You’ve seen them. Those magical photos where a speeding car, a cyclist, or a running dog is perfectly sharp, while the world behind them has melted into a glorious, streaky blur of motion. It’s a trick that screams ‘I know how to use my camera’, and it’s one of the most satisfying techniques to pull off.

But how is it done? Is it a dark art? A pact with the photography demons? Not quite. It's a technique called panning, and it's a delicate dance between the right camera settings and a bit of creative thinking.

Today, we're not just looking at why this photo of a cyclist works. We're getting our hands dirty and looking at how it was made. I’m giving you the full recipe: the technical settings and the creative ingredients.

*Our subject today. A sharp cyclist, a blurry world, and a whole lot of intention.*

Part 1: The Technical Recipe – Camera Settings for Panning

Before we talk about art, we have to talk about science. Panning is all about one thing: choosing a slow enough shutter speed to blur the background, while you physically move your camera to keep the subject sharp. It takes practice. Expect a lot of blurry failures. A lot. It builds character. And fills your memory card.

Panning is a photographic technique where the camera is moved horizontally, parallel to a moving subject. When combined with a slow shutter speed, this results in a sharp subject against a blurred, streaky background, effectively conveying a sense of speed and motion.

Here are the exact settings used for this shot, and more importantly, why they were chosen.

*The secret sauce. Let's break down what each of these numbers means.*

Shutter Speed (1/15s): This is the heart and soul of the pan. It's slow enough to allow the background to blur as you move the camera, but just fast enough to have a fighting chance of keeping the cyclist sharp. For cars you might go a bit faster (say, 1/30s), for runners a bit slower. This is the number you experiment with.

Aperture (f/22): Why so high? On a bright day, a slow shutter speed lets in a ton of light. To stop the photo from being a completely white, overexposed mess, you have to close the aperture right down (a high f-number). This acts like sunglasses for your camera sensor, especially when you don’t have an ND filter handy.
ISO (100): When you have plenty of light, you always want your ISO as low as it can go. This gives you the cleanest, highest-quality image with the least amount of digital noise.
Focal Length (70mm): A slightly longer lens helps compress the scene and makes it easier to isolate your subject from the background. You can pan with a wider lens, but a little bit of zoom helps.
The Rest: A Canon R6 and an EF 24-70mm lens. Proving you just need a solid camera and a versatile lens to get the job done.

Part 2: The Creative Ingredients – Composition in Motion

Nailing the settings is half the battle. Now you need to make it look good. Even a technically perfect pan can be boring if the composition is an afterthought. Here’s what makes this frame work beyond the blur.

Framing: A Window of Clarity

The blurred cars in the foreground aren't a mistake; they're the frame. They create a natural window that our eyes are drawn through, landing directly on the sharp cyclist.

*The motion blur isn't just in the background; it's used to create a frame in the foreground.*

Guideline of Thirds: Dynamic Placement

As always, we avoid the boring dead-centre. The cyclist is placed on the left vertical third, moving into the open space of the frame. This creates a sense of forward momentum and gives the image a more balanced, professional feel.

*Placed on the thirds, the cyclist has room to move, making the image feel active, not static.*

Leading Lines: The Flow of Traffic

The entire image is a study in left-to-right movement. The blurred cars, the cyclist, and even the bicycle graphic on the wall above are all moving in the same direction. These implied lines create a powerful, unified sense of flow.

*Everything flows in the same direction, creating a simple, powerful, and easy-to-read image.*

Rhythm and Repetition: Echoes of Motion

Good composition often involves repeated shapes. Look for the circles: the painted bike wheel, the real bike wheels, the blurred wheels of the cars. This repetition creates a visual rhythm that's pleasing to the eye and reinforces the theme.

*The repetition of the wheel motif ties the entire image together.*

Colour Contrast: A Pop of Focus

In a scene dominated by dark tones and the red of the shopfront, the cyclist's bright clothing and the pop of green on the blurred car in the foreground add a layer of visual interest. The colours are distinct and help separate the layers of the image.

*A simple, controlled colour palette with a few key contrasts helps guide the eye.*

The Panning Cheat Sheet

Feeling ready to try it yourself? Here’s everything you need to remember in one place. Like the notes on the back of a barista's hand.

Key Settings:
- Shutter Priority Mode (Tv/S): Start here. Set your shutter speed and let the camera figure out the aperture.
- Shutter Speed: 1/15s to 1/60s is your playground.
- Low ISO: Keep it at 100 or 200 for the cleanest shot.
- Continuous Autofocus (AI Servo/AF-C): To track your moving subject.
- Burst Mode: Fire off a bunch of shots; one of them is bound to be sharp.
Compositional Elements:
- Frame your subject: Use other moving elements to create a window.
- Use the Guideline of Thirds: Place your subject off-centre.
- Look for Rhythm: Repetitive shapes make for stronger images.
- Move with the subject: The key is a smooth pan from the hips.

Now, what's the slowest shutter speed you've successfully panned with? Share your heroic failures and glorious successes.

Right, you've made it to the end. You're probably wondering who the caffeine-fuelled bloke dissecting photos is. I'm Christo Brits.

When I’m not writing these breakdowns over a dangerously strong flat white, I run my business, CB Photography. I'm a brand photographer based in Australia, and I use every single one of these principles—story, contrast, balance—to help businesses create images that don't look like they were pulled from a stock photo catalogue from 2004.

P.S. Want the shortcut to my editing style? If you dig the moody, clean look of the photos on this blog, I've packaged my entire editing process into Lightroom Presets. They're the quickest way to get a professional look without the years of tweaking sliders until your eyes bleed. You can grab my presets right here.

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