panning
Following a moving subject with the camera at a slow shutter speed, so the subject stays sharp while the background blurs.
Also written
pan shotpanning shot
Panning is the essential technique for propeller and rotor aircraft: a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the airframe also freezes the blades, which makes a flying aircraft look like a model hanging in the air. Dropping to something like 1/125 or slower and tracking the aircraft smoothly gives a full or nearly full propeller disc and a streaked background that says the subject is moving. It takes practice and a high failure rate is normal.
Nearby in Photography
- neutral density filter — A filter that cuts light evenly across the spectrum, without altering colour.
- noise — Random variation in an image that is not part of the scene, seen as grain or coloured speckle.
- pixel peeping — Judging an image by inspecting it at 100% magnification or beyond.
- polariser — A filter that blocks light of one polarisation, cutting reflections and deepening a blue sky.