Panning & Capturing Motion
Shot at 1/125 F2.8 300mm ISO 160
One of the great challenges in photography is capturing the essence of a moment in a single frame. You want the viewer to not just look at the image, but to really feel something, as though they are experiencing it as you have. Capturing motion in a frame is an important part of that as if you have a completely static image the subject may as well be standing still. The human eye sees motion blur when things move, incorporating that in an image makes it look more realistic.
A way to do this when a subject is moving across your field of view is panning. By following the subject with your camera you can capture a sharp subject with a blurred background (and foreground) that emphasises the movement. With the right equipment and a bit of practice you will be able to do this consistently.
To give yourself the best chance you will need a camera and lens combination that has a good tracking autofocus (if you own any modern DSLR or Mirrorless camera you should be fine here) and it may be wise to step down your aperture when you first start out, as the wider depth of field will give you a better chance to get the subject in focus. Ideally you want to use a short telephoto lens or longer to help isolate the subject and avoid the image distortion of wide-angle lenses. Varying the length of your lens allows you to decide how much of the frame will be subject and how much of it will be the blurring surroundings. Once you have this setup you need to then track the subject smoothly at a similar speed to its own movement. The best thing to do here is put your camera on burst mode and hold down the shutter as you pan to ensure you get at least one sharp frame each time.
Shot at 1/1000 F2.8 300mm ISO 500. Using a high shutter speed almost complete eliminated the motion of the shot. The spokes of the alloy wheels are clearly visible
Shot at 1/125 F2.8 300mm ISO 160. Using a low shutter speed produced the desired motion blur and a much more interesting & visually appealing image. The spokes of the alloy wheels are completely blurred.
Shutter speed is especially important here as this is what determines how much motion blur will be in your shot. The higher the shutter speed the less motion blur, and the lower the shutter speed the more motion blur. However, as the shutter speed gets slower it will become increasingly difficult to get a sharp shot, especially when using longer lenses, as camera shake becomes more of a problem. You need to have steady hands here and make sure to use image stabilisation if you have it on either your lens or camera body. My advice is to start on a higher shutter speed to get your eye in on how fast you need to pan, and once you have gotten that right drop your shutter speed until you have the amount of motion blur you are after. You can also use monopods or tripods (with the appropriate head that allows panning) to assist you, however I do everything handheld so I can move as freely as possible.
Panning works well when tracking a subject across the frame but it will not work if the subject is moving directly towards or away from you (unless you happen to have freakishly long arms!). So, what is the best way to tackle this situation? You have two options, either move with the subject or move independently at the same speed as the subject. I use both techniques for my car photography.
When moving with the subject (in my case I am sitting in the car) pick a static point of reference to focus on from the subject and then ensure you have plenty of foreground/background in the frame. This works well with any form of transport and is fairly easy to pull off, your only main concern here is camera shake. Just remember that the slower the subject is moving the lower your shutter speed will need to be to get the same amount of motion blur. Wide angle lenses work perfectly here as you will be sitting on or in the subject you are photographing.
Shot at 1/50 F5.6 20mm ISO 125. Leaning out of the car window I picked the front wing of the car as my fixed point of reference, using a wide angle lens gives plenty of the surrounding scenery. Notice how the areas closest to the camera appear more blurred than the areas further away, this is further emphasised by the wide angle lens.
The second technique is more complicated as you will be moving independent to your subject, this often requires coordination with multiple people as (unless you plan on running backwards or forwards with the camera at your face) someone else will need to move you, often in another vehicle in order for this to work. The aim is for both you and the subject to move in the same direction, at a constant speed and distance for a period of time; to allow you to get the shot you need. For me this has the lowest keeper rate of all, as with both you and the subject moving there are many opportunities for camera shake or missed focused. Patience is vital here and it may take a few runs before you get the desired result.
Shot at 1/40 F10 70mm ISO 80. Using a smaller aperture allowed me to get more of the frame in focus. Like the previous image, notice how the foreground appears blurred but the background appears static and sharp. Also notice by comparing the two - using a telephoto lens renders less motion blur than if a wide angle lens had been used.
All techniques that introduce movement to your shots will likely require a fair bit of practice so don’t get too frustrated or disheartened when you when you review your images at the first few attempts to see everything is blurring and out of focus. With a bit of patience and perseverance you will get images that are far more visually appealing and true to life than the lifeless, static looking shots taken at higher shutter speeds, and ultimately that is what we are all aiming for as photographers.
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