The Art of Focussing

Wednesday, March 23, 2010

When photographing a moving subject, the ‘panning’ technique is achieved by keeping the subject in the same position of the frame for the duration of the exposure. The length of the exposure must be long enough to allow the background to blur due to the movement of the camera as you follow the subject in the viewfinder.

One cool summer morning, after running at moderate speed for about two miles, I sat down at a stone bench and experienced something very similar to the aforementioned ‘panning’ phenomenon taking place right inside my head. I found my eyes closing softly on their own accord, my breathing becoming deep and regular, and my attention following a beautiful creative idea from among a cluster of hazy thoughts running alongside it. I pressed the shutter release button inside my head and lo! There it was… a clearly segregated idea… full of potentiality… waiting to blossom into a meaningful write-up.