One can use slow shutter speeds to show the motion of a subject. Or one can pan the camera along the moving subject to yield a “streaky” background and give the impression of speed. If one pans the camera with a still subject, one can obtain a variety of interesting results. Some are pure colour abstracts. In this blog post I show you what happens when one pans the camera down in a forest. One preserves the overall tree shapes but the details get washed out. The images one obtains remind me of impressionist paintings.
The leaves at the bottom effectively hide the ground when panning the camera.
The images were taken on a APS-C crop sensor camera with a 35mm lens (50mm full frame equivalent). I typically use 1/6s, 1/5s or 1/4s of a second shutter speed. I find slower shutter speeds make it more difficult to keep the panning straight. Faster shutter speeds don’t give me “streaks” that are long enough. Note that it may be different for you. The results you get depend on the focal length you use, how steady you are and how fast you pan. I usually take a few photos in rapid succession to build a certain muscle memory. I then review the results and adjust accordingly. It will take you some practice before you get results similar to mine (provided that is what you want to achieve!).
I do find it harder to pan the camera vertically when holding it in portrait mode. You may or may not have the same experience. But with perseverance, I managed to get a number of vertical impressionist images I like.
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