A method and system reduce radiation exposure by panning and zooming a first image of a patient acquired by an x-ray imaging system rather than using continuous radiation fluoroscopy. A first image of a region of interest is initially acquired. Subsequently, the patient may be repositioned with respect to the imaging system or a component of the imaging system may be repositioned with respect to the patient. The first image may be automatically panned on a display in response to the repositioning. A collimator may be adjusted to select a coverage area of the collimator. The first image may be automatically resized on the display based upon the size of the selected coverage area. An optimal imaging device parameter also may be selected based upon the selected coverage area. A second image may be acquired using the imaging system and automatically resized to substantially fill the display.