Exercise: Panning

My first attempt was of Elvis, the unco-operative Black Labrador.  Although Elvis is definitely action packed I was finding it hard to follow him with the camera.  He was very erratic and in this picture he was running straight to the camera.  And although you get the sense of speed it wasn't quite what I had in mind - so Elvis, you're fired !

My second attempt was with the cyclists.  I was fairly happy with the results, although getting the subject central of the viewfinder was challenging.  Panning goes against everything you normally do. You would as a rule try and keep your camera as still as possible, so it feels unnatural.

Of these first three photographs, the first and third were taken at 1/30 and the image seems sharper, the second picture was 1/60 and the image is more blurred.

All the above photos were taken at 1/60 shutter speed, the results vary but I think this is due to a variation in the bike speed. The next three shoots were taken at 1/30, but again there were different bike speeds.

I personally prefer the sharp image on the blurred background, however when the whole image is blurred I feel this gives a good expression of speed.
The different styles would suit different situations, and depends upon how you want the final image to look.  This is something that I shall keep practising as I like the pictures that it produces, and I feel I haven't nailed it yet..