I used this Pixel camera feature once and now I want to use it on everything

I snap thousands of photos with smartphone cameras each year, hitting the (virtual) shutter on almost every new device. Usually, I shoot in the default camera mode without changing a thing. I always test the new camera tricks that ship with the latest phones, but I don't use them much in my everyday life. The aspects of a smartphone camera that matter to me are its ability to quickly capture a moment and honestly recreate it with accurate colors.

There are a handful of novelty smartphone features that do just that, and one of them is a Google Pixel exclusive. It's called Action Pan, and it's a Pixel photo mode designed to highlight subjects in motion by adding tasteful background blur to the shot. With it, I can take more exciting photos than I'd ever get from my professional mirorless camera or rugged action cameras.

Action Pan adds blur to my motion shots

It captures two photos: an Action Pan shot and a regular one

Swipe through the photo and video modes on your Pixel phone, and you'll stumble upon plenty of options. I usually stick with the standard Photo mode during the day and the Night Sight mode when the sun sets, but there are many more. Add Me lets you take group photos with everyone in the frame, while Portrait adds satisfying bokeh to the background of a shot. Meanwhile, there's Auto Best Take working in the background to ensure everyone's smiling with their eyes open.

Keep swiping to find two photo modes designed specifically for motion shots: Action Pan and Long Exposure. These two shooting modes attempt to solve a common problem plaguing smartphone cameras, otherwise known as shutter lag. There's a delay between when you tap the shutter on your smartphone and when the camera actually captures and processes the image. In shooting environments that feature fast-moving subjects, shutter lag can cause unwanted motion blur or visual artifacts.

Neither Action Pan nor Long Exposure speeds up the shutter — it's quite the opposite. Instead, these Pixel shooting modes are made to add "creative blur" to a moving subject or its background, according to Google. With Action Pan, you're able to follow a subject and press the shutter after it has been in the viewfinder for more than a second. This will produce two photos simultaneously. The first is the Action Pan photo with artsy motion blur in the background, and the second is the original photo.

So, there's no downside to using Action Pan for motion shots on your Pixel. If you don't like the results, you can always use, edit, or share the original photo.

Pixels are great for capturing moving subjects

Make motion blur work for you — don't let it ruin your shot

Although I typically use the basic Pixel camera mode for my everyday photo captures, making the switch to Action Pan didn't disappoint. As the name suggests, this feature works best when there's motion or "action" in the scene. If there is little to no motion, the Action Pan effect may be minimal. There's no harm in using Action Pan anyway, since two photos are captured each time. However, keep in mind that Action Pan photos do take an extra second or two to process before they are viewable in your Pixel phone's gallery.

The tricky part about using Action Pan correctly is that you need to follow the subject. If a car is flying by you, you'll need to try to get the car in the viewfinder as early as possible and move your Pixel camera with it. That's where the "pan" part of the name Action Pan comes from — if you've ever taken a panorama, you know what to here. Unlike a panorama, Action Pan doesn't guide you as to how to move your Pixel phone. You have to pan the camera yourself, pressing the shutter after the subject has remained in the viewfinder for at least a second.

I was able to take decent Action Pan shots of cars with my Pixel, but Google says the feature works best with people with a visible face as the subject. Ideally, the main subject will also be obvious and take up most of the photo. Luckily, Action Pan works with both optical and digital zoom, so you can crop into the image to ensure your subject is the focus of the shot.

When Action Pan works, it produces all the motion blur you want and none of the motion blur you don't. Shutter lag creates motion blur that covers the entire image, making for a blurry photo. Action Pan is different because the subject in motion is perfectly clear. It's everything else in the background that's blurred, and this makes for a creative visual effect.

I wish more phones had Action Pan

It isn't even ubiquitous on Pixels, let alone other Android brands

Considering many smartphone cameras suffer from the bad kind of motion blur, Action Pan is a welcome addition to my Pixel. I just wish it was available on more models — Action Pan is only available on the Pixel 6 and newer, excluding A-series models and foldables. If you have a Pixel Fold, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, or Pixel 10 Pro Fold, you're out of luck. The same goes for any budget buyers with a Pixel 6a, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8a, and Pixel 9a, or Pixel 10a.

Interestingly, every Pixel released since the Pixel 7a supports Long Exposure, but Action Pan isn't as ubiquitous. Google should give A-series and foldable Pixel phones the Action Pan treatment, and other Android brands might want to take notice. I'm not sure if I've taken smartphone photos as cool as the ones I've captured with Action Pan.