India, Tips and Tricks, Travel Blog

Panning – Photographing Moving Subjects

Panning is a technique used to shoot a subject moving parallel to you. It is used to create a sense of movement by moving the camera to follow the subject. It will blur the background / surrounding objects while keeping the main subject in focus.

The choice of shutter speed is important in panning photography. For the subjects in the images below, the shutter speed I used was between 1/15 to 1/30 sec. It can’t be too slow as it will blur the subject itself and it can’t be too fast as it may freeze the subject (and the background/surrounding objects) too quickly. I always use Manual metering when shooting panning, as I need to be able to control all three components manually (shutter speed, aperture and ISO).

All images shot in India (Lucknow and New Delhi) with Leica M9 and Voigtlander Color Skopar 35mm f/2.5 during my trip there in October last year. They were shot in various lighting conditions, from bright to dark at night.

 

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