Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Getting panned


Waiting on lower Burton Street, where Riley intersects with Oxford, for my son to arrive for our dinner date at Cafe Hernandez, I filled in the time learning to capture movement by panning cyclists.

As I stood at the back of the wide footpath to enable reaction time, that often meant that a pedestrian walked in front.


As you can see, I am learning. My aim is to freeze the moving figure and blur everything else. As yet, I cannot pace my camera adequately as I track the figure, and I stop AS I depress the shutter rather than following through.

I aim to incorporate panning into my daily shooting schedule.

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19 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 17, 2010 4:18 am

    Wonderful action shots, very lovely!

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  2. UnknownMarch 17, 2010 4:25 am

    Ooooh that is very neat! I would like to learn how to do this too!

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  3. TashMarch 17, 2010 5:12 am

    Nice panning eye work, Julie! wonderful variety of shots on the same theme

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  4. Nancy CMarch 17, 2010 6:14 am

    How wonderful to commute to work on a bike! I miss it terribly.

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  5. brattcatMarch 17, 2010 6:40 am

    What great fun to watch you mastering this new trick!

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  6. JimMarch 17, 2010 8:14 am

    Great action shots and great captures Julie. My sculpture today at Haymarket was one of the most challenging shots ever. :)
    I can't tell you how long I waited around and how many shots I took before I was able to get one without too many people around.
    Sydney - City and Suburbs

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  7. DavineMarch 17, 2010 8:16 am

    Very good panning work I have tried it with car racing - didn't get it though. Thanks for visiting my decluttering - don't get me wrong I still have craft items and fabric that I just move around.

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  8. caraMarch 17, 2010 9:49 am

    I'm going to have to give it a go. Is the idea to pan the camera at the same speed as the moving object and click while you are still moving? What sort of shutter speed?

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  9. AnnMarch 17, 2010 10:11 am

    Good attempt. I remember my panning lesson with cyclists in Centennial Park - very difficult, not sure I ever really got it, they were always going too fast for me to keep up but, yes, the secret seems to be to keep your arms still, turn from the waist and follow through. The bottom one of the scooter is good. I think it looks better with a bit of motion blur and not completely frozen.

    Re BMFF - will start next Monday. What with computer problems (now fixed), heart scare (now fixed - not heart at all but took several weeks and hundreds of (non claimable) dollars to find that out) and being away last weekend, I loaded this week's offering a couple of weeks back. Did get some good shots of the festival but the weather wasn't good and the old place I always stay in has now gone down hill terribly and I had bedbugs. As a result I packed up and came home early. I did, however, do a lot better than last year - thanks to Strangers.

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  10. JulieMarch 17, 2010 10:26 am

    Cara, yep that is the technique. As for s/s, I would think not super fast as that might freeze the b/g too much - maybe between 30 and 80, that sort of range.

    Ann, not sure if I remembered the swing from the waist pointer. My aim is to absolutely freeze the moving vehicle. Once I can do that, it means I am in control of the technique. Then I can start to experiment with what I think is arty-farty. I am off to Kx today for a little meander. Shame about the bed-bugs. Yeah, that Strangers has a lasting impact which is sooo good!

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  11. MarkaMarch 17, 2010 11:22 am

    You're makin' progress! Panning while taking photos takes practice, and even then it tends to be hit or miss.

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  12. BillMarch 17, 2010 3:22 pm

    Quite a contrast in what the cyclists are wearing and the guy on the scooter.

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  13. JulieMarch 17, 2010 4:35 pm

    Bill, the bloke on the scooter just has to sit there! Sydney (especially the East) is very hilly.

    The only one kitted out well in the chap in the second photograph. But they all do have helmets on, even though the wearing of helmets in the inner city was panned by a visiting expert last week!

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  14. JanetMarch 17, 2010 4:53 pm

    Those are lovely! Just in time for our Cape Argus which was on Sunday - Lance Armstrong came 9th! Really good shots!

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  15. Joan ElizabethMarch 17, 2010 5:42 pm

    Good panning (I've never really tried it myself). Aren't there an awful lot of bikes on the road these days. It must be horrible dangerous for them.

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  16. PeterMarch 17, 2010 9:22 pm

    I think you got it pretty well, great commuter shots.

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  17. diane bMarch 17, 2010 11:44 pm

    Thats fun and you've done well.

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  18. AnonymousMarch 18, 2010 7:41 pm

    Very good, you did it very well!! It's not easy to achieve this technique.
    Bye,
    Serge

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  19. MarlaMarch 19, 2010 3:36 am

    Really cool. Makes me want to learn photography

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