Panning

As soon as I saw this photograph I knew it would be placed highly in my final top 10, a slow shutter of 1/40th combined with a long focal length of 170mm has produced a stunning and punchy image. The fencing in the foreground and background is nicely stretched out and the dark areas top and bottom of the image frame the sports cars wonderfully. To be critical there is some blurring of the drivers name on the roof of the car, and it would have been nice to see this tack sharp, but this hardly detracts from this vibrant and stunning image.

This shot was taken at 1/80th of a second, panning has been used to great effect here. To pan and maintain composition is no mean feat, the photographer has been able to nicely place the subject in the bottom right third of the frame and as my eye is drawn across the image it finally lands bang on the sharpest point of the image: the eye of the rider. I think a 16:9 crop would have been better here to remove some of the sky but the colour palette and contrast creates a super image.

For most of the subject matters in this contest I feel that a significant number would have been more suited to a colour process. I do however really love this subtly toned black and white conversion. It is well composed with plenty of space for the subject to 'move' into on the right hand side. There is however a lot of white space in the foreground which doesn't add to the image and therefore a 16:9 crop would possibly work better. The horse and rider are crisp and sharp and there's the right level of movement in the wheels and the speed of the horse's legs to animate the image. Well done Eduard.

I was in two minds about this image. At first when selecting possible candidates for the top 10 I dismissed it, partly because the focal point of the image isn't as sharp as it could have been and I feel that there needs to be a little more space to the left hand side of the composition. On reflection after viewing all of the submissions I reviewed my opinion. What I love is the blissful ignorance and lack of inhibitions as to how an adult should behave, the guy posed with relaxed, joyous abandonment mirrors my somewhat childish and relaxed view on life, and as such gives me an affinity with this image!

This is a really cool shot from James. Subtle toning has been applied to the processing of this image and I really like how the sunlight strikes across from the top left hand side. There is a great sense of movement bolstered by the upward tilt of the camera, the heat haze from the exhaust of the car adding the finishing touch. Image sharpness on the McLaren is not quite on the money, which prevented me from placing the image higher.

As soon as I saw this shot as a small thumbnail it was obvious it was a potential top 10 image. The steam from the water cooled brakes and the black exhaust fumes give the shot the necessary additional elements to create a dramatic shot. On closer inspection it appears that there has been more than a little sharpening applied to the image to make it more crisp, the tell-tale signs being additional noise and degraded textures, especially around the engine of the truck. I generally do not like overly saturated images but with subjects such as motorsports I like to see bright colours, and I think this could have been done with a bit more of a colour boost. Unfortunately this image just misses my top 10 selection, nevertheless this is a cracking image, well done Ross.

This is a dynamic and punchy image from Paul. I really like seeing the human element present in motorsport shots. Even though there has been some stunning vehicle imagery entered they can look rather autonomous. I love how the trail bike is diving into the corner, you really get the feeling that the bike is swooping around the photographer. It is perhaps a little on the dark side of ideal exposure but the foreground and background make the yellow and red pop out in the image.

I am not usually a fan of social documentary photography but this shot by Chuck is enthralling. It tells the story of embodiment and hope in a world of poverty, the young child striving for something better in his current surroundings. The lighting is quite harsh on the boy's face but without it his features would be lost within the dark background. The subtle brown and orange tones in the background are balanced well with the boy's T-shirt, providing a striking contrast within the image. As with wildlife shots, moments like this are difficult to capture because of the random nature of the subject. Chuck has done very well here.

This is a really fun image, being shot at 1/20th of a second the photographer has made an excellent job of panning with the subject, the face of the young girl is pin sharp. Unless there is something in the original photograph which meant a mono conversion would be more appropriate I feel that this image would have been better suited to being in colour. The child doesn’t really pop out of the image and the grey tones make it look a bit bland.

There were some images in this contest which were questionably manufactured to give the effect of panning and this shot is probably the most obvious. This is one example where it's less time consuming to get it right in camera rather than creating the panning effect in post processing. The motion blur which has been applied is evident by the forward and rearward blurring of the mountain biker, then a cut out of the rider from the original image has been pasted on top. I do however really like the 16:9 crop and rider is nicely placed in the left third of the composition, the colours work well together with the banding of the greenery and track too, although a little too saturated for my taste. Panning on a subject using a slow shutter speed is very hit and miss and the technique will only be learnt by lots of practice. Don't worry if you're only getting a few good shots from a 4GB memory card, all you need is one keeper!

Top marks for shooting this at 1/15th of a second, and at a focal length of 200mm. This shows great panning technique. I also note that the photographer has a used a super small aperture of f/32. Shooting at these small apertures creates diffraction and softens the image and I think this image suffers a little because of it. An ND filter and lower ISO would have allowed to shoot with a larger aperture which would have helped to increase sharpness. Also the angle at which the image is shot is neither level nor enough to be much of a dutch angle and I think the image would have benefited from straightening up. The focal point of the image is on the riders face, the photographer has captured the concentration in the rider's eyes and this really makes the shot for me. I know I'm being harsh in this review but by combining this exceptional panning technique with a few easy camera and post processing tweaks, Simon will be able to create even more stunning images.