Just want to make sure I understand this correctly (panning)

[alex]

Hey everyone,


There is an evening bike race in town this coming weekend, and I'd like to go try out the new camera and get some shots of the racers....you know, in focus rider, blurred wheels, legs, and background. Last year, I tried it with my S2 IS, got one good shot out of about 100.


This year, with my increased knowledge and new camera (450D, 17-55 f/2.8 IS), I hope to get better results.


I've searched this forum for info on panning shots (mostly read about technique from the threads about shooting race cars), and here is what I've gathered:


1) My lens doesn't have 2-mode IS, so it is better to have IS off (?)


2) Shutterspeed of 1/100 to 1/60 would probably produce good blur (I would be shooting from about 30 to 35 feet from the riders)....maybe I need slower shutterspeed for subjects that close?


3) I need to make sure I'm shooting in AI SERVO mode


4) I need to make sure the subject is traveling perpendicular to my viewpoint, maintaining as close to the same distance as possible from the lensthroughout the pan.


5) Have fun, be patient, experiment with settings


Is that pretty much a good sum up of what I will need to do?


Thanks everyone, I really love the great responses on this forum!


alex

[Mark Elberson]

1) My lens doesn't have 2-mode IS, so it is better to have IS off (?)

Keep it on. The IS on that lens "knows" when you are panning where as the older versions of IS did not so that is why they had 2 modes. Your lens also "knows" when it's on a tripod (although most people will still tell you to turn it off) where as older version did not.

2) Shutterspeed of 1/100 to 1/60 would probably produce good blur (I would be shooting from about 30 to 35 feet from the riders)....maybe I need slower shutterspeed for subjects that close?

You are probably going to need slower shutter speeds since the bikes won't be moving nearly as fast as a race-car. Just experiment and see what you get []

3) I need to make sure I'm shooting in AI SERVO mode

Yep

4) I need to make sure the subject is traveling perpendicular to my viewpoint, maintaining as close to the same distance as possible from the lensthroughout the pan.

Yep

5) Have fun, be patient, experiment with settings

This is the most important one [] Be sure to post your results!

[peety3]

There is an evening bike race in town this coming weekend, and I'd like to go try out the new camera and get some shots of the racers....you know, in focus rider, blurred wheels, legs, and background. Last year, I tried it with my S2 IS, got one good shot out of about 100.

You may want to experiment and "change your expectations" about rider in-focus vs legs, as getting the rider crisp may not give you much leg blur.

2) Shutterspeed of 1/100 to 1/60 would probably produce good blur (I would be shooting from about 30 to 35 feet from the riders)....maybe I need slower shutterspeed for subjects that close?

I'd start at 1/60th, and expect most of your best results there. You may need to tweak your timing based more on the camera-subject vs. camera-background ratio.

4) I need to make sure the subject is traveling perpendicular to my viewpoint, maintaining as close to the same distance as possible from the lensthroughout the pan.

I don't think you need this, and you may want to instead try for shots where the rider is about 45* between coming towards you and perpendicular to you. That way you get more face, and your angular rate-of-change is lower (because of the longer camera-subject distance) than when the rider is perpendicular.


Samples of a certain familiar bike rider. Canon 40D, 16-35/2.8, center focus point in AI Servo, ISO 100, (stupidly) set to f/14 (I shoot so much in Av, and I don't often use my girlfriend's 40D, so I didn't think to choose Tv). Shutter speeds were 1/25th, 1/30th, and 1/25th. The 40D pulled off 7 more shots in between the second and third, but they "weren't so hot" and didn't make the cut. I will also mention that a cycling buddy found me at this particular intersection, and I was shooting with my 1D3 and 70-200/2.8IS. I'd preset the camera, handed it to him, said "keep the center focus red square smack dab on the riders, follow them, and feel free to hold the button down for about 10 shots if you'd like. Feel free to practice on a few, so you're ready for the big guy." He'd previously had the photography bug, and a few months later got a 40D with EFS 17-85 and the 85/1.8, so I re-hooked him.











Since many Canon lenses "min" out at f/22, you'll probably have trouble getting slower than 1/60th (if you decide that's useful) unless you're at ISO 100 (hence why I like pro cameras with ISO 50...). That said, if there is a group of bikes, you may want to alternate with shots where the camera is fixed (and perhaps the focus is pre-selected - you're going to be at a narrow aperture guaranteed unless you've got a STRONG neutral density filter in front of that lens, so the DOF will be large and using a pre-set focus won't matter) and you get the background crisp but all of the riders blurry. Why? If you pan with one rider, the other riders' relative position in the image will be shifting in ways that'll guarantee a very small number of crisp riders:





If any:





If you have the gear to do it (external flash, preferably with an external battery pack to help speed the recycling), consider -1EC (if you can!) and second-curtain flash:

[alex]

Thank you Mark and peety3! I appreciate the quick replies, I'll take the suggestions and go with it.


I'm not sure that f-stop will be too much of a problem, peety3, because it's an evening/night race. While it will be lit artificially, it won't be bright enough to require f/22 to get 1/60s exposure.


Hope it works out. I'll make sure I've got the camera set to Tv.

[peety3]

I'm not sure that f-stop will be too much of a problem, peety3, because it's an evening/night race. While it will be lit artificially, it won't be bright enough to require f/22 to get 1/60s exposure.

Oh yeah, that little detail about "night". Forgot about that.


In that case, keep a close eye on aperture during your pans. If you get down to 2.8 and need more, you'll either come home with a dark picture or (if you've enabled it) safety shift might push your shutter speed longer. If safety shift kicks in, your longer shutter speeds may demand more accuracy in your (extended) pans. I'd aim for f/5.6 or f/8, unless you had real consistent lighting and you could then aim for f/4.

[alex]

ok, i'll aim for those f-stops then and see what my exposures are. What is safety-shift?