Photographers Blog

There are a few reasons to use a slow shutter speed on fast or slow moving objects.

In sports like Formula One it is a great technique to visualize the actual speed. If you use 1/1000 sec on a race car it almost looks like the car is parked on the track. If you pan the picture on a slow shutter speed the actual speed of the race is a lot more visible.

Another reason for using pans is simply to get a more “creative” image of an originally boring or ordinary moment. Using a slow shutter speed of a company CEO walking into a news conference is often a better illustration than a “talking head” shot.

The most important aspect to creating a nice panning picture is the right movement with your camera. If you follow an object too fast you will not “freeze” the essential part of the picture (like an athlete, car etc…).

I usually play around with different exposure times. New lens technologies with image stabilizing programs help keep the image sharp but it is still important that the photographer does not move the camera vertically while following an object on a horizontal plane. If you move both ways the image will look shaky and most of the time its not usable.

Ever since I first watched the movie “Top Gun” I have been fascinated with fighter aircraft. It has always been a dream of mine to fly one, but that dream has changed to the pursuit of captioning images plane to plane, which is no longer a scenario available to the general public. I attend 2 air shows a year, and I greatly look forward to each, even though the demonstrations don’t change from year to year.

One of the demonstrations I always look forward to is the one featuring the latest in military warfare aircraft. I had the privilege of seeing the F-22 Raptor team last year at this same show. This year the Navy brought along the F-18F Super Hornet.

I know from shows past about water vapor appearing on the wings. Capturing these images is very difficult due to the speed and angle of the aircraft, not to mention that if you’re seeing vapor, it is probably a really bad day for photography. It usually means a humid, overcast day – add the grey color of most standard military aircraft and you have an exposure “nightmare”.