Panning

[boBQuincy]

No, not what Canon users do to Nikon reviews, but rather the art of following a moving subject at a relatively slow shutter speed to blur the background, giving the impression of speed. This is probably not a technique we might use often at WDW but it could be useful for something like "Lights, Motors, Yawn"

The idea is to use a shutter speed maybe about 4 steps slower than normal and track the motion of the object. Some of the techniques I have found to work include:
prefocus, even fast focusing L lenses have trouble locking onto a really fast object in time;
follow through, it makes for a smoother capture.

I tested some of these ideas recently at a vintage auto race, with very fast moving objects not too far away. My 70-200 L was sometimes capable of locking onto a car, but not always. A shutter speed of 1/125 to 1/250 seemed to work well, where I often used 1/1000 to freeze the motion.

 

[oregondaddyof2]

Nice shots! I am going to be in Seattle for the NHRA drags in July, and I plan to experiment with this technique.. I hope I can get as clear of shots as you did...

 

[zackiedawg]

Wow...those race cars must not have been moving very fast if you got them frozen that well with panning techniques. I've tried this at Disney with their race cars...those Grand Prix cars are just so fast though! I've tried to pan with them, but it's well nigh impossible with those speed demon cars:

Actually, I do play around with panning sometimes. I shot at a polo match a few times, and though much of the time I use faster shutter speeds to freeze the action, sometimes I want to get that sense of motion or movement, and will slow the shutter down for some background blur:

I use panning a lot when I'm shooting birds in flight...but you can't always tell since much of the time they're against a plain blue sky!

I snapped this one in my front yard, just playing around with the technique, of a neighbor's car driving past:

I'd actually like to use the technique more at Disney - I just don't always think about it. It might be very cool for catching a roller coaster car as it speeds by, or for following a spinning ride car around.

 

[boBQuincy]

*Anyone* can pan with a Lola T-70 at full song but as you found out, those Indy cars at Magic Kingdom will put our skills to the real test! I got some clear photos of our favorite 4 year old driving down pit road but once she hit the gas I just gave up on photos.

Here are the rest of the easy ones I took at Virginia International Raceway:
http://bob.suzieandbob.com/racing/vir_june09/

 

[Swoop1]

 

[bostran1]

Excellent panning shots. Here is my favorite. I took this one during Light, Motors, Action. Click on the photo to view it large. Its much better that way.