How To: Get a Perfectly Panned Image Every Time

Rick Dole, a Florida pro who specializes in automotive photography in most of its forms, says the secret of a good pan is like that of a good golf swing—it’s all in the follow-through. “In golf, a smooth swing is key. You don’t hit a golf ball without following through. The same is true with panning.”

Panning your camera with a moving subject, he reminds us,serves at least two purposes: It conveys a sense of velocity ormotion by adding streaked lines to the scene, and it cleans up clutter by blurring everything that’s not moving in your composition.

“My technique for panning is fairly simple,” says Dole. “I find a background that contrasts with the color of the car, and as it approaches I stand with my feet and lower body pointing directly in line with where I’ll fire the shutter. I twist my upper body toward the approaching car, and track it in the viewfinder, smoothly untwisting my upper body until it’s directly in front of me. That’s when I fire the shutter because, when it’s parallel to the camera, the car will be sharpest.”