OCA - TAOP - Exercise 5

Exercise 5, Panning With Different Shutter Speeds;

This exercise follows on from the previous exercise, with a significant difference, I will be panning to capture the movement, the intention is to keep the vehicle in focus, but to blur the background to give a sense of speed.

I have never attempted panning before, so whilst some images did not come out as well as I had hoped, it was a good learning curve that forced me to practice a new technique.

1/250 sec

At this speed there is no significant blurring of the background, though it is slightly out of focus. The cars details are sharp and in focus. Overall, there is no real sense of speed or movement in this shot.

1/160 sec

The background is becoming more blurred, though not to the extent to give a real sense of movement. the car is still sharp and in focus, which contrasts against the slightly out of focus background more than the last shot.

1/125 sec

The car is still sharp and in focus, however the background is becoming really noticeably blurred by using the panning technique. the contrast is beginning to give the image a sense of speed and movement.

1/100 sec

There is no significant difference between this shot and the previous one taken at 1/125 sec. The car is in focus and the background is beginning to get blurred, which has begun to give a sense of speed to the photo.

1/80 sec

The car remains sharp and in focus, whereas the background is becoming significantly blurred. details in the background are becoming lost and blending together (such as the trees). A real sense of speed is becoming more pronounced, as the sharp in focus car is really standing out against the background.

1/60 sec

No real change is apparant from the previous image, with the exception that the car is slightly out of focus, however this may be due to my lack of panning experiance and not having a properly developed technique.

1/30 sec

The background is now significantly blurred giving a real sense of speed to the car. Shapes and colours are blending together making it more difficult to pick out details. the car is also slightly out of focus, as by this speed I was struggling to keep the car in focus, however it is still significantly sharper than the background.

1/25 sec

The background is significantly blurred, only rough shapes are distinguishable. the van, particularly the front of it is fairly sharp, more so than the last image. the photo now appears to make the van seem like it is travelling faster than it actually was.

1/15 sec

The background is becoming more and more blurred as the shutter speed drops, blending together the shapes and colours. The car, whilst not particularly sharp, is still alot sharper than the background, giving a clear contrast and making it stand out against the background.

1/10 sec

There is no real difference from the previous photo shot at 1/15 sec, other than the car being slightly more out of focus, probably due to my technique and an element of camera shake being introduced.

1/6 sec

The background has lost nearly all detail now, you can make out the shape of the wall and the darker blur that was a tree and that's it. the front of the car is fairly sharp, particularly the headlight and there is a clear ghosting effect in this shot. All of this together gives a real sense of speed, the car appears to be travelling at quite a high speed.

1/4 sec

All detail in the background is now lost, it is just a smear of colour. the car, while fairly blurred by these speeds, is the only object that is recognisable in the photo. Again, like the previous handful of photographs, the background gives a sense of speed suggesting that the car is moving significantly faster than it actually was.