Freezing action vs. panning with action

I've been posting shots from the St. Clements Horse Show in this forum for a couple of years now. I've always approached the subject with the intent to freeze these flying horses, and I've been pretty happy with the results. This year, I did the same thing, but I also tried taking shots where I dropped the shutter speed and panned with the action to get a more expressive shot. I'd be interested in your impressions on each. As always, all comments, criticisms or random thoughts are welcome.

















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Very nice shots. I think I prefer the motion panning shots (maybe because I see these kind of pictures typically shot in freeze action) with the exception of the last two which are a little too blurred. You can't really see what the horse is jumping over. What speeds did you shoot at?

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Those are great Fred, i think i prefer the panned blurred ones. It makes the action stand out better. Both styles nice though.
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Ronnie Rosero said:

Very nice shots. I think I prefer the motion panning shots (maybe
because I see these kind of pictures typically shot in freeze
action) with the exception of the last two which are a little too
blurred. You can't really see what the horse is jumping over. What
speeds did you shoot at?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. The panning shots certainly go against most expectations and, I think, are more expressive of the real feel and excitement of the event. They are also a LOT harder to capture something useful.

Shutter speeds were really trial and error, as was the whole process on the panning for me. It's not something I do often. I found that between 1/30 and 1/60 seemed to work best. The first was shot at 1/60, the second at 1/50, the third and fourth at 1/30.

Thanks again fro the input.

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Thanks, Rudi. I appreciate your thoughts on this. I think I agree about the panning giving a better sense of action. I had someone on another board say that the frozen ones I've shown on previous years almost seem like merri-go-round horses, and that they certainly are not.
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fdoyle wrote:

I think panning is a good idea and can produce nice results, but it makes the composition of the image more difficult.

I don't like this one because of the post in front of where my eye wants to focus on the horse and rider

fdoyle said:

Click to expand...

I think this one is excellent!

fdoyle said:

Click to expand...

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Good point and thanks for the feedback. Composition like that is not something you can do at the time you are taking the picture, but in the shot selection and post processing, I can see this is going to be very important.

I appreciate the advice and input. Thanks for taking the time.
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Of the panning shots I actually prefer the exaggerated blur of the last image.

In general I prefer horse jumping shots to freeze the horse/rider although I do like that the panning shots a "different". I suspect that for me the panning shots might be a little more appealing if it was x-country.

I suggest that with the freeze the action shots shooting with a shallower DOF - would prefer if the signs in the background were blurred.

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Roonal said:

I suggest that with the freeze the action shots shooting with a
shallower DOF - would prefer if the signs in the background were
blurred.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. ONe of the nice things about this event is tha tit last two weeks, so if the weather holds, I intend to go back next weekend and see how well I can put people's advice to work. I think the point about the DOF is very valid. I, too, found myself distracted by the signs in the bckground when I did the post processing. I'll try opening up the f-stop a little if I go back.

Thanks for the input

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One pronlem I see is which part of the horse and rider combination that you pan with. The shots where the rider's boot is the sharpest are a little distracting. The head and torso of both hrose and rider would serve better by being sharp. How you manage this in a situation where all the bits tend to have a different path through space Is difficult. Of all the shots I prefer number 2 the non panned shot, an exquisite fusion of the intent of horse and rider.

chraezer said:

One pronlem I see is which part of the horse and rider combination
that you pan with. The shots where the rider's boot is the
sharpest are a little distracting. The head and torso of both
hrose and rider would serve better by being sharp. How you manage
this in a situation where all the bits tend to have a different
path through space Is difficult.

Click to expand...

Yes, any kind of true control on the panning shots is very difficult. Different paths presents a problem. It took me a wile to figure out that it is not just panning with the horse and rider because the speed changes when they go into the jump. The horse runs up to the jump at top speed, but at the moment of the jump, both horse's direction and and its speed change. So, its a lot of trial and error, at least atthis point.

chraezer said:

Of all the shots I prefer number
2 the non panned shot, an exquisite fusion of the intent of horse
and rider.

Click to expand...

Thanks, tha's probably my favorite of the grouping, too. It is the only one that doesn't focus on the action, but instead focuses on the relationship of horse and rider and the task at hand.

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