One thing I really love in photography is the variety of ways that you can use creative shutter speed to show movement. There are many different ways to express movement in a photo but the one I'm going to briefly mention today is that of 'panning'.
Panning generally works best with subjects that are moving at a constant speed from side to side, like a car or a bike for example. The basic idea is that you pan (move) your camera to follow the moving subject, and take the photo whilst the camera is moving. The result should be that the moving subject is sharp while the background is blurred - this draws the viewers attention to the moving subject and creates a fast sense of movement.
Get yourself in a place where you have a nice clear view of the moving subject, but ideally something in the background. You don't want the background too busy but something blurred in the background does add to the feeling of movement.
To start, try a shutter speed of 1/30 or 1/60 of a second - if you're learning (or lazy) try using your camera's 'Shutter Priory' or 'Time Value' mode as this will adjust the other settings for you and allow you more time to practice this technique.
Track the subject smoothly as it approaches you, keep panning (moving) the camera and press the shutter smoothly down as the subject passes you but keep panning before, during and just after you take the photo.
Try a few and see what you get. For very fast moving subjects you might need go slightly faster with the shutter speed, for slower moving, you might need to go slower. Panning does take a little practice to get right - but I do think a little luck is sometimes involved too!
Interested in learning this a bit more with a trainer on hand to help? Panning and being creative with shutter speeds is covered on my photography one day workshop 'DSLR for improvers' - click on the tabs at the top of the page for more information on this course or Get in touch with me.
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