November contest theme: Motion

I hope you've been perusing your photos for good Motion shots, or going out and experimenting with this style. If you're ready, you can upload your best from now until midnight Nov. 30. (Remember, one photo per photographer.)

Remember: Motion doesn't mean simply action. There are several ways to capture motion, whether it's the streaked lights of traffic or your child streaking down the sideline of a soccer field (for you '70s hippies, no, not THAT kind of streaking).

Here are more details:

To keep the subject clear and blur the background, you have to pan your camera at the same rate or speed as the moving subject. It's tough to master, and takes a lot of practice and skill. But it's a technique used often by sports and nature photographers.

To blur the subject while keeping all else in focus (like traffic lights), you could use a slower shutter speed so that your subject moves partly or fully through the frame, or use a tripod so you can keep your shutter open long enough to capture enough motion. You might want to use a remote shutter release or the camera's self-timer; for long-exposure shots, if you press the shutter release yourself, you could move the camera.

Of course, you can keep both the moving subject and the background in focus by using a very fast shutter speed.

Here are some good how-tos I found online:
Digital Photography School
PictureCorrect

Once you feel ready, just go to the Uploader for the November contest. Good luck to all.

P.S. I received the code for the Voting Machine for the October contest from the developer today, and we just finished culling the entries to the top 50 for voting. Look for the voting to start tomorrow.