How'd he get this effect on a panned shot?

[dakkon76]

Alright, so I'm trying to get better with my panning AND with my post-processing. This border collie shot completely blew me away! At first, it looks like it's just a typical panned shot with maybe some painterly effect in post... but looking closer, you can see blades of grass. This leads me to believe that it was actually shot with a faster shutter speed and then a great deal of blur was added in post. My question, though, is HOW did he get the background blurred and still have some of these blades of grass showing up. It gives the photo a very cool effect. And yes... I asked him but did not get a response

Any expert opinions would be greatly appreciated:
Duke at FULL speed! | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[jwbryson1]

Doesn't load.

 

[HughGuessWho]

Doesn't load.

"Loads" fine for me

 

[HughGuessWho]

I am certainly not an expert on the subject, however, I believe there is more Photoshop effects happening in that picture than there are the effects of panning. It looks like faux blur to me.

 

[Buckster]

Panning with the dog's nose seems the most direct and likely method. Of course, he could have shopped in the dog's face.

Oops - I didn't actually answer your question. Sorry. Ignore me.

 

[KmH]

I agree the photo illustrates a lot more post processing, than panning.

 

[o hey tyler]

As others have said, and I too agree... Mostly done in post processing. The angle of the dog doesn't look like it would work well for sharpness/panning IMO.

 

[Trever1t]

texture added in post.

 

[jamesbjenkins]

This isn't really panning, just a crapload of post processing. The blur job isn't even really done well, as you can clearly see where it starts and stops if you go 1:1. Also, your question about the blades of grass is answered easily. It wouldn't be hard at all to clone in grass from a layer underneath the blur.


It's a very cool effect though.

 

[dakkon76]

I agree, not so much panning and more in post- I thought I had reflected that in my original post but maybe not clearly enough. Thanks for the detailed analysis, James- you helped answer my question

I don't usually like this much processing on a photo, but this particular rendition caught my eye.

 

[jamesbjenkins]

I studied it for about a minute, and it looks pretty certain that he either 'shopped the heck out of the dog's eye or just fabricated it himself. Also, it looks like a lot of glow and luminance and sharpness adjustments on the fur. Real fur isn't anywhere near that shiny or perfect.

I don't know why this user put so much effort into this image. Other than the processing, there's not much to write home about.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I really doubt that was panned. More like a stop motion + photoshop.

 

[Derrel]

He was chasing after this cat!!!!!!

This is what real panning looks like, without the clarity and saturation sliders slid all the way to Eye-Bleed. In fact, when this photo was made, Clarity was not even around...that kinda stuff came later.