Tip of the Day: Panning your Camera

Panning is a rather difficult effect to perfect. There is no easy way to do it, but there are a few things you can do to make it easier. First, practice with a digital camera. Try to practice on cars. Get far enough away from the road to be able to track a vehicle, and set your camera to a fairly wide aperture. You want the background to display enough motion blur to make the image more realistic. At the same time the vehicle, or your main subject needs to remain relatively sharp. Experiment, and you will find a sweet spot, in terms of distance to your subject, and shutter speed. Try to use a tripod, and unlock the X axis to allow panning, you may find that it is easier to pan smoothly with a tripod, rather than hand-held.