Panning

"Panning is a technique that can produce amazing results (if you perfect it…. or get lucky) but is also one that can take a lot of practice to get right. The basic idea behind panning as a technique is that you pan your camera along in time with the moving subject and end up getting a relatively sharp subject but a blurred background. This gives the shot a feeling of movement and speed. It’s particularly useful in capturing any fast moving subject whether it be a racing car, running pet, cyclist etc."

Okay, so I decided to try panning. Danan, was my object, but I didn't get anything worth posting. In other words, I did not perfect it or get lucky.

I also tried motion blur, while photographing flowers. I had a little better results in that department. These are the directions I used for motion blur: "You might want to do this simply by selecting a shutter speed that is slightly slower than normal and moving your camera during the exposure. In fact with even just slightly slower shutter speed than normal just trying to handhold your camera while taking your shot will probably give it the effect that you’re looking for. "

Instead of the flowers blurring though, my background looks like it is in motion. I'm sure it's some subcategory of motion blur. Please don't ask me how I did it, I probably couldn't replicate it if I tried. The flower in case you're wondering, is from a butterfly bush in my backyard.