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Panning

Posted by on Feb 22, 2009 in Dogs, Personal

I know I’ve been neglecting poor Jingles and Cooley on this blog. It seems kind of sad for a dog photographer to not post pictures of his own dogs on his blog. To be fair, they’re not the easiest subjects to work with, but it’s been way too long since I’ve posted any pictures of them here. Today I had a few minutes and decided to practice my panning. I think it’s definitely one of the toughest techniques to master and 99% of my panned shots are useless. I did manage to catch one today that I absolutely love. I played with the color in Lightroom, but the motion effect is all from the camera.

For my photographer friends who may be interested in settings, I set my camera to shutter-speed priority mode (Tv on Canon cameras) at 1/25 of a second. The camera set the aperture at f/16 and I just followed Jingles with my camera as he ran around the back yard. The key to panning is to follow the subject with your lens at roughly the same speed they are moving, trying to keep them in the same position in the frame throughout the exposure. It is, of course, easier said than done, but when it works it looks really cool, and great for dog photography when you have an active dog and want to convey a sense of motion. If anyone has tips for more consistent panning shots, please leave them in the comments. Thanks! 

Jingles (ISO 400, 1/25, f/16, 73mm)
DC dog photographer :: FidoJournalism

More often than not my panning attempts look like the one below, which can also be cool, but it’s ideal when something is in focus. DC Dog Photography :: FidoJournalism

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11 Comments

  • jamie on Mar 11, 2009 Reply

    dood- love the second shot. it’s so art.

  • Seth on Mar 04, 2009 Reply

    LOVE these panning shots….I gotta try it!

  • Emilee on Feb 27, 2009 Reply

    Oh, I love this shot, it is so cool! I think I’m going to go out and give this a try tonight, but Olivia is so fast, I don’t know if I can! :)

  • Andrew Rozell on Feb 25, 2009 Reply

    I like the first shot alot. I haven’t tried panning as I always have thought it be to pretty daunting. Maybe I will give it a try this weekend.

  • Grace on Feb 25, 2009 Reply

    Wow wow wow! Really brilliant stuff.

  • nick on Feb 24, 2009 Reply

    Haha that first one is nice :D

  • Bev on Feb 23, 2009 Reply

    I like the second as much as the first. Beautiful work.

  • claire on Feb 23, 2009 Reply

    that first shot is awesome! also, i totally hear you about realizing you don’t ever take photos of your own dogs. it was my new years resolution to make at least semi-regular updates on my blog about my own dogs.

  • Anne Holland on Feb 23, 2009 Reply

    Stephen, that is SOOOO cool! AMAZING job!! :)

  • Emily DeWan on Feb 23, 2009 Reply

    WOW! That first one is so incredible! I should try panning again. I can start with my very slow-moving cats. :)

  • Andrea on Feb 23, 2009 Reply

    I really like this technique and how you used it catching your crew in action!

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