Posted by JL Morris on January 11, 2008
Posted under
Camera Techniques,
Color,
Critiqued
This photograph has the look and feel of the six o’clock “car chase” news helicopter in HD. Action and speed are portrayed in this study of camera panning. The placement of the subject is excellent giving a great deal of space for the speeding automobile to travel. The trees and read awning add interest to the blurred areas.
There are some areas the photographer may want to take a look at. The subject, the white car, is not a very interesting choice of subjects. The white also has competition from the other white autos immodestly behind it.
In the foreground I like the blurred tree trunks, I think they may be palms, however there is a parked car facing the opposite direction that is competing for our attention. The background is in nice subdued shadow however the foreground displays a great deal of light area. By cropping a little off the bottom of the image both these issues can be reduced.
Overall this is a nice exercise in panning and motion blur.
Click on Image 
Cropped 
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January 11th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Jim, Thank you for your evaluation! I was inspired by the photo “NYC Taxi”. So I decided to shoot some photo with the panning technique, because I haven’t done it in a wile. I think it is a lot of fun. When I edit the photo, I was trying to use a standard format and apply the rule of third. I wasn’t even thinking to crop it your way. But I think you crop does a much better job, not only deals it with some of the problems in the photo it also increases the emphasis of the motion feeling. By shortening the height of the photo it receives a wider feeling. Therefore the car can travel a further distance within the photo. In the original photo the car moves from right to left. The reason I flipped the photo is that I think when showing something traveling/motion, it is better to show this from left to right because that is the way our eyes are mostly reading. Do you think that this does make a difference?
January 11th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Here is another photo from this day that I think turned out to be an interesting shot. http://photo.hlehnerer.com/Gallery/Unexpected/slides/Train-Tires-1-IMG_4374.html
January 11th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Yes, I agree, left to right is best unless you are from Asia.