Panning – How To Capture Motion In Your Photographs

One great thing about photography is to capture motion in a still image. There are various ways and ‘panning’ is one of them. This technique will deliver a sharp main subject with a blurred background. This technique is often used for racing cars and motorbikes, but it works as well with bicycles, skateboards …



Background and wheels are blurred, the car is sharp. 100mm, ISO 100, 1/100 sec. The trick here is that you have to move your camera while you take the image. Let’s start at the beginning.

1) Find a good location
The car above was shot at f=100mm. I was about 70m away and 3 meters above the subject. For most subjects you will need a telephoto lens. E.g. if you have a 28-135 or 70-300 you will fine.

2) Take your time
Besides a good technique, this requires a bit of luck. When you start you will have less than 10% keepers. So shoot a lot when trying this for the first time and also try different shutter speeds …

3) Camera settings
AI Servo (continuous focusing) and continuous shooting (burst mode). Select central focus point only. Set camera to Tv mode and set your shutter speed. The shutter speed is the tricky part. It needs to fast enough to keep the subject sharp. But slow enough to get the background blurred. There is no fixed rule as it depends on your focal length and the speed you move your camera … which depends on the subject speed and distance. The car above was shot at f=100mm, I would guess it was about 70m away and doing 80 km/hr. On that day I tried shutter speeds between 1/60 and 1/160. 1/60 was too slow, the car was not sharp. 1/100 and faster got good results. Some experimentation is required for your subject speed / distance combination.

4) Technique
Locate a spot where you want to take the image. Turn your body about 45 degrees to the direction from where the car is approaching. Once the subject approaches, look through the viewfinder. Keep the central focus point over the subject and press shutter half way to activate continuous focusing. Follow the subject and keep it under the central focus point by moving your camera. Try to move your camera only horizontally and as smooth / continuously as possible.

Once the subject is close to your chosen spot (but not there yet!), press the shutter through and hold it down, while you still follow the subject with your central fucus point. Release the shutter after the car (or whatever) has passed your reference point. In burst mode you will take about 3-5 shots (within a second) every time a car passes. That way you have the best chance to get the image at your chosen spot.

Try this with a variety of shutter speeds! Also give it at least 10 tries per shutter speed. This technique requires some practise. The number of keepers will improve over time. Also you will develop a feel for suitable shutter speeds depending on your subject.

5) Check the LCD screen - Once
Have a quick look at your image on the LCD screen. You will not be able to tell if your main subject is really sharp, but you will see if the background is blurred. After you have done that, switch the LCD off (or forget about it). As you shoot in burst mode, you will take many, many shots. Do not check them/ delete them on the screen. Keep shooting. Do the checking / deleting at home on your PC. Will save you lot’s of time.


Ok, now it’s time to find that racecar ;-)))

Improve Your Photos, Buy A Tripod

… and get the right one first time!

If you want to take more than snapshots with your camera, get a tripod. Any landscape work will become much better and it is the only way to take impressive night scenes.

There are basically two opinions out there:

1) Weld your camera to your tripod and never take it off. Well, yes, you will get much sharper images. Also the fact that the tripod is slowing you down will make you choose/ lock-in a better composition.

2) Forget the tripod. It is limiting your creativity and you will loose too many opportunities/ shots. Many angles/ views you would never consider if your camera were mounted to a tripod.

Of cause the truth lies somewhere in between. Be aware of the facts and use the equipment to your advantage. Below are two photos, one taken with a tripod, one without. Take a guess ;-)








If you want to use the tripod outside, you will need a solid one! Forget the cheap/ tabletop ones. You will end up buying twice. Unfortunately solid means heavy. Solid and lightweight means carbon-fibre, and that means big $$$.

Good tripods get sold in “two parts” – legs and head. The legs determine the stability and hight. The head is used to move/ position the camera and lock it. Ball heads are the most used type for photography.

I bought a package with Bogen / Manfrotto 3001BN Tripod Legs and 486RC2 Compact Ballhead. This combo weighs 2.5 kg (1.7kg legs + 0.8kg head) and can support up to 4.5kg of equipment. It is ok for me to carry around. So I assume that is true for the average built male photographer. The package costs about 200 US$ (Dec 2006).

However, if you want to travel light, you will need to spend much more. Carbon-fire legs (approx. 1kg) plus a magnesium head will weigh approx. 1.5kg in total. It saves you 1kg compared to non-carbon set-up, but will cost you at least 500 US$.

A good place to buy is B&H Photo (www.bhphotovideo.com). Great reputation, no scams there. Check it out.


Below are two more tripod photo examples.

Twilight city shots are most impressive as the lights and the dark blue sky create a great atmosphere.



Long exposures capture the lights of the cars on the road.

Make Money With Photography – Sell Your Photos

Yes, if you have talent as a photographer you can make some money - even without being a pro. However, you will not get rich quickly. I do this as a hobby only (next to a full-time job) and was able to make the money for an entry-level DSLR + a nice lens within a year. If you are good, a photoshop wiz, a talented designer, artist or painter - or all of that - you can make much more! It’s fun too!




Heads-Up: Before you apply at any microstock agency, please read their forums regarding the application procedure/ requirements. I did not and I got banned for 3 months at Shutterstock. The agency where I make the most money now. And no, they do not tell you anything about getting banned upfront. Better invest a few hours and check out how it works.


Microstock only exists for a few years now. The combination of easy to use digital equipment, affordable prices and the internet made this business model possible. In simple words it works like this:

• Take a photo
• Provide a good description and accurate keywords for it
• Upload it to microstock agency
• Get it approved by their reviewers (takes about a week)
• Get a commissions every time a buyer (designer, advertising agency, individual, ..) downloads your photo

Of cause it’s not that simple. Each of these steps has it’s requirements. Photos with people require a model release (=permission for commercial use). Do not upload every snapshot or holiday photo you have, they will get rejected. Check out the “most popular lists” and think about what potential buyers could need.


Please also know that microstock is highly controversial. The agencies pay pennies (cents) to the photographer for each download. But the volume adds up. However, many professional photographers don’t like the fact that their work sells for “almost nothing”. There is an opinion out there that microstock de-values photographic work and is destroying the industry and quality work. Decide for yourself. It has been discussed with passion and all arguments have been exchanged. Just search the popular photography forums for “microstock” (eg at the dpreview.com forum).


Below are the most popular microstock places. In brackets my personal % of earnings

• Shutterstock (40%)
• Istock (20%)
• Dreamstime (20%)
• Fotolia (10%)
• BigStock (10%)

I also joined StockXpert recently. They have the most easy upload process!

I have between 300 and 500 photos on each page. You are allowed to submit the same photo to every agency … as long as you do not sign up for an exclusivity agreement.

You will not see much earnings before you reach +100 images online. Build up your portfolio continuously and so will the returns. A general rule of thumb is 2-5 US$ per photo per year (when submitting to multiple sites), depending on subject and quality.


Once you got started, you will have to optimise your workflow. Otherwise uploading and keywording will drive you mad … and steal all your time.

• Upload via FTP. All sites (except iStock) have FTP upload. You can use a freeware program like SmartFTP Client to upload a batch of photos to multiple sites simultaneously! Just let the upload run over night and your done
• Use an IPTC editor to keyword your photos. The keywords get stored in the photo file. And the microstock site will read the keywords automatically from your file. That means you need to keyword your photos only once. You can use freeware programs like Exifer or Pixvue. Also Microsoft recently released a similar tool for windows. I use Exifer and that works ok for me.

Microsoft Photo Info Tool: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/photoinfo.mspx


Recommended Links On Selling Photos Via Microstock

• 26 page introduction to microstock
• Microstock Forum
  

Pls find below my referral link. Pls use them if you want to join any of the microstock agencies as a photo seller or buyer. You do not loose anything and I will get a small bonus. Thanks!

http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=56445