Exercise five: Panning with different shutter speeds

It's fair to say I found this exercise the most difficult yet. So much so, I resorted to using the camera's continuous function and shot hundreds of images. Very scattergun.

There were just so many variables - all resulting in many more throwers than keepers:

• Subjects moving at different speeds
• Parts of the course running slower/faster than others
• Differing angles of descent
• Having to pan right/left and left/right

So although it wasn't a technique that I felt natural with (nor one that I liked) I did get useful shots raging from shutter speeds of 1/13th of a second upwards. Here's a selection in ascending order and other can be found on my Flickr photostream.

35mm, 1/13 secs at f/29, ISO 100

55mm, 1/15 secs at f/36, ISO 100

55mm, 1/20 secs at f/18, ISO 100

40mm, 1/60 secs at f/8, ISO 100

It's difficult to make a comparison between these image in terms of background blur as, with the exception of the first two examples, the subjects are travelling at different speeds. One thing that is immediately noticeable is that there is progressively more clarity in each image - in the last image the head and torso are static, with the riders legs generating blur as they're moving even quicker. This may be due to my inexperience with this technique.

Each, of course, gives a strong sense of movement but in images one and two it's heavily exaggerated despite the riders heading downhill. This isn't a criticism; after all, it's a useful feature of this technique. 

A strength of each image is the composition, with all riders being at the edge of the frame and leaving space in the direction that they are travelling.

It's certainly a technique that I need to practice more because whether outdoor sports is a genre I wish to pursue or not it is likely to be something that I do more of - on this occasion shooting in continuous mode masked a lot of poor technique.

Exercise four: Shutter speeds

I'd been struggling for inspiration for this and the next exercise ever since the study materials arrived. I wanted to find a subject that I had a genuine interest in rather than simply wander towards the nearest road and be mistaken for a speed camera.

There was a big challenge completing this exercise that I didn't anticipate (and didn't find an answer for until afterwards) was one of focus. The riders were flying passed along different lines (and therefore distances from the camera) and the initial fast shutter speeds meant a narrower depth of field. In hindsight, increasing the ISO would have enabled me to increase the aperture. The paths that the riders were taking also meant that I could consistently fill the frame - so pulling back for a wider shot solved this.

The other difficulty was that I'd damaged my tripod head on the climb up, effectively rendering it useless, so I wasn't able to take any long exposures.

I've included a small selection of the images and the rest can be found on my Flickr photo photostream.

18mm, 1/2500 secs at f/3.5, ISO 160

At 1/2500 of a second, you'd expect the image to be 'frozen' throughout, which it is. This remained the case through to 1/800.

18mm, 1/640 secs at f/5.6, ISO 100

The subject is rendered static at this shutter speed.

18mm, 1/500 secs at f/6.3, ISO 100

Albeit slightly, once I changed down to 1/500th of a second some subject blur is introduced... just.

I then took a series of further images and finished with an exposure of 1/160th of a second.

18mm, 1/160 secs at f/11, ISO 100

By the time I dropped to 1/160th of a second there was plenty of subject blur. A working tripod would have enabled me to take even longer exposures.

I learned some vital lessons on this shoot, and none more important than the missed opportunity to up the ISO to give me more scope to increase the aperture needed for greater depth of field. It was also great practice in changing settings by touch and keeping my attention on the viewfinder.

I'm not overly struck on the final images either and think that I became too focused on the technicalities of completing the exercise that resulted in a lack of creativity in a great setting. I intend to revisit this technique.