| Every time you open a motor sports magazine, you | | | | trying to capture the movement of the wings. A digital |
| will see them - the panning shots. Through his skill and | | | | photography trick to remember is to take a decent |
| expertise the photographer has frozen a speeding | | | | zoom lens along for your shoot. |
| vehicle, whilst successfully blurring the background to | | | | Panning is the act of tracking the subject with the |
| capture the sense of motion. This area of photography | | | | camera, whilst taking a single, or multiple shots. Trial |
| may well be an exciting genre, but if you thought it | | | | and error is the best approach. 15 successful shots |
| required years of training to master, you would be | | | | from one hundred attempts does not sound like much, |
| mistaken. With just a few digital photography tricks, | | | | but you are doing well if you achieve this. The |
| you can soon take panning shots that family and | | | | advantage of this digital age is that you can "bin" |
| friends would be proud of. | | | | anything you don't need - at the end of the day, if you |
| So when are panning shots used? Well, sports mainly - | | | | get one truly memorable image, the viewer won't |
| such as running and cycling, as well as motor sports. | | | | know, or even care, how many goes it took you to |
| But similar techniques can help make your wildlife and | | | | get it. |
| nature shots look out of this world. Birds are excellent | | | | There are multiple settings you could select, but a good |
| subjects. Geese or swans, being somewhat slow and | | | | one to try is Continuous Focus, or Servo. In this setting, |
| lumbering, make surprisingly easy targets when | | | | the camera constantly focuses on the object as you |
| panning. A panning shot helps the viewer to appreciate | | | | pan. Combine this with the Continuous Shooting mode |
| the element of motion, and is therefore far more | | | | and you will be able to capture multiple shots. |
| powerful than a static shot taken using a super fast | | | | Some of the best panning shots I have taken are |
| shutter speed. | | | | where I have placed the subject slightly off centre, |
| The subject of the shot needs to be moving left to | | | | allowing space for them to drive, or fly, into. |
| right, or vice versa. A colourful and blurred background | | | | Understandably, concerns with composition are not |
| helps to lend to the feeling of motion, but the aim is to | | | | always at the forefront of your mind when attempting |
| make sure that your point of interest appears | | | | to capture a speeding object, but a few digital |
| beautifully in focus. Whilst this is true for most sports | | | | photography tricks can be applied subsequently in |
| pictures, in nature a plain background can be used, for | | | | Photoshop, if required, to address this. |
| example when photographing a humming bird and | | | | |