From the course: The Elements of Effective Photographs

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The role of motion in photography

The role of motion in photography

- Our cameras are designed to give you the choice of blurring or stopping the action, but it's really up to us to decide which one would be more effective to the message and the subject of our photograph. If the point of your photograph has to show a bear lunging for a salmon, then you may want to stop the action. If you want to create a sense of speed, then panning is the way to go. But if you want a more poetic message, then let the subject move through the frame or jiggle the camera a little bit. If you want to create interest and use perceived motion as a tool of composition, you can try zooming. The point is that your use of motion is yet one more of the decisions to make when creating a photograph.

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