What is Panning?

When shooting a moving subject such as a car or an animal running, shooting the subject with a slow shutter while tracking it with the camera will result in a blurred background. The moving subject will look sharp and still against a blurred background. This gives the impression of movement and this technique is called panning.

Panning is the action of moving the camera from one side to the other, while capturing an image or a video. With video, you can use the technique to capture a sweeping landscape or other expansive scene. For stills, the technique is commonly used in conjunction with a slower shutter speed, to create the ‘pan blur’ effect.

This is where you select a shutter speed slow enough to create background movement blur, but fast enough to capture a sharp image of your subject.