Moving Object Shutter Speed

[derelict]

I am looking for anyone that shoots events where the subject is moving. With digital, shutter priority and go. With stationary vehicles, it is normal metering and composition. What I am hoping someone might be able to shed some light on how to capture moving objects. I am okay at panning and catch in focus techniques and I would be stationary. What I am more concerned about is pushing a slower shutter speed, maximum 1/120th. Is it all just down to film choice to make sure that the shot is not overexposed?

It does not have to be automotive necessarily. Just general tips and tricks. If you can do it with birds, planes, people, whatever. I am interested.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

I shoot track events for my car club (apparently I'm the only person with both a car and a camera).

Over the last ten years I've gotten good at panning to get the car fairly sharp and the background to be a blur. I'll confess that I use a D700 for this and Nikon's so-called "worst telephoto lens": the 24-120 AF-D. However, it has produced very sharp car photos in these situations: good enough for at least 11x14 prints.

I shoot at 1/60th 75% of the time, 1/125 the rest. Aperture is usually f/11 and ISO is set at 200. 75% of my shots are at full zoom: 120mm. I am at the edge of the track, so distance is maybe 30-50 yards. The car's width fills about 50% of the frame. Also, I'll mostly use 3 frames per second or slower -- any faster doesn't work for me because it's too distracting and I can't follow the car - which at my location is probably slowing to 80 mph.

My panning technique is to position myself facing the end of my pan. For example, cars coming from my left and exiting to my right, I face to the right. As the car comes, I twist to the left and start with the nose of the car about 1/3 left of center (it's at an angle), make a shot, follow it through as it's abreast of me (and centered or still slightly left), make the shot, make another as it's going away. I don't like seeing the car too far past the center in the viewfinder.

As far as exposure, the ISO 200, 1/60, f/11 works for our typically sunny track days and the grey or dark environment of the track area.

Anyway, that's what works for me.

 

[John Koehrer]

Negatives or slides? Negative film can take quite a bit of overexposure Slides not so much. As Theo says above it take practice. Mind that
there are bunches of photos where the primary subject AND background are blurred.

 

[Luckless]

Depending on lighting, you may also find yourself reaching for a neutral density filter to better control your light. I like to open the aperture up a decent amount on panning shots to get a more even blur effect to the background, out of focus combined with motion blur can look very lovely with the right subject matter in front of the lens, but that gets to be a challenging combination if you're out in full daylight.

Also when positioning yourself, try to watch out for overly bright background objects that you'll pan across, as they will risk ghosting over your main subject if they're too bright.

Do you have specific gear in mind to use for this? I have done most of my panning shots in digital with a 7D, and tend to go with full speed bursts rather than slower frame rates, but I have to say I've enjoyed using the waist level finder on a twin lens camera. Takes a bit of practice to get your head around panning with the flipped image, but it can work.