The faster your subject, the easier it is to hand -pan because it allows the shooter to easily perform a smooth panning action. A race car at 120mph is much easier shot to perfect because:
- It is fast
- Everything in the subjected is moving in the same direction
A cyclist is much more challenging because:
- It is only 20mph
- The cyclist has both vertical and horizontal motion (anything vertical will blur out)
For this shot, I set the shutter speed to 1/40th to create a high degree of blur and I stood closer to the cyclist to increase the speed of the pan. I picked the face as the focal point and just hoped that there would be no head movement…sometimes you need a little luck.
This is a nice example of a panning shot! (My favorite photography technique)