Night Bike Panning
by Frans Kemper
After my fair share of regular bike panning images, this was a logical step (up). Night Bike Panning, in the rain if possible.
Basically, bike panning is pretty simple. Let me walk you through it. Relax; it does not get too technical.
First and foremost, you need a moving bike with one or more people.
Once you have got that, it's all downhill from there (pun intended)
Shutter speed... Fast enough to freeze the moving bike and said person(s) but slow enough to blur the background. Also, be careful with the flashing-fast electric bikes; they ruin everything. My advice: stay old school...
Aperture... Wide open, my default setting (f/1.7) leaves little chance of anything sharp. However, you also do not want to go too small with your aperture. You want a separation between the bike and the background. My advice: go a little smaller, but not too small either.
Background…A slow-driving car in the same direction doesn't help a lot. It also has to be far enough from the bike to create that blurry effect and, at the same time, that kinda 3-D effect, if you know what I mean… So my advice, ask the biker to come closer a little…
And then finally, aim for the coming up bike and pan in the same direction…When a biker is in or almost in front of you, gently press the release button…Pay attention; this is MOST important. After you click, keep on panning a little bit more with the object...
Now here is a little inside trick…Wear a funny hat…Yes…People will see you, and that's when you get the great (or not so great) reactions…
So, with regular bike panning under my belt, most of the time, I needed to try my hand at night bike panning… preferably in the rain…
Here and here are my earlier bike stories on this site.
Enjoy
