Poetry of Motion In-Camera

There are a few simple tricks to adding motion to photographs in-camera. When would you want to use these techniques? Well, to give oomph to your shots, and make ’em stand out! Frozen motion is all well and good, but blurred motion (either of the subject or the background) is super!

The main technique is panning. Panning is when you move your camera with your subject either while you are standing still OR moving at the same speed as your subject. This causes the background to blur, and some or most of your subject to stay in focus. Here’s an example of my son running:

(Aged Photo Overlays Vol 1 by Laurie Ann {element pack})

This photograph was done at f2.8, 1/25 sec, ISO 200.  Many point-and-shoot digital cameras have a “fixed” deep depth of field, same as their old film counterparts. In order to blur the background as your subject is moving  lower the aperture number on your camera if you can. A lower aperture lengthens the amount of time the light sensor is exposed in the camera, and allows for more blurring, which is what you want when you pan your camera on a fast-moving subject.

Another example:

(Aged Photo Overlays Vol 1 by Laurie Ann {element pack})

F 3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 80.  As for the picture up above, I was standing still trying to capture the movement of a fast moving subject, in this case my dog Baxter. Parts of him are blurred, the background is slightly blurred, but the image still manages to give a sense of quick movement. Note that the aperture is slightly higher than in the first photo of my running son. The shutter speed was also faster. 

If you own a point or shoot or a camera phone and use those as your main cameras, try panning. Sure, you’ll come out with plenty of blurred what-the-heck shots, but you WILL get a good shot in there, too. It’s a great change from all the static shots, or shots taken with a fast shutter speed and deep depth of field. Experiment with the settings on your camera, if you have them. Try and keep the aperture and shutter speed low, and practice tracking your fast-moving subject.

Search the internet for more examples-you’ve seen them-taxis or cars, or bicyclists moving fast with background streaks of color behind them.  Look at these images on Google for some excellent examples!  Blurred Motion

After practicing panning, if you still aren’t happy with your results, next week we’ll go over some simple blurred motion fixes you can do in PSE (or Photoshop) to give those action shots some oomph and make them stand out!

Any questions, please ask in the comment section!

Julie