Exploring the Art of the Panning Shot in Street Photography - Part 3

Welcome to the last part of the 3 part series on taking panning street photographs!

In Part 1, we looked at the camera settings, while in Part 2 we understood the process. Now, let's take a look at editing (selecting) the photos you took!

The Edit

Once you are done shooting for the day, go home and fire up the editor of your choice and import the results of your work. As you go through your photos, you will probably notice a few things:

1. Not all photos have the subject in focus at the point where your Frame is

2. Some photos are more interesting and in focus at points before or after the frame

3. In some photos, the subject is partly in focus

All these points are okay, and actually add to the charm of panning street photography! With so many variables you cannot control on the streets, these variations are expected. Listen too your gut - don't worry too much about getting the perfect shot.

Here are a few sample panning shots from my work. Photos treated a bit for clarity:

Light Bus, Hong Kong

Cyclist on Phone, India

e-Rickshaw, India

Taxi at night, Hong Kong

All Images © Harshad Deshmukh, 2024

Treating your photos

I do not usually treat my panning photos too much. The most I do is adjust the exposure and contrast and play around with the shadows and highlights a bit.

Getting Creative

You can make your panning shots as creative as you want - bring in your own element!

Here are a few examples where I have tried to make it interesting.

Focus on the driver

The idea here is to keep the focus on a subject inside a larger moving subject - in this case the driver of a moving bus. It is hard to pull off, I needed numerous tries standing by a bus stop (I probably saw all the buses that come to that stop during the evening). But as you can see, it is rewarding - it looks like the driver is traveling through a portal or something.

Here's another, less successful example of this:

Shot at the exit

Here's an example of a shot where the subject had almost left the field of view, and was way past my frame. However, the rider's turned head and the sunburst in the rear view mirror make the photo interesting. Although this was not a planned shot like the one above, it still demonstrates that interesting things can happen where you hadn't planned them - so much in line with how street photography works!

There are many other ways to get creative with panning shots. Experiment!

For inspiration, I would highly recommend the work of Alice Mangoyan (@alice.mango_). She has an Instagram account dedicated to panning photography, called @panexperiment. The range of subjects she has worked with is mind-blowing - from cars and bikes, kids to fireworks and even the moon! Follow her account to see surprising and beautiful photos created using the panning technique.

Hope you enjoyed reading this series. Any ideas, suggestions or comments? Drop them below!