Panning isn't something I do very often, either, and it definitely isn't part of my usual photographic repertoire and I don't customarily shoot subjects which need panning except the occasional BIF (Bird-in-Flight..... That said, you never know, though, when the panning technique might come in handy; the other day when I was out on my deck shooting the geese in the water, all of a sudden I spotted our Great Blue Heron flying by, cruising in the air a few feet over the birds on the lake. Instinctively I swung the camera and lens and aimed at him, managed to acquire focus and started panning and the one shot I got before he disappeared came out OK but not great. Aside from the fact that I didn't have a lot of time to adjust settings, the main problem wasn't so much with my panning technique but rather with the fact that by the time I first spotted the GBH he had already begun moving into the area where there were trees, which resulted in an image where the background was much more distracting than if I'd seen and captured him a little earlier while there was nothing but sky in the background. Dang!
The way I'm going to approach this book and the assignments is to do everything as though I'd never done it in the past, even if over the years at one time or another I may have tried and used a particular technique or approach to a subject, because each time we shoot is different. I might see the same kind of subject in a different way or I might find that the technique I'd used in the past can be improved by trying something a little bit different..... Also, if using other camera(s) and different (lens(es) this time around, or newer, more contemporary editing software, that, too can make a difference.
