How To Take A Nice Panning Shot

Begin new to photography, have you ever wonder how to achieve a shot where the moving subject is in focus while the background is blurred? Have you envy photographers who can produce such images?

This technique is commonly known as Panning and can be easy achieved with sufficient practices. A SLR camera is preferred for panning shots due to its ability to achieve fast response. DSLR is taking up the market share with its price being very competitive too. DSLR being digital in nature, is very welcomed nowadays especially when people are getting more IT savvy. Images can be downloaded into computers which make editing easier as compared to the past. And not to forget, films which is now replaced by memory cards for DSLR makes photography relatively cheaper!

Panning technique is commonly used in sports like motorbike racing, running, cycling, and many more. This technique can help to make the photographs tell a story to the viewers. Viewers can easily acknowledge that the subject of interest is in motion and thus making the photograph more attractive and complete, as compared to a freeze moment due to the result of fast shutter speed.

To make a panning shot, first of all like most photography criteria, you need a subject of interest. This subject preferably should be moving across your camera from left to right or vice versa. Panning shots could be quite impossible if the subject of interest is moving towards or away from your camera.

The background is recommended to be colorful so as to make the photograph appeared to be more attractive even when blurred.

There are a few settings in your camera you need to make and the steps to Panning shots are:

Step 1: Set your camera to Shutter Priority mode,

Step 2: Set your shutter speed with its denominator value smaller then your lens focal length. I will recommend setting the shutter speed to be at 1/15 sec. With this setting, you are deliberately achieving "camera shake" which is your main motive in panning shots,

Step 3: Set your camera to "Continuous Shoot" mode. This will allow you to get a few shots at one time so as to achieve higher "probability of hit".

Step 4: Set your camera to "AF-C" mode,

Step 5: As the main subject is moving across your camera, quickly focus on the subject and shoot. As your camera is set to "Continuous Shoot" mode, hold on to your shutter while moving your camera along with your main subject, making sure that the main subject is always in the middle of your viewfinder.

There you go and you achieved the technique of panning. Panning needs a lot of practice and you will be considered lucky if you are able to get 5 good shots out of 30 tries. Remember the good old days where SLR cameras are using film? Imagine how much money you will have to spend on films to get at least 10 good panning shots! Thus we are considered much lucky now as SLR cameras go digital.

You can further improve the photographs by doing some editing in Photoshop or other photo editing software. You may choose to do some cropping of the photographs such that the main subject is placed at the golden rule for photography, the "Rule of Thirds". With this, the photographs are able to tell the viewer the whole story and thus making the photographs more attractive and eyes catching!

Remember, you need a lot of practice for panning shots and do not be discouraged if you failed for the first few times. With enough practice, I am sure you can achieve what you longed for!