A little movement when panning

Monday 27 July 2026, 17:17 by Nando Harmsen | 997 views | 0 comments

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

Photographing flying birds can be a challenge. Especially when they are small, because they are very fast. You also need to get close to make them appear large in the frame. That makes the movement seem even faster. Or you can deliberately add some movement to the photo.

It is great when you manage to capture a flying bird beautifully large and sharp in the frame. You can see every detail of its feathers. This is relatively easy with larger birds. The smaller the bird, the harder it becomes.

The grey heron. Large and slow. This one was photographed with 400mm and a shutter speed of 1/2000 second to freeze every movement.
To get it sharp in the frame, use a fast shutter speed. Sometimes as fast as 1/4000 sec, especially with those small fast ones. You can also try something different. By deliberately showing movement.

A flying bird that is pin-sharp in the frame is not really flying. The movement has been frozen. The animal hangs motionless in the photo. Our imagination fills in the movement. By moving away from that fast shutter speed, you can capture the movement.

Geese in flight. They can be fast. This one was photographed with 500mm and a shutter speed of 1/8 second.
Instead of 1/4000 second, choose a longer shutter speed. Perhaps 1/100 second, 1/30 second or even 1/2 second. There is no fixed value that always works. It all depends on the speed, distance and size of the animal.

Try out longer shutter speeds and see what the result is. If you see too much movement, the shutter speed needs to be faster. If the movement is too minimal, make the shutter speed longer. Whatever you choose, move the camera along with the bird.

Geese with a 300mm focal length and a shutter speed of 0.3 seconds.
Not everyone likes this way of photographing birds. That is fine. You will only know whether it is for you after trying it a few times. Get started with it once you have already taken enough sharp photos.

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