I have a tripod but I haven’t used it yet. There all freehand which is one of the reasons their not coming out better.
Maybe try with birds or park near a freeway and practice on vehicles at varying distances using different shutters speeds. Try not to repeat bad habits.
What I’ve learned is that panning and hand steadiness do not correlate (unless you’re trying for something really brave like 1/8 or something). Your ability to pan mostly comes down to how well you can predict where a plane will be. Yes, some people are better than others but this can be trained. When you’re rotating from your hips for a pan, it’s fairly easy to keep the camera level on the y axis. What’s difficult is following the plane on the x axis. Also, if your lens has image stabilization make sure it’s not the intrusive kind (4-axis), because this will ruin your pans. With enough practice, most people can train a hit rate on 1/60 high enough to almost guarantee a keeper per plane.
Nah, honestly I think tripods are pretty detrimental to these mid-range pans (like 1/20-1/60). When you use a tripod you have to kind of walk around it because of the pivot point which makes tracking difficult. The average human can definitely hold a 1/20 or whatever steady with a little practice so it’s just about tracking, something which is easier if you have free movement of your hips. Same reason why panning through a fence is annoying.
I’m confused as to why the positioning of the sun would matter. I’m going to assume you mean at that specific spot which is presumably backlit in the afternoon. In that case, yes, not only should you avoid pan shots but you should avoid all shots and go find a spot on the other side. If you mean in general, nah afternoon pan shots are fine.
