Mirages by Marilyn

Panning: have fun with your kids while getting great shots

After reading the blogs of mothers who love photography, I've noticed one recurring theme: we struggle to have time for photography.  In fact, it took me 10 minutes to write the previous sentence.  Mother's know what I am talking about.  One arm is holding a baby while the other is wiping the nose of a two-year-old, all while talking on speaker phone and thinking about what we're having for dinner tonight.  So this photography skill is actually a fun one you can do while playing with your kids.  Panning, AKA

"motion blur", is a technique seen mostly in car commercial photography or sports, but when applied to a kid some fun things can happen.  The background of streaky blurs depict movement (what toddlers and kids do so well) while the subject is in focus.  Here's how you do it:

1: Get down at the level of your child.  This method works great for any technique because you get a better angle at eye level, but you get better blur this way

2: One thing you will notice is that I will always shoot in manual mode.  It will give you more control and this method is all about control.  Set your shutter speed as slow as you can go handheld.  I generally like 1/60 of a second to reduce camera shake for anything handheld. However, the above pic was able to be squeezed down to 1/50.

3: The most  important step is to pre-set your focal length.  Do it anyway you want, but this is what's fastest for me.  I generally like to autofocus on something at the spot I will snap the pic in and then turn off autofocus so it doesn't get readjusted during the subject's movement.  Pre-focus on a toy, a book, whatever, as long as it gets your camera to focus on the space that your little one will run in when you click the shutter.  When I know the focus is set in the right length, I tell my little guy to run "on you're mark, get set, GO!" He has a blast, and so do I! 

4: Have your kid run from one end of the room to the other while you are in the middle of his "bee line" and when he comes right in front of you snap the picture while moving the camera parallel to the direction he's heading.  This part is important too, because it makes motion blur possible.

So that's it.  One simple way to make your photos unique and have fun with your kids.  I hope this helps you moms and dads out there and watch for future postings on how-to's of photography with kids.

P.S. and easy way to do this with a baby or with a kid that won't cooperate, is to hold the baby in a sling while turning and clicking the pick. The background is moving while the baby is going at the same speed you are.

To see a blog of recent professional work, go to http://www.miragesbymarilyn.com/blog