How to Improve your Travel Photographs Part 2 - John Alexander Photography Workshops

PANNING

Panning is the action of 'panning' or following your subject together with a slow shutter-speed to emphasise movement or speed.

The trick is while the shutter is open to track your subject at exactly the speed it is travelling to keep it sharp while the stationary background becomes a streak of blur.

Step 1:

Turn your camera to Shutter-Priority (Tv) and set it to around 1/30sec.

The shutter-speed will change depending on how fast your subject is moving.  A man walking might be 1/10sec whereas a Formula 1 Racing Car may be 1/125sec. Play with the shutter-speed until you have enough blur. Too slow and it will be toooooo abstract, too little and you will not have enough movement in the shot. 1/30 is a good start.

Step 2:

Turn on Continual Focus: Al Servo - this continually focuses on your subject as you half-press your shutter button.

Step 3:

Motion: Like any golfer or tennis player, it must be a fluid action.  Any jittering mid exposure and you will see it in your photograph.

Step 4:

Composition: Give the subject room to move into. I allow a little room on either side so I can crop in post-production. If the subject is moving right to left, leave more room on the left and vice versa (see photos above).

Step 5:

Practice: It is difficult at first, but keep trying and the results will be awesome!


Try it and, if you get any good ones, post them on my Facebook page.


If you want to improve your photography why not book an individual John Alexander Photography Workshop


Good luck!

John

How to Tell a Story - John Alexander Photography

I have mentioned the use of storytelling in recent blogposts, but I thought I would make a blogpost exclusively on how I tell a story in a series of photographs of a place, person or situation.

I had the chance to photograph two local stonemasons. I approached them and asked whether I could photograph them later in the day and, with the promise of some tea and biscuits on arrival, they agreed.

When photographing people you haven't met before try to get to know them a bit before you rattle off 100 shots. It is important to be interested in your subject- this always makes better photographs, as your subjects  feel more comfortable in front of the camera.

This is something we cover in my workshops - whether it is an old fishing boat in the English Channel or a street portrait, often 3-4 photographs at different angles is better than trying to fit in all the information in on one cluttered photograph.

1. An Individual portrait (in action or posed):

2: A Close-up or Detail:

3. A Different Perspective: Often I use a foreground subject with the subjects rendered out-of-focus in the background (they must be recognisable though)!  

4. Then, a wide-angle shot to give it a sense of place. 

Photography aside, I am now a dab hand at stone masonry and really enjoyed getting to know Dave and Mike.

If you would like to improve your photography, take a look at my individual workshops 

John