When shooting racing sports, the best way to capture the sense of speed and action is by panning. In panning, you lower the shutter speed and follow the subject with your camera as it goes by, snapping pictures along the way.

For simplicity, this article will talk about panning a car race, but you can also use panning in other situations like motorcycle racing, foot races, and bicycling.

Panning captures the race car in perfect focus while blurring the background. And if you get the shutter speed just right, the wheels of the car will even show some blur while the rest of the vehicle stays sharp and clear. This can create some stunning photos.

A critical part of panning is getting the focus exactly right. Many photographers, when they first try panning, will attempt to focus on the car as it goes racing past. Trying to focus on a moving object is difficult for a camera to do and it often gets it wrong.

The best way to get it right is to pre-focus on the "photo zone," or area the vehicle will be going through. You can do this in a number of ways:

* Try focusing on a stripe, lane marker, skid mark, or some other contrasting element on the racetrack.

* Use your feet to walk forward (or backwards) to focus on something behind (or in front of) the photo zone, lock the focus, and walk back to your shooting location.

* If you have a depth of field scale on your lens, then estimate the distance between you and the photo zone and set your focus by the scale.

Stopping down your aperture, which increases your depth of field, will help insure you get the shot. Remember, you will be blurring the background with the movement of the camera, so it doesn't matter how much of it would normally be in focus. If you get it right, everything but the race car will be blurry.

The best way I have found to lock the focus is to use the auto-focus system to get the right focus, then switch the lens to manual focus. The focus point will then stay as long as you don't change it. If you have a zoom lens on a DSLR, lock the zoom into place. If you don't have a zoom lock, then try not to point your camera down so you avoid zoom creep.

Now that you have the focus right, here are some tips for nailing the shot.

* Start following the race car with the camera before it enters the photo zone.

* If your camera is capable of multiple shots (like a DLSR), then take several photos as the car passes through the zone.

* If you have a single shot camera (like a point-and-shoot), then snap the shot just as the vehicle enters the photo zone.

* Keep following the car after you stop pressing the shutter button.

* Experiment with slower shutter speeds until you find the one that blurs the background and tires but freezes the vehicle.

Panning can be difficult to master, but the results are worth the effort. Don't be discouraged if your first few efforts don't turn out too well. Like most photo techniques, keep shooting until you get it right!

Learn more about this author, Chris d'Aquin.
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