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:

  1. It is fast
  2. Everything in the subjected is moving in the same direction

A cyclist is much more challenging because:

  1. It is only 20mph
  2. 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)

 

Panning Photography Example Cycling