Panning Photos

To learn more about photography,

sign up to receive my NEW Newsletter.

The sign-up form is on the upper right of this blog.

 

Last summer when my husband and I were on

vacation in Whistler, British Columbia, I noticed

everyone was biking. They even have extensive

biking trails and obstacle courses.

I loved watching the bicycle acrobatics

and captured this fun shot as a FREEZE FRAME:

But I also wanted to try

Panning Shots to create movement in

the photos like these:

Even a blurry subject looks cool!

I was delighted to see that Sarah Halstead's

Tutorial Tuesday

is about Panning Shots.

She gives a great explanation of how to do it,

so check out her Naptime Momtog blog.

If you want to try this...look for subjects

that are moving either left to right or right to left

past your camera.

Using a longer shutter speed...up to 1 second...

as the subject enters the frame, pan with them

so they stay in somewhat focus while the

background blurs creating motion.

While in Whistler, I sat on a slight hill facing

a bicycle trail.

I didn't want to look like some kind of

strange stalker,

so I acted like I was photographing the

woods next to the trail and when

a bike whizzed by, I panned with it.

The bikers didn't even notice me.

I had a ton of DUD shots.

It takes LOTS of practice, but

try this with anything moving.

Try this with cars passing on a busy street

or a child running during a soccer game.

I changed my location because

I noticed some purple flowers a bit

farther down the trail...

I like the purple streaks in

the background.

So look for interesting objects

and colors in the background.

Last month, a mother hired me to

take hockey portraits of her ten-year-old son.

I remembered the panning shots

and tried them here.

I LOVE that he is blurry...

looks like neat ART!

She loved them, too!

This summer should provide a great

variety of fun subjects for you to try this techinique.

Have FUN!