How to depict motion

[DonR]

I'm sure there are many different ways to depect motion in a photo. Would you please tell me how you do it? Settings, Exposure time and anything else that I will need to practice. I'm kind of new to photography but have learned that the best way for me is to listen to others, that have already mastered the technique.

I know about panning but sometimes you have a shot that panning just does not work on.

Thanks,

DonR

[whitemug]

you've heard right in that "panning" is one good way of depicting motion in your shots. it does take a good deal of practice to perfect, though. you want to convey the movement of your subject in relation to a static, or slower-moving, background.

and remember that panning is generally done on a sideways-moving object. the more blurred the background is, the greater the speed that the viewer thinks the subject is travelling. of course, the subject needs to be "decently" focused here.

getting into sports photography is a good opportunity to practice motion shots. i personally enjoy basketball, tennis, football, and track-and-field events, but in terms of equipment, you need a reasonably "fast" lens, or one with the smallest possible aperture. one that can go to 2.8 with a long focal length (since you can't approach the action up-close) is the usual choice.

[Saralonde]

There is some info farther down on this page that may be helpful.
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/?s=motion

[jb683]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/54532219@N00/356274172/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/131/356274172_580ced82bf.jpg" width="500" height="317" alt="panning" /></a>

I was sitting at the driveway this afternoon and took several panning shots. This is the only one worth showing. I did use a monopod with my E-500 with a 40-150mm lens. Shutter at 1/5 ISO 100 and F22 aperture setting. Comments welcome, are there any tricks to taking panning shots?