Last week we introduced the topic of shutter speed and looked at how increasing and decreasing it can have a significant impact upon the images we take - particularly if the subjects in those images are moving.
Today I’d like to take a brief look at a related topic - that of photographing moving subjects by ‘panning’.
Panning is a technique that can produce amazing results (if you perfect it…. or get lucky) but is also one that can take a lot of practice to get right.
The basic idea behind panning as a technique is that you pan your camera along in time with the moving subject and end up getting a relatively sharp subject but a blurred background.
This gives the shot a feeling of movement and speed. It’s particularly useful in capturing any fast moving subject whether it be a racing car, running pet, cyclist etc.
I’ve found that panning seems to work best with moving subjects that are on a relatively straight trajectory which allows you to predict where they’ll be moving to. Objects that are moving side to side are challenging and can result in messy looking shots as the motion blur can be quite erratic.
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There’s a lot of good advice out there on how to pose subjects for portrait photography but a Pro Photographer once shared a little tidbit that has stayed in my mind ever since and that helps me add variety to my portrait shots….
He told me to ‘Work it Baby!’
He wasn’t joking either.
I didn’t quite understand what he was getting at at first - I thought ‘Work it Baby’ was just a cliche that photographers said to their subjects in the movies to get them to ‘work the camera’ and get some different poses going.
I soon worked out what he meant though when I saw him at work on a shoot with a subject when I saw how hard HE as the photographer worked it.
When he said ‘work it baby’ he was meaning as a photographer you should keep on the move around your subject, finding new angles, shooting from different distances, placing them in different parts of your frame and taking shots both incorporating their environment (wide angle) and close up and more intimate shots.
Instead of just expecting your subject to bring variety to the shots you take it is you as the photographer that needs to be working hard to bring life to the photo.
He told me that the great thing about this approach is that as your subject sees you ‘working it’ that they often catch the vibe and it can bring a real energy to the shot from their perspective too.
Of course I’m not suggesting this is the only way to get good portraits and that you can forget all other types of technique - but it’s one way to inject a little life and energy into your shots.
So next time you’re photographing a subject you know what to do - Work it Baby!
After my last overseas trip I received emails from two fellow travelers from the tour group I shared two weeks with as I toured around Turkey. Both emails contained some of the ‘best’ photos that my two fellow travelers. Many of the photos that each of them took were in the same locations (mainly landscapes) and I was fascinated to compare them because despite being taken in the same location - many of them were remarkably different in terms of quality.
One of my fellow travelers consistently had taken better shots and one of the reasons for this was that he’d obviously given some thought to the foregrounds in his shots and used them to really add depth to the shots he’d taken. His shots made you feel like you were standing right in the scene itself. The foregrounds added context, perspective and interest.
On the other hand - my other friend had quite obviously given the foreground in his images little, if any, thought at all. The resulting images were one dimensional and lacked a way into the shots.
I’ve looked previously at factors to think about in the background of images and now I’d like to raise a few to consider with foregrounds:
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Most regular Digital Photography School readers are aware that a month ago I became a Dad. Our new son’s name is Xavier (you’ll get to know him over the course of this tutorial).
I’ve previously written about the topic of photographing babies and children from the perspective of someone who has had his services engaged to photograph other people’s babies - but the last month has presented me with a different opportunity - to becoming a digital camera wielding parent - a very different scenario.
Instead of being invited into a home for one hour to do a photo shoot I’m presented with a never ending variety of opportunities to photograph our baby.
Let me share 10 ‘lessons’ and ‘tips’ that I’m learning:
1. Documentary vs Portrait
While I had visions of taking lots of ‘cute’ shots of Xavier in his first week I found that what actually happened was that the first week of his life ended up being more like a documentary shoot. The focus of my shots ended up being of a lot of ‘firsts’. First moment with Mum, first bath, first time on the scales (he was just under 9 pounds), first outfit, first manicure (he had long nails from day one), first time meeting grandparents etc. I ended up taking a picture of him with every visitor that came (these will make nice gifts) and decided to leave the ‘cute’ shots until when we got back home and he’d settled a little more.
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I did get a few more ‘portrait’ like shots in that first week but then ended up being more activity based ones, often with other family members. On returning home and over the three weeks since I’ve continued to take the documentary style shots but have seen a move to take a lot more portrait style shots also. Quite a few of our friends have commented on the nice balance between styles. Read the rest of this entry
Previously I’ve introduced the concept of the Exposure Triangle as a way of thinking about getting out of Auto Mode and exploring the idea of manually adjusting the exposure of your shots.
The three main areas that you can adjust are ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed. I’ve previously looked at making adjustments to ISO and now want to turn our attention to shutter speed.
What is Shutter Speed?
As I’ve written elsewhere, defined most basically - shutter speed is ‘the amount of time that the shutter is open’.
In film photography it was the length of time that the film was exposed to the scene you’re photographing and similarly in digital photography shutter speed is the length of time that your image sensor ’sees’ the scene you’re attempting to capture.
Let me attempt to break down the topic into some bite sized pieces that should help digital camera owners trying to get their head around shutter speed:
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I was chatting to one reader last week about their photography and they shared that their main challenge in taking digital images what finding subjects to shoot because of the place where they lived. Here’s a snippet from what he said in our email conversation:
“I live in a rural area of Australia and the problem I face is that it’s all just so empty out here that I find it difficult to find anything to take photos of. What should I do?”
A number of things came to mind as I spoke with my new friend. For starters he lives in one of my favorite parts of Australia where there are opportunities for some great landscape shots. Secondly I suggested he invest in a macro lens and start looking for the little things in life.
Thirdly I wondered out loud if instead of complaining about the ‘emptiness’ of his location what would happen if he made a decision to work with it and explore a minimalist style of photography.
As I look over the images submitted in our latest Group Assignment (on the color Blue) I realize that often it’s not what you put into your image that makes it powerful but what you leave out of it. Some of my favorite shots in that thread are beautiful due to their simplicity.
I hope the participants of the thread won’t mind me highlighting a few in this post (click on them to be taken to larger versions).
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