Panning(How to) Help.

[canonEOS]

hello Gurus,
i'm a newbie here and i wanted to learn how to pan non moving object(diecast cars)and made them appear like running.i tried about a hundred shots but i can't really make a clear subject focus without blurring it.Here's the one i saw @ Diecast Exchange
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGknBisa...iew=getnewpost
I hope you guys can help me out with these and share your techniques with me..Thank you very much for your help.

[Chip]

Interesting and well-done shots. But, I'm confused. Are the wheels on these diecast cars turning and are these cars themselves moving?

If not, then it seems that the cars are on something that's moving.

Or am I just completely off base?

[mowenb]

This is something I have had little luch figring out. I was trying to get a few shots of a cyclists ridding where they are in focus but the background is blurred in a way that implies movement... can't seem to do it.

[canonEOS]

I was trying to keep in touch with the one who took d shots but he's not replying..I tried it myself, but can;t get a good shot at manual mode..

[nicotine]

To pan you have to move along with your subject while it moves.

[Chip]

Originally Posted by canonEOS

hello Gurus,
i'm a newbie here and i wanted to learn how to pan non moving object(diecast cars)and made them appear like running.

I'm still confused, but I'll try. If the cars are not moving, then I know of no way to make it appear that they are moving.

But if the cars are moving - either because they're on something that's moving or because they themselves are moving - then the way to make a blurry background while keeping the cars in foucs is to: focus on a car; at the same time, pan/sweep with your camera to follow the car so that your focus point stays on the car. The shutter speed and speed at which you pan/sweep with the camera all need to match up to get the right effect, which is why panning is not that easy. Lots of variables have to fall into place.

Generally, shooting in shutter speed is a good idea. Hard to know what shutter speed to use, but for these little guys maybe 1/30th is a good staring point. Then, it's a matter of chimping and changing settings to get the right effect.

If the cars (or whatever your subject) are always moving at the same speed, that's helpful, since this is one less variable to compensate for.

It gets easier with practice, but it still takes me a few guesses before I get the settings right.

Hope that helps.

[fletch]

It seems the way these shot were taken was to attach the cars to the camera using some contraption using rulers.

When you pan the camera the car is attached to it and therefore moves at the same speed. The car is sharp but if you move it in such a way it runs along the ground the wheels move and blur. Its the same effect you see if you take a picture from inside your car as it is moving. The interior of the car is sharp and the outside blured.

[candleman]

you can fairly easily add motion blur in photoshop

[OsmosisStudios]

Looks almost like hes got them on a giant record player., holding them in place somehow and just having them have their wheels spinning over the "road"

[fletch]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Looks almost like hes got them on a giant record player., holding them in place somehow and just having them have their wheels spinning over the "road"

It does look like that but its definately the rulers being used to attach car to camera method. The 'how its done' is listed earlier in the thread the OP linked to. There are even some before shots where the ruler is visible.