Moving the camera across a scene is called panning. You’ll often see home videos that are shot while the person holding the camcorder pans the camera back-and-forth and up-and-down, either to follow a moving subject or to show a lot of things that don’t fit in a single shot. This technique (if you can call it that) is called firehosing — usually not a good idea. Practice these rules when panning:
- Pan only once per shot.
- Start panning slowly, gradually speed up, and slow down again before stopping.
- Slow down! Panning too quickly — say, over a landscape — is a common mistake.
- If you have a cheap tripod, you may find it difficult to pan smoothly.
- Try lubricating the tripod’s swivel head with WD-40 or silicon spray lubricant. If that doesn’t work, limit tripod use to stationary shots. Ideally you should use a higher-quality tripod with a fluid head for smooth .
- If you’re shooting a moving subject, try moving the camera with the subject, rather than panning across a scene. Doing so reduces out-offocus issues with the camera lens, and helps keep the subject in-frame.
