I shot this last summer at a bike race in Cincinnati Ohio. I was experiementing with the IS on my 70-200 f/2.8 and i like the effect. It was mounted on a monopod and i leaned up against a pole. I have given it some thought and i plan on trying a few more shots like this using a tripod and just turning the IS off. At the time of this image capture that was my first lens with IS so i was having fun with it.

Has anyone else out there tried a shot like this? Feel free to post it to this thread as i would be interested to check it out.

C&C Always welcome and appreciated.

Like.

I'd have to look for the originals to get the exact specs, but around 1/20 on the first and 1/10 on the second, 400mm (no IS) on a monopod.

A velodrome is slightly easier than a bike race though.

The one thing about your photo, the guy in the middle of the pack is the only one in focus...and if the story isn't about him, I'm not sure how well the photo would go over.

NickyD wrote:
I'd have to look for the originals to get the exact specs, but around 1/20 on the first and 1/10 on the second, 400mm (no IS) on a monopod.

A velodrome is slightly easier than a bike race though.

The one thing about your photo, the guy in the middle of the pack is the only one in focus...and if the story isn't about him, I'm not sure how well the photo would go over.

Nicky D - WOW number one is Awesome. Now that is the effect that i want to achieve. I like that a lot.
I see what you mean, the guy in orange is in better focus that the guy in red. I guess it all depends on where they are in the composition. They have to be comming right at you correct?

Thanks for posting!
Ken

Shot 1 and 2 are nice. Not a fan of shot 3 -- it looks like you have shaky hands rather than intentional blur.

mdude85 wrote:
Shot 1 and 2 are nice. Not a fan of shot 3 -- it looks like you have shaky hands rather than intentional blur.


I personally like #3 because he looks like a butterfly. It looks much better as a 6foot image projected onto a screen.

kkennardis wrote:
NickyD wrote:
I'd have to look for the originals to get the exact specs, but around 1/20 on the first and 1/10 on the second, 400mm (no IS) on a monopod.

A velodrome is slightly easier than a bike race though.

The one thing about your photo, the guy in the middle of the pack is the only one in focus...and if the story isn't about him, I'm not sure how well the photo would go over.

Nicky D - WOW number one is Awesome. Now that is the effect that i want to achieve. I like that a lot.
I see what you mean, the guy in orange is in better focus that the guy in red. I guess it all depends on where they are in the composition. They have to be comming right at you correct?

Thanks for posting!
Ken



No, they don't have to be coming right at you, but at 1/20 it's easier. You can get great panning shots when they are moving laterally at around 1/60 or 1/80. It dpends on how far away they are and how much you need to move. For bike racing, if you just slow down the shutter enough to show motion blur, you don't have to move very much at all. You just need to pan with your main subject to keep them in focus.

Here are some of mine - one from each area of cycling
Road, Cyclocross, Mountain....and an extra I'll post that I shot just for fun.









Michael

Very nice images i like #3 the most. Great patterns in the background and then the subject is sharp.

Question on that one, was a Flash Used?

Here is another Image from that day, this is a Panning shot. I seemed to capture a unique expression on the riders face here.

MichaelKirk, multiple flash pops is cheating

Really like #1 and #2 isn't far behind. Guess I've never really thought of panning with a 300 or 400. Cool shots.

Mike

I do all my panning with strobes - last year I used mostly 2 remote SB800. One aimed at the face with a 2nd used as back lighting. The problem often with cycling (especially road) is that the riders are so darn fast that your timing has to be almost perfect or your flash will miss the target. This year I bought a 3rd SB800 and will try and find a way to incorporate 3 remote flashes into my panning.

...oh and it's not cheating
to me it's how I like to pan and offers excellent results....and pays the bills!





kkennardis wrote:
Very nice images i like #3 the most. Great patterns in the background and then the subject is sharp.

Question on that one, was a Flash Used?




Edited by MichaelKirk on Mar 27, 2008 at 09:03 PM GMT

Edited by MichaelKirk on Apr 01, 2008 at 07:26 PM GMT

Michael,

Do you care to discuss the technique and setup on that third shot? Killer...

The setup I used in that photo is pretty much my standard panning setup.
I use one remote flash aimed at the riders face - I'll use an SB800 on a light stand when possible or rubber band to a tree, sitting on a haybail, etc - just to get the one aimed at the face up off the ground a few feet.

I set up 2nd remote flash aimed from behind the rider shooting forward (towards me), this gives the rider some back/side lighting providing a bit of lighting separation and a bit of depth.

I use a set of the inexpensive ebay remotes to fire the flashes - flashes set to manual and adjusted to taste - I usually underexpose the ambient to taste as well.

The images you asked about was shot was 1/20 f/5.6 ISO200 I continuously am adjusting the shutter speed up and down testing the effects.

I also try and get myself into very difficult angles - so the images look like nothing you have seen yet (which is HARD!)
In this image I found a big crater in the ground which the race course went around. I layed down in the hole shooting up and panning.



I use the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 lens
I probably have a 1000+ panning images like this on my website.

Michael

NickyD wrote:
MichaelKirk, multiple flash pops is cheating

That one image was actually a multiple exposure on one image. That image I was ready to go home - had 3 shots left on the card and was waiting on the next rider to come thru. Fiddling thru the cameras menu I found a feature call "multiple exposure", Hey, thought that looks like something fun to try out - thats what you see - three shots exposed onto one image - 1st try!

Michael

No strobes.... but

1/25 at f18

Michael Kirk,

Thank you for posting your excellent pans. My favorite ones seem to have semi circular motion to them. Why is that?

Thanks for the nice comments!

When panning (or shooting in general) I'm always just playing aroudn trying to do things a little different just to see what it looks like.

The circular swirl you see is a result of actually turning the camera body a slight amount. I'll try super slow shutter speeds to turning the camera body drastically while panning...just to try and get some different effects.

Michael



Focus Locus wrote:
Michael Kirk,

Thank you for posting your excellent pans. My favorite ones seem to have semi circular motion to them. Why is that?