15 practical tips for sharper panning photos

Monday 10 January 2022, 20:10 by Huub Keulers | 17,395 views | 20 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Do you, like me, enjoy taking photos of moving subjects, but your photos are blurry? Or do you photograph action with a very fast shutter speed, losing the sense of movement?

In this article, I would like to explain how you can use the right panning technique to create more exciting photos that suggest movement. Are you ready? Enjoy reading and learning.

What exactly is panning?

Panning is a photography technique that creates the illusion of movement. You can do this by using a slower shutter speed and moving the camera along with the subject.

It sounds simple, and technically it is. However, you often need to practise panning before you master the technique, but it is certainly achievable.

Go-kart photo, 24-70mm lens, shutter speed of 1/125 second

The art of panning

The trick when panning is to move your camera at the same speed as the subject. If you do this, your subject is actually stationary in relation to your camera, as the speed difference is zero.

This keeps your subject sharp in the photo while your background is blurred with motion streaks. Start focusing well in advance and complete the panning movement.

Taking panning photos in a nutshell

• Choose your subject and lens carefully.
• Position yourself where the subject will ideally pass you at a right angle.
• Set your desired shutter speed, see further on in this article.
• Adjust the rest of the camera settings for a correct exposure.
• Start focusing well before you actually take the photos;
• Complete the panning movement with your subject after you stop taking photos;

1. Choose your subject carefully

You can take panning photos of any moving subject, a dog, runner, car, cyclist and so on.

If the panning technique is new to you, it is best to start with repetitive subjects that move at a constant speed. For example, stand on the pavement and photograph passing cars.

A small tip: give a thumbs-up from time to time, because some people will wonder why that man or woman is photographing them. A skate park or fairground are also excellent locations for practising the panning technique. And less boring.

An air show is also a great opportunity to practise panning. With a shutter speed of 1/125 or 1/60 second, you can see movement in the propellers.
Once you have mastered the technique, try photographing faster subjects, such as horses, racing cars, dogs and so on. The best part of panning photography is finding fun subjects to photograph.

2. Adjust your distance

When panning, you need to consider two distances: the distance between you and your subject, and the distance between the subject and the background. Both affect the perception of speed in a panning shot.

Fast-moving subjects seen from a distance appear to move more slowly. Keep this in mind when, for example, you are at the race track and are deciding between sitting in the front row or in a higher section.

As for the distance between the subject and the background, remember that a shorter distance allows for more noticeable blur, creating a more intense sense of speed. Keep this in mind when selecting your camera lens.

3. Choose your lens carefully

Choosing the right lens can make panning considerably easier. Telephoto lenses can zoom in extremely far, allowing you to take frame-filling photos from a reasonable distance.

As well as this distance, such a long focal length has another advantage, namely that it is easier to move along with your subject.

At a race circuit, the fastest cars 'tear' around the track at about 300 kilometres per hour. Taking the photo from such a long distance means you only have to move a little for a panning shot.

Fortunately, cars on a public road travel at around 30 to 50 kilometres per hour. Slow enough to practise panning with a wide-angle lens. With a wide-angle or standard lens, you will be closer to your subject, so you will have to pan faster and for longer.

4. Use shutter priority

For panning photography, it is best to use shutter priority mode, or manual mode. You can also use the Auto ISO function in combination with shutter priority mode.

This way, you only need to worry about one value in the exposure triangle and can concentrate solely on your panning technique. Auto ISO also includes a setting for the minimum shutter speed.

However, when you use shutter priority mode, this setting is bypassed in many cases.

5. Set the right shutter speed

One of the most frequently asked questions about panning photography is: 'How do I know which shutter speed to use?' Well, everyone will give you a different value, and you will find plenty of shutter speed cheat sheets online, but the truth is that these are only starting points.

It is useful to know where to start, but remember that there is no specific shutter speed, as it depends on several factors. How fast is your subject moving? How far away are you from your subject? What effect do you want? Which lens are you using?

For example, if you photograph the BMX rider above, it is best to start at 1/125 sec, while for a racing car you should start at 1/250 sec. The more successful photos you take, the slower the shutter speed you can set. In any case, experiment with different shutter speeds and distances.

6. Use continuous autofocus

Manual focusing is almost impossible when taking panning photos, so using autofocus is essential.

There are different types of autofocus methods, however. The mode that works best with moving subjects is the continuous focusing mode.

Every camera manufacturer has a different name for this: on Canon cameras it is AI-Servo, on Nikon it is AF-C and on Sony it is Continuous AF.

With this continuous focusing mode, half-press the shutter button to focus. As long as you keep following your subject and continue half-pressing the shutter button, your camera will keep focusing on your moving subject.

7. Number of focus points

Personally, I prefer to use just one focus point, but if you have less experience, it is advisable to set 5 or 9 focus points. This reduces the chance of focusing next to your subject, resulting in a blurred background.

8. Turn off image stabilisation

Make sure you have turned off stabilisation on your lens or camera. Otherwise, you risk getting blurry photos. Image stabilisation tries to correct movement in your image, which is exactly what you want to avoid here.

Most telephoto lenses do have an image stabilisation setting that you can use for panning photos. This is often a switch on your lens with options 1 and 2, and sometimes even an option 3.

When panning, choose option 2. On Canon lenses, image stabilisation is called 'Image Stabilization' (IS), and on Nikon it is called 'Vibration Reduction' (VR).

9. Follow your subject well in advance

Make sure you already have your subject in your viewfinder well before you want to take the photos. If you only start following the subject when you actually want to take the photo, you will be too late and get a blurry image.

Most cameras simply cannot focus quickly enough on a fast-moving subject.

10. Speed of the panning movement

Try to move at the same speed as the subject. If you do this, your subject is actually stationary in relation to your camera. This keeps your subject sharp in the photo while your background is blurred.

When you press the shutter button, it is important to keep moving along with the subject for a little while after you stop taking photos. This will make the background blur look smooth from start to finish.

So you need to complete your movement. In a good panning photo, you move your camera through an angle of at least 90 degrees.

11. Breathe out calmly

Everyone who has done military service knows that you have the best chance of hitting your target when you shoot as you calmly breathe out. The same applies to photography.

If you press the shutter button while breathing in, your upper body will move more than it does while calmly breathing out. The result is a blurry photo.

You will notice this particularly in panning photos with a slower shutter speed, 1/60 or 1/30 second.

12. Turn from your hips

People with flexible hips, such as dancers, have an advantage when taking panning photos. This is for the simple reason that you need to make one smooth movement from your hips while moving along with your subject.

The more often you do this, the easier it will become. If you do not move at the same speed as your subject, your subject will not be captured sharply.

13. Watch out for overexposed photos

If you photograph in bright light with slower shutter speeds, you may end up with an overexposed photo. Make sure you choose a low ISO value and a small aperture, high F-number, to compensate for the slower shutter speed.

Take your time trying out the steps and you will see that you increasingly enjoy panning. If there is so much light that you still get overexposed photos at ISO 100 and f/22, you can always consider placing a neutral density filter on your lens to block some light.

14. Use your flash for sharper photos

It does not matter how good you become at following your subject while panning, you will always want to use a slow shutter speed to increase the panning effect. This will increase the chance of motion blur again.

A fun trick is to use flash while panning. You then get a creative mix of movement and sharpness in your photo.

Do realise that if you use Burst mode, multiple images per second, your flash will only fire once. The recycling time of your flash is never fast enough to expose all the photos in a sequence of, for example, 5 photos correctly.

One tip is to set your flash to manual and reduce the power to, for example, one eighth. This means your flash will recharge sooner for the next flash.

The very short flash pulse will partially freeze the movement. Once the flash has fired, the remaining part of the shutter speed will be used to show the movement of your subject.

15. Practise, practise, practise

Finally, remember that the panning technique requires a lot of practice. The only way to master it is through trial and error. So do not give up if you do not get the desired results overnight.

The great thing about using a digital camera is that every photo is 'free', so take the time to experiment by taking lots of photos until you get the desired result.

The horse's rapid leg movement is clearly visible thanks to a shutter speed of 1/30 second.
Now that you have all the information you need, nothing is stopping you from panning images until you get great action photos.

If you have any questions about panning, leave a comment here and I will be happy to help you further.

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