Picture Perfect PA

Capture your PA trip - get some tips on how to photograph it yourself.

Tom Gettings, a former Director of Photography at Rodale Inc. for 28 years, and now owner of Gettings Photography, teaches a nature photography through the Department of Conservation and Natural Resource’s Get Outdoors PA program. Gettings lets us in on some of his secrets:

To photograph a moving subject so it is in focus, use a very fast shutter speed that “freezes” the movement of the subject. You can also “pan” the camera, moving it at the same speed as the subject, leaving the subject sharp and the background blurred. To capture moving water in a stream or waterfall to give a blurred and “velvety” smooth look, use a slow shutter speed, ÂĽ of a second or slower, allowing the water to move while exposure is being made; the result: the water looks like one continuously flowing mass. To get a great wintertime shot, avoid automatic settings that will cause under-exposing the primary subject. Instead, use a manual setting on your camera and compensate for the brightness of the snow. The sun is lower in the sky, making it easier to create dramatic images and the lack of foliage gives you greater sight lines to find birds and animals.

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