Panning at the Play Day

In my photography adventure, I have been watching tutorials and taking a few online classes here and there. In one of these classes, the subject of “panning” was discussed. Panning is when you turn the camera and follow a moving subject. You shoot this with a slow shutter speed to create a feeling of speed or action. I knew I had to try this at the next play day!

I don’t always get to choose what is in my background when I’m taking pictures at the riding club because there are so many people and horses, and a lot of times when I get home and I’m looking at the pictures on my computer, they just seem so cluttered. Sure, I could spend HOURS in post editing and getting all that removed, but honestly, I don’t have that kind of time when there are around 300+ pictures I need to go through. I thought this would be a great way to get some cool artsy/action photographs that would be quick and easy to sort and post to the riding clubs’ fb page.

I decided that the flag race would be the best event to try this, since the pictures I usually take of this event are kind of “meh”. I positioned myself on the long side of the arena to be able to have the best opportunity to take a pic or two of each rider. The tutorials always make it seem so easy! IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS!

Not every horse and rider go the same speed- much less the same speed consistently for this event! And I was trying to just pivot at the waist like you would for a panoramic shot, it was difficult to adjust the speed at which I turned as well. It took me a good 10 riders before I started to get it all figured out. I managed to get quite a few good ones of some of the adult riders, but the majority of the youth riders didn’t turn out since I was still experimenting and adjusting during their runs.

I am really happy with a few of these. I think I found a new challenge and will keep working at this to perfect it. I do enjoy taking pictures at the play days.

But I also like being creative and “making things pretty” or at the very least, interesting.

Enjoy the rest of the gallery and stay tuned for the next blog! (You can subscribe to receive notifications when I post new ones!) There was a bronc ride while trying to take some panning pictures during the flag race, things were most definitely western. <wink>