In the case of a panning shot, however, we want blur, and we can use slow shutter speeds and a careful application of technique to use that sense of motion in order to create the perfect shot. 1.

In panning, the most crucial aspect of the shot is the smooth horizontal movement of the camera. A slower shutter speed of between 1/30 and 1/125 works well for panning.

The pan-motion photographic effect can make them look like they’re the Flash. This photo was taken with a shutter speed of 1/40 and an aperture of f/8.

Porsche 914-6 at Rennsport Reunion 7, Laguna Seca. 200mm at 1/30s, f/4. Photo by Elle Alder Panning is the art of sweeping a camera across a scene to blur a background and express motion.

The shutter is released gently during this panning motion, and the resulting picture will be a still photograph with a feeling of motion. Panning transfers blur from subject to background.

The variables we need to assess when panning are the speed of the subject and the shutter speed. No doubt someone has devised some software to compute all this, but really in the field it's not quite ...