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The Beauty of Speed
by Bill Thorsby, Ship's PhotographerEditorial Deck Crewmember
Welcome back to the Photo Studio. As you know the past few months we have been hanging inside since it's a bit chilly outside. We have been looking at old pictures and making them stand-out just a bit more through the use of cropping and directional lighting.
As I was looking at and working on those examples of Motocross shots, I got the need for speed. So this month we are going to take a different direction. Most professional photographers who shoot pictures of riders on fast bikes, or Formula One cars, are using very expensive, large diameter lenses. These are used so to allow as much light in to the camera as possible, thus allowing for higher shutter speed because of the large amount of light available. We can also get the subject frozen in mid-air as the bikes were last month.
Some times it's nice to see the speed "frozen" but other times it's nice to see the "Beauty of Speed." For this we are going to show you an example of an old art…the art of Panning. No, not for gold, but panning with your camera. So let's get out doors and get shooting.
In Photo One I started out using a monopod for this shot. That's the pole your camera stands on so you don't get the "up and down" shakes. The shot is of my youngest boy on a 4-wheeler. It was a relatively bright afternoon, so because of the light I had to speed up my shutter speed. (too much light). As you can see the picture came out ok, and I got the action frozen. However the picture really doesn't show any "Speed" because you really can't tell if he's moving, or if so, how fast he's going.
In Photo two shows what happens when you take a picture of a moving subject and don't have enough light. The camera will want you to open up your lens and lengthen your shutter speed to allow time for more light. However your subject is moving and hence you get a blurry picture. This is where we take advantage of poor light and use "Panning."
Panning is the process of following a subject while taking a picture. Now this does require a few basic things. First, it is necessary to have a slow shutter speed so you don't capture and freeze your subject. To get a slow shutter speed, you need to create the need for more light…we do that by stopping our lens down. Cut down the amount of light the camera has available and it will keep the shutter open longer to allow more light in.
Then the fun begins…practice, practice, practice. Panning is something that can really add the dynamic of speed.
In In Photo 3 you can see the 4-wheeler flying across the field and you have captured the "Beauty of Speed". You know that he isn't standing still, and you can almost sense the rider zooming by. However…as you can figure out by looking at the picture, the rider and 4-wheeler were on a rough surface. You can see that he is bouncing up and down. Its almost impossible to capture or anticipate that movement, so…
In In Photo 4 we moved to a flat surface. You can now tell he is moving along just by glancing at the blurry back round. A couple things to keep in mind when you're playing with panning is that it may require pre-focusing. You don't want the camera to waste time focusing while the shutter is waiting to open. If you rely on your camera to focus, your subject may move in or out of focus. What I did was to take my lens off of auto focus and pre-focus in the area I thought he would be. (Yes this was staged)
The more you practice with panning, the better you will get at tracking and capturing a great photo. Remember you probably won't get a tack sharp picture starting out because you're moving, and the subject is moving. But panning is a great way to show movement. It's easy to do, and just takes practice. Use a monopod if you can since it will take out the up-down motion or camera shake. If you only have a regular tripod, you can use that...just keep the side to side friction lock unlocked so you can smoothly follow your subject. I trust you'll have fun trying out the medium of Panning for your next shots.
Foremost of all...Happy Shooting,
Bill Thorsby
billthorsby@ssreflections.com
Ship's Photographer
Editorial Deck Crewmember
S.S. Reflections, Inc.
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