Peter West Carey Photography

Tag: action

  • Panning Blur & Capturing Motion – Photography Basics

    Panning Blur & Capturing Motion – Photography Basics

    Today’s topic is one of the easier concepts to understand but one of the hardest to get just right.  Thanks to digital photography though, there is plenty of room to play and practice with this one.

    Panning Blur as a means to capture motion

    Panning blur is simply lowering your Shutter Speed to the point where things blur as you pan the camera side to side. You need to keep pace with a moving object and be able to keep it relatively in focus, thus accentuating the feel of movement.

    In practice it looks something like the hippo photo below. Program Mode, 300mm, ISO 100, f/40, 1/8 second, Partial Metering Mode and -1/3 stop Exposure Bias

    Panning BlurBy the way, hippos are dang fast.

    The trick is to set the shutter speed not too slow, resulting in more blurring than desired. And then track the object as it moves and fire while still moving. Don’t take the snap and stop otherwise your odds of a good shot plummet.

    Here’s another example of street scene. Shutter Priority Mode, 28mm, ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/800 second, Evaluative Metering

    Hey look! A car! In the street! Boring!

    Time to jazz it up a bit. Shutter Priority Mode, 40mm, ISO 100, f/20, 1/13 second, Evaluative Metering

    Zowie! A moving car!

    Can you see how it is helpful to give a bit of blur to the background while tracking the subject?

    Some tricks:

    • Practice! Or just be lucky (or a really good hunter)
    • Experiment with shutter speed. Start at 1/10 and work around from there.
    • You may need to use a neutral density filter if shooting in daylight and the scene is too bright.
    • Drop your ISO to as low as it will go. 100 or 50 if you have it.
    • Realize that objects tend to seem like they are moving faster as they are closer to you and you need to adjust for that.
    • Shoot when objects are closer to you to exaggerate the speed.
    • Bring your library card.
    • If you can, focus on eyes as people/animals/lizards move. An entire picture can be blurry, but if the eye is crystal clear, it sells.

    I’d love to see your results on this one. Please give it a whirl with anything at all and post a link in the comments section, if you will.

    Keep shooting, we have many more days left!

    Want to try this technique for yourself?  Here’s how.

    Inspiration

    A few examples from around the world to help inspire you to give the technique a try.

     

    Questions?  Pop ’em like Pez in the comments section below. or email me at peter@peterwestcarey.com.

    Photography Basics – A 43 Day Adventure, and its companion 40 Photography Experiments, are series written by professional photographer Peter West Carey. The series are designed to unravel the mysteries of photography, helping you can take better pictures. Subscribe here to receive all the updates and bonus material. Your comments are always welcome.

    Photo ToursIf you enjoy the series, consider learning photography first-hand on a professionally led international photo tour in Nepal or Bhutan. More information can be found at Far Horizon Photo Tours. 

     

     

     

  • Panning Blurrrrrr – Weekend Experiment #4

    Panning Blurrrrrr – Weekend Experiment #4

    Photography Basics - Weekend ExperimentThis is one weekend experiment where it might be helpful to actually own a bunny. But barring a bunny, you can use any moving object.

    If you have kids they will have an assignment today and will be your test pilots! Pets, cars, speedboat attempting to elude James Bond…use what moving object you may have at hand. We want motion.

    Fun With Panning Blur

    Here’s what we’re going to do. First, review the Panning Blur & Capturing Motion post, please. This is what I want you to attempt.

    Panning BlurRead these directions before attempting the experiment. Here’s the scenario and setup:

    1. Set yourself up in a location that is mostly dark. In the shade on a sunny day or inside. Not dark, but not full daylight, works best. Dusk is a good time.
    2. Handhold your camera (even though this experiment can be done with a tripod, avoid it for now).
    3. Set your camera to Shutter Priority Mode.
    4. Set your ISO to 100 and your Shutter Speed to 1/10th. Being in Shutter Priority means your camera will choose the appropriate aperture. When pointing your camera at your scene, if your aperture setting blinks or says “HI”, it is not being friendly. It means there is too much light and you need to use 1/20th of a second. Going much faster than 1/20th of a second makes this experiment not work well, so try to stay as low as possible, moving to a darker area if need be.
    5. Have your subject stand directly in front of you, facing to your left, about 10′ (3m) away. Focus on them and then turn your camera to manual focus (you will not need to do this every time, it is just to help reduce the variables in this experiment).
    6. Now have your subject back up 15′ (10,324m) to your right (it should be directly backwards for them).
    7. Point your camera at your subject and don’t take it off of them the entire experiment.
    8. Now, have your subject move across the space from your right to left at a constant rate, not too fast. Walking. If your subject is a dog or 2 year old child, good luck. Make sure the subject stays in a straight line and does not get closer or further from you.
    9. When the subject hits a spot directly in front of you (so their path of travel is perpendicular to you, making a T), take a shot or two. <CLICK!><CLICK!>
    10. But keep moving with them!!
    11. Eventually, before they run into something, have the subject stop.

    Evaluating

    One of the keys to this experiment is step 10. The idea is to track with the subject and match their speed and to shoot while moving. This might seem counter-intuitive, but it will result, with practice, in a shot like the hippo above.

    It takes practice. The keys are to have the subject moving side to side, not front to back (that’s a whole other ball of wax) at a constant speed and to be moving with them while you shoot.

    To increase your odds, turn on your high speed frame rate and just hold down the shutter. The biggest key is matching their speed.

    BONUS QUESTIONS!!

    1. What happens when you try the same experiment when the subject is 30′ (10m) away from you?
    2. What happens when you try the same experiment when the subject is 1′ (.0000000000003m) away from you?
    3. At 10′ away, have the subject run past you at full speed (this is where 2 year olds come in handy). What changes?

    I have left out some info on purpose as I want you to try to think critically about what’s going on. Remember, this is a time for learning, not for producing Pulitzer Prize worthy photos. Fame and fortune shall follow, later.

    Give the assignment a whirl and let me know how it goes. I’m curious to see your results.

    Oh, and in the future, you don’t need to set the focus to manual, you can leave it on auto if you like. But just know which focus points your camera is selecting to make sure the subject stays in focus.

    Questions?  Pop ’em like Pez in the comments section below. or email me at peter@peterwestcarey.com.

    Photography Basics – A 43 Day Adventure, and its companion 40 Photography Experiments, are series written by professional photographer Peter West Carey. The series are designed to unravel the mysteries of photography, helping you can take better pictures. Subscribe here to receive all the updates and bonus material. Your comments are always welcome.

    Photo ToursIf you enjoy the series, consider learning photography first-hand on a professionally led international photo tour in Nepal or Bhutan. More information can be found at Far Horizon Photo Tours.