When taking portraits make sure that the person you are photographing has their head tilted very slightly to one side so that the eyes are not level. This helps to make them look more friendly and less austere. So below:

portrait with head tilted

Panning is a technique used to give the idea of movment and to capture a fast moving object. It works best when the object to be photographed moves across in front of you from left to right or right to left. You focus on the object and follow it movement and at the appropriate point press the shutter to capture the object as sharp as you can whilst at the same time keeping the background blurred to give the idea of movement. It is very important that you follow the motion even after pressing the shutter button as with all sports the follow through is important. Getting the speed right is the hard part particularly with fast moving objects like sports cars. (also if you have Image Stabalisation on the lend with 2 types remember to turn off the horizontal stabilisation).

Below is a picture where the speed was just right the carriage driver is just sharp and the background is completely blurred.

correct panning

Below is a photograph with the speed too fast so nothing is sharp.

photograph too blurred

Below is a photograph where the panning motion was too slow (probably due to too fast a shutter speed) so the image is too sharp.

The above photographs were all taken at Farliegh House near Basingstoke during the carriage driving trials, the driver is Karen Bassett who was warming up before the cones part of the competition.

Rule of thirds, make your photographs look more dynamic by placing the important or focal point of the image appear on a line that cuts either horizontally or vertically through the image at a point 1/3 the width or height of the image either from the left or the right, or top or bottom.

Diagram of the rule of thirds

Look at the next 2 photos and compare them for impact.

Photograph of Basingstoke Gate

The 1st photograph cuts the image into 2 so looks like it is 2 seperate pictures.

Photograph of Basingstoke Gate showing rule of 1/3

Here the image has been cropped so that the edge of the gate is closer to one edge of the picture, it looks less like 2 photographs stuck together and more like a shot of the gate with some of the background in view, a more pleasing shot to look at.

Of course not all images need to be taken in this way i.e. portraits and close ups can be taken such that the subject is in the middle of the photograph, but even here it is worth considering putting the eyes on the top horizontal 1/3 line or other parts of the body on other 1/3 lines, try it and see. I will add other composition improvements to this blog later this month.