This results in images that convey the feeling of movement.

The Aperture

Aperture is a vital part of any picture making process. Many would imagine that a large aperture or a shallow depth of field makes sense when shooting panning images, so as to blur the background. On the contrary, it makes sense to use as small an aperture as possible, so as to get the comfort of working within a little bit of focusing errors, while you are busy tracking the subject. In any case you would get a motion blur in the background thanks to the pan movement, and you would not get an ‘in-focus’ background thanks to the slow shutter speed. Another important reason is, the camera-subject distance will in all probability CHANGE during your panning motion, and you do need considerable depth of field. So, we recommend apertures no larger than f/8!

The Follow Through

The follow through movement is an important aspect of shooting panning images. This simply means you do not stop with the pan motion when you fire the shutter, but keep moving the camera angle in the direction of movement of your subject. Not only does this reduce the chances of getting a shake on the subject, but it also allows you to shoot multiple images. This follow through action becomes all the more important when you

are using a camera on the burst mode. Stop the panning motion only when you are completely sure you do not require to fire again, or when the subject can no longer be tracked in the view finder.