Project 23: Motion Blur

Panning is a photography technique that captures a moving subject in sharp focus while blurring the background to show motion. It’s achieved by following the subject with your camera during the exposure, and shutter speed plays the biggest role in making it work. Using a slower shutter speed, typically between 1/15 and 1/60 of a second, allows the background to streak into motion blur as you track the subject. Meanwhile the subject remains relatively sharp because you’re moving the camera at the same pace. The balance between shutter speed and your tracking technique is what creates that dynamic sense of speed and movement in a panning shot.

For this project you are going to take many pictures and turn in the best three with a contact sheet of all your photos demonstrating panning; using the shutter speed to obtain motion blue.