Photographing movement: Panning with different shutter speeds

This I found seriously difficult to get to grips with as there are so many variables. Panning I found easy, getting the subject to fit the frame, but I had trouble with defining which shutter speeds to use depending on what type of object I was shooting, some were quite unpredictable and not uniform in the speeds they were traveling. In the end I got some shots I thought worked fairly well.

As you can see I ended up with three different kinds of photograph, as I attempted lots of different ways of approaching this, including making my dog run up and down the stairs. Unfortunately he soon realised there was no reward in doing this, and he gave up and went back to sleep! The few snaps of his I managed to get were all frozen with no blur to show movement at all, and I had to leave it at that as he wasn't moving again for any one! Luckily my mum and a friend was on hand to help out with the coin and then in the arcade.

The first picture here of the man on the bicycle was actualy a very lucky shot whilst I was the passenger in a car. I was trying to shoot stuff on the move and he happened to be passing at the right speed for me to produce a very pleasing image. It was taken at 1/40 seconds which seemed to be a speed that was about right for a lot of things moving at a medium pace. Anything slightly faster would just freeze the entire image. In some cases this made quite a good shot, but for the practice of keeping blur in an image it wasn't helping! Hence my struggle with finally getting some images to write about.

The next photograph of the coin I chose to show because I think it showed how I was struggling to keep the main subject in focus. This was the best of the entire set I shot of my mum rolling coins across the kitchen work top. It was taken at 1/6 seconds, and although its not in focus in any part of the image, I do quite like the fact everything has some movement involved. I tried much faster speeds and some inbetween but the unpredictability of how the coin would roll proved very difficult to judge. Slower shutter speeds have produced some very eye catching images for me on the whole, retaining just enough focus of the main subject to see what it is. Maybe because everything in the photograph is blurred it gives an impression of increased speed.

Lastly I got the help of a friend whilst we were at the arcades in Brighton. I took lots of photos of her trying out the different games that involved her moving about a bit. The thing I found that hindered me here was that inside I had to use the flash, and what seemed to happen was that most of the actual image was frozen, but I was getting interesting light trails that showed the speed and movement instead. I think this makes these particular images more interesting, as it enhances the brightness of the lights and the sense of fun at the arcade, without taking away from the subject and her actions. It was taken at 1/30 seconds.

I have also included this last Shot, taken at 1/25 seconds, as I like the way that there is only a very tiny amount of blur to suggest movement, yet there is a clear 'shadow' of the ball in mid air, and the way everything is frozen with slight blur gives it a hightened sense of suspense that the person is right on the verge of throwing the ball. Again, I found it hard to judge the speeds I would need, as you can see the difference in the 1/30 and 1/25 shots, the slower speed seemed to produce less movement, but then I haven't factored in the speed at which I might have been moving the camera in conjuction with the shutter speed and the object. Lots of variables to consider every time!

I think with practice this will become less of a process I have to think lots about, and much more fluid with my responses.