Although sharpness is a laudable goal, it isn't the only one. The creative use of blur can lead to some interesting photos—especially when conveying the feeling of motion. The shutter speed can be selected to blur some or all of an image. Many times you don't do anything but benefit from a happy accident. Anything that moves day or night is a candidate for creative blurring. Your only limitation is getting a slow enough shutter speed in bright light.

Panning the camera in the same direction as a moving subject produces an image where the subject is relatively sharp against a blurred background. Your movement should be smooth and controlled to get a good pan, so begin to pan the camera before the subject enters your viewfinder. Smoothly depress the shutter button as you follow the motion of the subject, keeping it in the same position in the viewfinder. Follow through as you would in golf or tennis. Panning takes practice so take as many images as you can. Results are quite unpredictable because your body motion adds yet another variable to the final picture.