What is Panning?

Panning is NOT panoramic photography, and the two are sometimes confused, especially by the novice camera user. Both techniques involve the ‘panning’ of the camera, but in very different procedures as far as the photo taking process goes. As far as still photography goes, panning is the technique of moving your camera angle on a horizontal plane, from a pivotal point. When we speak of the panning photo technique, we make use of this movement from a pivotal point, keeping a moving subject within the confines of the viewfinder, and firing the shutter one or multiple times as the camera moves in an arc like fashion on a horizontal (sometimes vertical) plane. This is an advanced technique and to start working on it you need to have a clear idea of how aperture and shutter speed work, and also the relation between them. With a little bit of practice and maybe a little bit of luck on your side, you could start making stunning panning images in a few shoots’ time.

So when would you need to use a panning shot? Well, many of those sports images you see in the media, with the subject in focus and the background blurred to a good extent, are a result of the panning technique. Mind you, do not mix up an ‘out of focus’ background with one that is a direct result of the panning technique, and you get to see an abundance of both in many sports images. Sports photography, like wild life, usually requires the use of long focal length lenses. Long lenses have an already shallow depth of field, which only decreases further with an increase in focal length (on a zoom lens, the more you ‘zoom in’, the shallower is the depth of field). An out of focus background resulting from the use of a long focal length lens, results in the out of focus areas appearing as shades of mangled color and incomprehensible shapes behind the subject. On the other hand, an out of focus background resulting from a panning technique gives us horizontal streaks in the background, conveying the feeling of movement. A perfect example would be a racing image of a sports motorcycle, and this is commonly seen in magazines and on the internet. Sports photography very often makes use of both – the out of focus background AND the panning technique, resulting in the subject remaining sharp while the background becomes completely blurred. The ‘front’ end of the subject tells us about the direction it is traveling towards, and the background streaks are of course a result of the camera movement; giving us winning sports images.

At the same time, do note that while it is convenient, maybe even easier to make panning photographs using long focal length telephoto lenses, it is definitely possible to use a wider lens for the effect. In fact in most everyday scenarios, you usually do not use a telephoto in any case. You can make panning images with almost any camera, compact, semi professional or SLR, with the SLR being the professional choice of course. You just need to use a camera that allows a bit of manual override. Sometimes it is possible to achieve the effect with a fully automated camera as well, but the results can be unpredictable in such case.