Many people have probably experienced shooting blurry photos. Maybe you wouldn't like to see such blurriness in a photo. In fact, motion photography is not only the process of capturing still pictures of objects in motion. To capture this image of two athletes in competition required a steady hand (preferably a mono or tripod), and a high-speed shutter setting with at least 400-speed film. Motion photography is also taking pictures of the subject while in motion and allowing the camera to capture the motion. To take a picture like this, you need to again steady the camera and use a slower shutter speed setting so that the film receives a longer exposure to the light.



Shutter speed is the determinative factor whether a photo is frozen or blurry. The faster the shutter the more frozen the photo is. The slower the shutter the more motion is captured in the photo in the form of blurriness. Open the shutter for too long and the photo will be completely blurred.

There are two ways to capture motion: to blur the moving object while keeping the background in focus or to blur the background while keeping the object in focus.

First, capture a picture with subject in motion with still background. To capture a photo with this quality requires you to place the camera on a tripod of steadying device and slowing the shutter speed. Let's take Nikon D300 for example. If you want to convey the feeling of someone is running, first set the Nikon D300 shutter speed to the right value that will blur the runner just a bit. Hold the camera steady preferably on a tripod to make sure that the camera does not move and the background is still and sharp. Pictures of this style and quality take dedication and practice.

The opposite of this type of motion photography would be to capture a picture with subject in motion with blurred background. This technique is called panning. If you want to shoot the running car, set the Nikon D300 shutter speed to the right one to achieve the amount of blurriness wanted and to pan the camera at the exact same speed as the car is running at. The result will be that the car will stay on the same area of the camera sensor while the background will be moving and blurry.

Motion photography is not as difficult as you may think. It does take time, dedication, and a steady hand to capture the perfect image. But to capture excellent motion photography, the best way is experimenting. If you practice more, you will shoot like a pro.