The difficulties of panning

Panning effectively is difficult

In order to shoot a moving subject as if it were stationary, while the background is to appear in motion, you must pan your camera, which means to move it so as to follow the subject. However, an AE (automatic exposure) camera with an auto-focusing wide-angle lens and a time lag after the shutter release, is not well suited for panning subjects such as participants in sporting events.

Nevertheless, under the right conditions, the digital camera can effectively covey a sense of motion. Experiment with photographs that exhibit implied motion, for instance, of cars running on a road, or a dolphin following a ship. It can be done if the idea and the subject are carefully considered.

The camera was panned to match the fish in motion

The camera was panned to match the streetcar in motion

Compare:Understanding Digital Cameras/The time lag inherent in digital cameras