Blender camera animation: dolly, orbit, shake and dolly zoom

A dolly moves the camera toward or away from the subject. An orbit circles around it. Both are easy to set up by hand.

Free way

1. Dolly: keyframe the camera's location at the start, move it closer, keyframe again.
2. Orbit: add an Empty at the subject, parent the camera to it, add a Track To constraint to the subject, then keyframe the Empty's Z rotation.
3. Smooth the motion in the Graph Editor (easing in and out).

Changing the move later means editing keyframes again.

Blender camera shake

Handheld shake is small random movement. Blender can add it to any animated value with a Noise modifier.

Free way

1. Keyframe the camera's rotation once so it has curves.
2. In the Graph Editor, select the rotation curves and add a Noise modifier.
3. Lower Strength and raise Scale until it looks handheld, not shaky.
4. Use the modifier's frame range to limit it to part of the shot.

Dolly zoom (Vertigo effect) in Blender

A dolly zoom keeps the subject the same size while the background grows or shrinks. You move the camera and change the focal length at the same time, in opposite directions.

Free way

1. Point the camera at the subject with a Track To constraint.
2. Keyframe location and focal length at the start.
3. Move the camera closer and lower the focal length until the subject is the same size, keyframe both.
4. Check the middle frames; you may need extra keys to keep the size steady.

The tool I made for this

I make and sell Camera Moves. One-click camera moves on your own camera. Fully adjustable, stackable, and removable in one click.