Capture Outstanding Motion Photos with Panning Technique

In photography, to capture an attractive and impressive image, people tend to suggest the idea to create the contrast in the image. It is possible that the contrast of content such as rich and poor, small and large, high and low, far and near, peace and the abyss or light contrast, highlights and shadows, or color contrast to emphasize the theme. There is another contrast that many people interested in, it's static and dynamic. To capture an image in static dynamic contrast style, there are many ways and many shooting situations, but the most popular way is using panning techniques. These techniques mean to snap a moving subject in an animation background and you can easily do this after few times of practice.

First, you need to set some parameters on your camera.

Shutter speed:

The basic of shooting Panning is to have a slow shutter speed, usually about 1/25 sec. When shooting with a slow shutter speed, the captured background was often blurred in the direction of motion.

During operation, you can focus on the subject and panning along with the subject, the subject will be visible on a blurred background.

On the camera, you can select the mode M or Tv/S to shoot. With M mode, you will have to adjust all the parameters such as shutter speed, aperture and ISO to get enough bright for the picture.

Tv mode / S is simple; you just need to pay attention the speed and keep your shutter speed to the lowest possible value.

Aperture problem in shooting panning is unimportant. At any aperture, the depth of field is no longer available because the theme is burred due to the action of panning.

Focus modes:

To ensure an image Panning with the subject focus on the blurry background, the right focus on the subject is very important.

On camera, you set the focus point in the middle as often moving subjects will in the middle of the image. Besides, the main focus in the middle is usually more accurate.

You can also use the continuous focus (AI Servo on Canon), allowing your camera to continuous focus on a moving subject.

Imaging techniques:

You need to choose an airy place, ensure that there is nothing will block your view on the subject; then, wait for the subject approaches and begin to press the shutter button halfway to start focusing on the subject.

Then remain parallel and start panning the subject smoothly, when you thing it is the right moment, press capture. However, after the shutter, you can continue panning the theme to ensure smooth motion.

You can set the camera in continuous shooting mode to ensure always catch every moment of the subject

The photos were taken by panning help viewers feel the movement of the subject in the photo, totally different from the pictures with higher shutter speed and capture motion of the subject.