Welcome to AdoramaTV,
my name is Marcin Lewandowski
and in this episode of the Viewfinder
I will talk a little bit about panning.
You have probably seen many
photographs taken using this technique
maybe even without knowing it.
Panning is nothing new really but it's
always good to have it in our arsenal of
tricks to deploy from time to time.
So what is panning anyway?
In photographic terms it's a technique
where we photograph a moving object
by tracking with our camera using long exposures.
This way our subject remains sharp while
the background becomes blurred.
Most often you will see this technique used
in sport, and mainly in motor sport
but there are many other uses for it
and just like with every other photographing technique,
we are yet to see all the creative applications for it.
Panning can be used to photograph any
movement, and it's all about finding
the right rhythm between movement and the
photographed subject
and our movement of the camera.
Even though panning can be
used at shutter speed as fast as 1/200s,
or even shorter,
you need a really fast moving object
to blur the background,
and not everyone has
access to race-track or rallying cars
outside their window.
I honed my panning
skills at the track site photographing
single seaters, stock rods and drifting cars,
and through trial and error I learned to use panning
outside of racing circuits as well.
Even though sport is still the most suitable topic
for panning, practically any other stable movement
in one direction can be translated by this technique.
The best way to prepare for the panning shot
is to mimic our subjects movement
and to anticipate its trajectory and speed.
It’s quite easy to repeat movement for example
a swing where you can just swing
your camera in the same rhythm and pace
pressing the shutter at the decisive moment.
At this point you might ask
what is the decisive moment?
A good idea is to take a few panning photographs
at various shutter speeds
making them slower and slower,
one step at a time.
Have a look at the various
results you are getting and pick the one
with the most appealing background,
this is what you will present
your moving subject against.
Once you have your chosen shutter speed,
an interesting background,
and you are in sync with the movement,
it will then be much easier to take a panning shot
that you will be happy with.
A few things remain more or less constant
and are worth keeping in mind.
The slower the speed of the moving object
and longer the distance to it,
the harder you will find panning
without shaking.
In cases like that I suggest
a monopod, tripod and a lot of practice.
Additionally, if you work freehand a good
tip; is to tuck in your elbows and spread
your legs to be more stable.
Look around for things you can use as a prop;
a stake, fence or a picket. If your lens’s VR
doesn't recognize panning motion
then turn it off to avoid a jittery image.
There are a few variations
to horizontal panning
that you might want to give a go as well.
The vertical panning,
which works in more or less the same way.
Using the flash while panning to aid the sharpness
of the photograph subject.
And the next variation is a bit more complicated,
zooming while exposing,
which means matching you're zooming speed
with the speed of the approaching subject.
Well this requires a bit more practice
and being happy with an almost 100%
fail rate at the beginning!
But it works really nice when combined
with horizontal panning.
To summarize; be as stable as possible,
choose your background and shutter speed,
match your movement
to the movement speed of the
photographed subject
and that's the gist of it.
I hope you'll enjoy your panning
experiments and please feel free to share
this with us using the hashtag
#ADORAMA
Subscribe to our channel for more videos
and check out the Adorama Learning Center
for some tips and tutorials.
This was Marcin Lewandowski for AdoramaTV,
I'll see you next time.