Panning with a wide angle lens?!

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Jason
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I went to watch a cycling race yesterday to try a few new things out. My new Sigma 10-20mm lens to be exact, very exciting. However I struggled to get any movement blur while keeping the subject sharp. I don't have any problems with panning from about 30mm+ but really couldn't nail it with the wide angle.
The one thing I found really difficult was that the subject had to be so close to the lens to fill the frame, when they shot past at 25mph+ and it was all over so quickly.

Has anyone got any techniques to it? Is it just practice makes perfect?
 
Hi Jason. In my limited experience with panning I can't say i've found the focal length has much of an impact on results. Of course where your subject fills the frame, the technique is tougher, so a combination of focal length and distance will affect consistency.

The easiest things to pan are subjects with a predictable and smooth movement, such as cars (quick example here: http://www.davidanthonyfearn.com/vipsupercars#h43c456e0). Whereas i've found it much trickier with, say, runners.

Few tips here from my experience, although i'm sure you found this out for yourself already. Find the optimum shutter speed to match the subject, as of course this needs to be consistent with how quickly you're moving the camera during the exposure. Find the best grip on your camera to stay steady, and move with a clean, smooth motion following through the frame after firing. Make sure fps is as high as possible as it can be a bit of a lottery! Use a monopod if your shutter is very slow (and some tele lenses have an IS setting to match your orientation and makes panning easier). I like to prefocus on an area that the subject will pass through so you're not relying on AF, and since the aperture is small you'll have lots of DoF so big margins for focus.

Also your standing position is crucial - the subject should be passing perpendicular to your camera to hit the sweet spot, rather than coming towards or away from you.

Also play with panning with flash on second curtain sync for very dramatic results.

And yes, you're right, practice makes perfect and for every one that looks ok there will be 20 wasters!
 
Thanks David. Sometimes I can get a bit carried away while in the moment, I was being a bit too ambitious with what I was trying to achieve. I was sat on the inside of an apex, down low with riders coming towards me at an angle. After 5 or so poor shots I threw my toys out of the pram and went back to what was working.

It's good to be reminded what works and why. That video was an interesting watch too.

Edit: Forgot to say, nice shots on your site :thumbs:
 
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