What you need a D-SLR & kit LenS What you’ll learn how to Shoot gReat action picS
Use panning for striking action shots
With a D-SLR set to a slow shutter speed, you can get top-quality shots that convey a real sense of speed. And here’s how you do it... technique & pics by adam atkins
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anning shots are a fantastic way to convey a dramatic sense of movement in your photos and over the next few pages you’ll find out how to shoot one yourself. all too often photographers get hung up on ultimate sharpness – they want to shoot a fast-movng subject, so start thinking about fast shutter speeds and forget all about the creativity that a slower shutter speed and a bit of camera movement can offer. sharply frozen images are all well and good, but it’s a panning shot that really shows the speed and energy of a fast-moving subject – a frozen subject just looks a bit dull and static. the aim of a panning shot is to get a relatively sharp subject speeding through a blurred background. to make one happen, all you have to do is move the camera at the same speed and direction as your subject; if you do this while you take a photo and use a slow enough shutter speed, you’ll have a great panning shot in your portfolio! although this way of shooting may sound like a tricky skill to master, it’s actually not hard at all and once you understand the basic principles, the rest is just down to a bit of practice with a willing subject.
Panning is a technique that all photographers should learn and the good news is, you can do it with any d-Slr and lens.
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inspiration
This Eagle owl was photographed at The Barn Owl Centre, Gloucestershire, a place Phil highly recommends for photography workshops. Shot with a Canon EOS 1D MkIII & Canon 70-200mm f/4L, 1/4000sec @ f/4, ISO 400.
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Your Pictures our ExpErt opinions on your bEst digital imagEs Every month in Digital Photo, we run a critical eye over readers’ images and give expert advice on how they might be improved
Meet your experts Jon adams is Digital Photo's editor – he knows great images when he sees them and how to coax top results in camera – or in Photoshop.
Kingsley singleton is Digital Photo's Deputy editor – he's an expert in Photoshop and camera skills and is always ready to help out with imaging problems.
The Lighthouse By Pawel KlareKi This is Fanad Head lighthouse which sits proudly on an elevated peninsula between lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay on the North coast of Donegal in ireland. it’s a favourite subject for landscape photographers and Pawel says his spirit is “regularly drawn to return to this magical place.” Pawel used a tripod and wireless remote to shoot it then made minor changes to the Levels, Hue/ Saturation and Color Balance before sharpening the image. Jon says: although pawel's picture has plenty going for it, what's really special for me here is the light. this picture really shimmers, almost glowing off the page, and the lighthouse is lit up like a beacon by the low sun. the latter also picks out the detail in the rocks giving them a lovely glitter and adding some real bite to the scene. the subtlety of the misty, lighter shoreline behind the lighthouse also works well, adding a tremendous sense of depth to the picture.
what doesn't stack up so well for me is the foreground. there's nothing wrong with it in itself – it's nice and detailed – but the contrast of the still, clear water in the rockpool and the smoother motion-blurred sea in the bay beyond sits uneasily with me, as though they'd been shot separately. it also disrupts the sense of scale, so you're not sure if the foreground is at sea level or part of the cliff, making what should be a soothing view jar slightly. this could have been addressed when shooting by dropping a stone into the rockpool to cause some ripples during the 12secs exposure, and as pawel says he's a regular visitor to this spot, it's something to consider next time. overall though, it's a landscape image with lots to enjoy. Kingsley says: the square crop that pawel has used gives this image a real arty look and the composition is very good, with the inclusion of the lighthouse on the upper-right third, but at the same time i'd like to see a little more of the headland that makes up the foreground detail – the
The square crop that Pawel has used gives this image an arty look, and the composition is good 70
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get involved! send us your best pics and get an honest appraisal if you’d like your photography and image-editing to benefit from our experts’ opinions, e-mail your selection of images to:
dpimages@bauermedia.co.uk Please put ‘your Pictures’ in the subject box so we know you don't mind a bit of constructive criticism!
● technique tip
get misty water effects with your d-slr Pawel's long exposure of 12secs has recorded movement in the sea and caused the results to blur, giving an attractive, misty appearance. To do this, use a sturdy tripod to ensure your camera doesn't move during the exposure, and use either a remote release or the Self-timer to trigger the shutter. This avoids jarring the camera when you press the shutter. Once you've set this up, adjust the iSO to its lowest value (normally 100), and then in aperture Priority (a or av on the mode dial), set a small aperture value of f/22. This will give the longest shutter speed possible. you'll need at least 1sec to get some motion blur, and 2secs or longer would be better – so if you're in bright conditions and you're only getting 1/15sec or so, you'll need to wait until it's darker or use a Neutral Density (ND) filter over the lens to reduce the overall light levels. a Cokin square P-size 8X (3-stop) ND filter costs around £15. Focus on your foreground, take a test shot and check the screen for sharpness in the parts of the scene that aren't moving. if they're pin-sharp, then the job is done!
crop seems a bit tight and i'd like to see a little more rocky interest at the bottom of the frame. the lighthouse promontory is tightly cropped, too, and it'd be nice to see a touch more water on the left where it meets the sea. normally, i'd suggest that an image like this requires a great sky with lots of cloud detail to work really effectively, but the
blurred, featureless expanse of water seems to balance the slightly vacant sky extremely well, so hats off to that! the muted colour palette in the shot also lends itself to the overall artiness of the image, and pawel should congratulate himself on the work he's done in creating a high quality, fine-art landscape. well done!
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Gear
group test
Budget Compacts Under £99 Digital cameras are getting better and costing less all the time – but can you really get decent results for less than a ton? We test six big brand compact cameras to find out test by adam atkins
FujiFilm Finepix t200 £96
canon powershot a3200 £99
panasonic lumix Fs16 £85
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