Previously, we talked about how the shutter speed effects an image’s exposureand how the shutter speed can lead to motion blur. But is motion blur always a bad thing?

Not necessarily. There are certain artistic reasons that you might want to intentionally blur your photo. Here are some examples.

Panning an Image

Panning is a technique used to emphasize the fact that your subject is moving. The idea is to make the subject come out clear while blurring the background behind the subject.

This is, of course, easier said than done.

In this image, there is a very slight panning effect taking place. The two players are fairly crisp in the foreground, although there is a little motion blur. In the background, though, there is a slight but clear amount of motion blur.

This was accomplished by moving the camera to the left, following the quarterback, while capturing the image. The shutter speed was 1/200th of a second, which is quick enough to eliminate most motion blur but not all of it.

A more effective way of achieving this effect is to use a flash in combination with a slow shutter speed. The flash helps freeze the subject in place (a topic for another day), while the background will come out much blurrier. Of course, that assumes you can hit your subject with a flash, which you wouldn’t do on the sideline of a football game.

Highlighting Fluid Motion

A second reason you might want to use a slow shutter speed and include some motion blur is to emphasize the fluid way that certain things move.  Example? Fire.

Fire is a weird thing. It’s constantly and fluidly moving. If you sit and watch a fire burn, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the flame is.

To capture that fluid essence of fire, you want to use a slow shutter speed. This allows the flames to whip around a bit while the shutter is opening, slightly blurring the image and conveying that sense of motion.

Of course, you need to find a happy medium. If your shutter speed is too slow, you’ll end up with an orange mess. The “right” level of blur is a matter of artistic taste, and you’ll need to decide what you think looks right.

Shutter Speed Recap

To recap, there are three things to know about shutter speed.

It affects how much light comes into the camera. A quicker shutter speed means a brighter image, while a slower shutter speed means a darker image.

It can either freeze the action or lead to blurry images. Use quick shutter speeds to freeze moving subjects (i.e. sports), and avoid blurry images caused by motion blur and camera shake.

Sometimes motion blur is a good thing! This is a matter of taste, but sometimes motion blur is a good thing. It’s a tool that you should keep in mind when thinking of how to compose and capture certain images.