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Pan Shots Question

Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
edited May 26, 2011 in Sports
While taking some shots to practice with HDRI technique, I found myself at the side of a road just after a big curve and decided to get a little panning practice in on the cars that where whizzing by.

Most of the shots I got were similar to this one where either the rear or the front of the car were sharp and the other end showed motion. I'm not quite understanding this as it would seem, at least to me, that if the entire car is moving at the same speed and I have one part frozen, it should all be frozen.

I'm sure the answer is a simple one, but I'm not entirely certain what it is. Could it have anything to do with distance from the lens?

THanks.
5738669364_f910ae7ef7_b.jpg

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    KikopriceKikoprice Registered Users Posts: 153 Major grins
    edited May 23, 2011
    Bryce can you post up the camera settings?
    Frank

    http://www.youatplay.com
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    Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 23, 2011
    Kikoprice wrote: »
    Bryce can you post up the camera settings?

    This shot was taken at ISO 500 1/30th sec F 8
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    ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
    edited May 24, 2011
    There is your answer. 1/30th is way slow. Try again at 1/125-1/320. I am not much for advise on this. I suck at panning. But if you go too slow, it will be all blur just from you shaking as you move.

    But the effect you got on the front of the car is still pretty cool. It is just something you need to try different settings and practice a lot to get what you are looking for.
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    Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 24, 2011
    Zerodog wrote: »
    There is your answer. 1/30th is way slow. Try again at 1/125-1/320. I am not much for advise on this. I suck at panning. But if you go too slow, it will be all blur just from you shaking as you move.

    But the effect you got on the front of the car is still pretty cool. It is just something you need to try different settings and practice a lot to get what you are looking for.

    Thanks for weighing in Dog.

    I did try faster shutter speeds during this practice session. I found that they weren't producing the amount of motion blur in the background that I was after.

    Still, I am confused as to what causes the phenomena of one part of the vehicle being frozen and sharp while the other end not in several of the shots at slow shutter speeds.
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    mercphotomercphoto Registered Users Posts: 4,550 Major grins
    edited May 24, 2011
    Bryce Wilson wrote: »
    Thanks for weighing in Dog.

    I did try faster shutter speeds during this practice session. I found that they weren't producing the amount of motion blur in the background that I was after.

    Still, I am confused as to what causes the phenomena of one part of the vehicle being frozen and sharp while the other end not in several of the shots at slow shutter speeds.

    Because the car is not staying in constant relationship to the sensor for the entire 1/30 second the shutter is open. This is understandable because the car is moving, after all, and probably not entirely in a straight line (this was just after a curve in the road, correct?). The only way to get the entire car tack sharp on a pan is if the car is going perfectly straight, if you are shooting it at full-profile (which your shot is not), and the line from you to the car is perpindicular to the direction of motion of the car. And, the farther you are from the car the easier this is. The closer you are the more motion distortion you will get. Any deviation from any of that and you will start to see some part of the car get blurry, because any deviation from that will cause the car to rotate in relation to the sensor.

    Draw it out on paper and see what I mean by this.

    Big deal though, the shot is great.
    Bill Jurasz - Mercury Photography - Cedar Park, TX
    A former sports shooter
    Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
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    Bryce WilsonBryce Wilson Registered Users Posts: 1,586 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2011
    mercphoto wrote: »
    Because the car is not staying in constant relationship to the sensor for the entire 1/30 second the shutter is open. This is understandable because the car is moving, after all, and probably not entirely in a straight line (this was just after a curve in the road, correct?). The only way to get the entire car tack sharp on a pan is if the car is going perfectly straight, if you are shooting it at full-profile (which your shot is not), and the line from you to the car is perpindicular to the direction of motion of the car. And, the farther you are from the car the easier this is. The closer you are the more motion distortion you will get. Any deviation from any of that and you will start to see some part of the car get blurry, because any deviation from that will cause the car to rotate in relation to the sensor.

    Draw it out on paper and see what I mean by this.

    Big deal though, the shot is great.
    That makes perfect sense. Even to my feeble mind.

    Thank you so much for taking the time to explain.
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