I've looked through some of the pictures here and noticed that like a lot of the other birding and wildlife groups I've participated in, there are a few pictures of animals in motion.
One thing I rarely see are pan shots or images which literally depict the subjects in motion. In other words, I rarely see pictures where the photographer intentionally uses slow shutter speeds to capture the motion of the subject.
This is often counter-intuitive to what people are taught in photography classes where you're typically told to use fast shutter speeds when photographing subjects in motion. When this is done, the subject's motion is "frozen" and the motion is implied because we know from experience that it's moving, even though the movement isn't actually shown in the image.
Anyway, I thought I would share a few of my pan shots with the group and hopefully inspire a few of you to go out and try and make some yourselves. None of the images I'm sharing have been enhanced to depict more blur -- the motion was captured by using slow shutter speeds.
If you're new to photography or unfamiliar with this technique, the idea is to shoot a moving subject with a slow shutter speed and "pan" or move the camera to follow with action. This allows the motion of the subject to be blurred against the background while the subject itself is rendered sharp. With some subjects such as birds, the movement of the wings can also be captured. Panning is typically done when the subject is moving parallel to your position but capturing other types of blurred motion are also possible using slow shutter speeds.
This technique has a very low yield and you never know what you'll end up with, so it's not something I suggest trying if you only have a few chances to photograph a subject. However, once you know you have a few nice pictures, it can be great a way of rounding out a session.
I hope you all stay safe and are able to get out an make more pictures soon.
Ken
