Using shutter speed to your advantage when taking pictures can create some very action-full pictures. Movement makes the viewer feel like they’re witnessing a story, which is great for holding their attention.
Panning: Moving or rotating your camera to follow a moving subject so the background is blurred by motion and the subject is clear. To actually use panning, a photographer can take continuous shots as their subject runs/bikes/ swims or otherwise moves quickly. (as shown below)
These pictures follow the moving subject. This blurs the background and puts the focus on the runner.
To improve the bottom picture, i could have included the runner’s feet so the viewer could be more engaged with the action.
Although this picture is an example of panning, it’s not a very good one. There’s not enough motion blur, and you can’t see the subject’s face. To improve this picture, i should have made the shutter speed faster.
Fast shutter speed: Fast shutter speed is used to freeze motion. (~1/250 s or faster)
Joelle looks like she is frozen in the sky, despite moving quickly, she is frozen and action. This is because i used a faster shutter speed.
In this second picture, Joelle looks like she’s suspending the ball with one finger, but in real life, she’s spinning the ball quickly. The fast shutter speed froze it in action.
Slow shutter speed: (1/30 to 1/80 s will blur motion, to blur water or light, you might need to make it even slower).
I like the action in this one. The subject is interesting even though you can’t see his face because you can see what he’s doing step by step (due to the slow shutter speed).
This image shows the difference between a slow/ fast shutter speed. It’s essentially the same picture as Joelle spinning a ball under fast shutter speed, except it shows what happens when you use a slow shutter speed. I like it because it shows action and you can actually follow what’s happening. I also like that you can see her face.