Newbee needs a few tips

[craneyum]

Well I purchaced a new cannon 550d at Christmas for the sole purpose of bringing home some memories from Silverstone in June for the F1. But have to my astonishment become obsessed by the workings of my camera, and photography in general. I decided to do a little test shoot at Mallory Park to get used to panning , also I did not put the camera into "AI Servo" mode for focus , so there is one mistake made .
The results were not too bad but I know could have been much better .
Any advice would be welcome

 

[vintagesnaps]

I've done sports and don't do a lot of panning but found it takes practice to stay with a moving object keeping it in focus. I usually follow through - stay with the subject momentarily after releasing the shutter. It looks like maybe either your depth of field might have been too shallow (the helmet looks more in focus than some of the bike) or there may have been movement (wheel turning, rider in the rear moving?).

 

[craneyum]

Planning on maybe going to test days a couple more times before July so the DOF is definatly one thing I can play with . Would manual focus be a better option for a moving target or is it just personal preference. Oh and thanks for taking the time to post .

 

[KmH]

Stand so you don't have to move your feet during the pan. Only rotate at the waist.
Put one foot back and 90° or so to the forward pointing front foot.
Put more of your weight on the front foot than on the rear foot.
Again, rotate at the waist.
Support the camera with your left hand, palm up, under the lens/against the camera body, and your right hand on the camera's right side grip, ready to trip the shutter.
Keep your upper arms in right up against your torso

Many action sports photographers set up their cameras to back button focus, but yes AF-servo or continuous focus is good to use.
Your camera should have a focus/exposure lock button on the back that can be set moving the shutter half-press to focus function to that back button.

 

[craneyum]

Thanks for the advice on the stance ill give it a try next practice day , and post some results
regards
Nigel

 

[KmH]

I forgot to mention - keep your upper arms in right up against your torso.