The Carolina Digital Photo Contest is open to all Region 15 members, including and especially our youth members. Each year, photos of Region 15 daylilies, Region 15 daylily gardens, and Region 15 people are submitted and judged with the winners receiving a ribbon and recognition in the Hemalina. Two additional categories - Artistic and Daylilies from a Different Perspective - give members the opportunity to show off their creative skills in photos where daylilies dominate the scene or theme. They also receive a ribbon and recognition in the Hemalina. The Youth category pulls all of these into one group that is judged as a whole, with the winners receiving ribbons and recognition in the Hemalina.
Submissions to the Carolina Digital Photo Contest are to be sent to the current photo contest chair - photos may be attached to emails, sent with a text message, or posted to a shared drive. The deadline is December 31 of each year. Carolina Digital Photography Contest Rules: Purpose: The Carolina Digital Photography Contest was approved at the 2007 Region 15 Fall Business Meeting for the purpose of developing a library of regional images for use in Region 15 publications. Contest guidelines were amended in 2012 and again in 2015. Information printed below supersedes previous publications. Categories:
Images of Region 15 daylilies (may be single blooms, multiple blooms, or clumps registered by Region 15 hybridizers.) Companion plants, garden art, etc. may be included in the background, but the dominant image must be a daylily registered by a Region 15 hybridizer.
Images of Region 15 members, preferably candid shots of members engaged in daylily activities.
Landscapes featuring Region 15 gardens. A significant part of the landscape must include daylilies.
Artistic Shots—may include close-ups of flowers, garden vignettes, insects, birds, etc. Photos featuring daylilies, a part of a daylily, or a daylily motif will have preference over images without any part of a daylily if the photos are otherwise equal in quality.
Daylilies from a Different Point of View features manipulated images created by combining elements from more than one image or by obvious changes in color, form, shape, or any combination thereof to create a unique final photo . All original images used/combined must have been taken by the final image creator. Daylilies or Region 15 members must be dominant in the final image, with preference given to Region 15-hybridized daylilies
Youth Contest (all of the above categories)
Rules:
Contestants must be AHS members of Region 15. Eligible youth contestants shall include all ages up to those who turn 18 during the calendar year preceding the due date.
The first place winning contestant in any given photo contest category will be ineligible to compete in that specific category again the following year. (Adopted at the Region 15 business meeting, Sept.30, 2017.) (Proposed at Region 15 Business Meeting October 1, 2022)
Images are due to the Carolina Digital Photography Contest Coordinator by November 1st each year. They may be sent by e-mail or on CD or DVD. Entries must also clearly identify the contestant’s name, address, phone number and e-mail address (if available).
The top three winning images will be published in the spring issue of the Hemalina with certificates of recognition and ribbons presented at the Summer regional meeting.
Entries are limited to 5 images per category per person.
Images must come with permission to use and re-use by AHS Region 15 and AHS. PDF permission form can be downloaded from the AHS website.
Images must have a high enough resolution to provide good print quality: Images that are 4 x 6 inches (the standard print format setting for most cameras) at 300ppi (pixels per inch) are typically a good size. In terms of megabytes, 1-4 MB (when closed) is preferred for the contest. If a winning image is used for the cover of the newsletter, the photographer may be asked to send a larger version.Image naming must be sufficient to identify photo content:
for pictures of Region 15 daylilies, identify the name of the cultivar and its hybridizer;
for pictures of Region 15 members, identify the person(s) in the photo and where the photo was taken;
for Region 15 landscape photos, identify the featured garden by name and/or owner;
for artistic shots, use creative titles or, depending on the content, use any of the suggestions listed above.
(Identifying information may be included in e-mails with attached photos or it can be included in a separate written document so long as it sufficiently correlates with the images submitted.)
Any registered Region 15 cultivar, no matter the date of registration, is eligible. There is also no restriction on the age of images in any category, i.e., when they were taken.
Images submitted for one contest are ineligible in subsequent years, since the goal is to build a unique regional image library.
Cropping or editing of digital images not submitted for Daylilies from a Different Point of View is permissible to remove blemishes and improve composition. The quality of any editing will be part of the judges’ evaluation. All other points being equal, an image in any category with no extraneous or distracting items such as plant markers, dead or diseased foliage, spent blooms, trash cans, etc. will rate higher than one that does.
A panel of three (3) judges (RP or designated assistant, Hemalina Editor (or Editor’s designee), and the Photo Contest Coordinator (or Coordinator’s designee) will evaluate images based on clarity, accuracy of color, and composition. Judges or their family members are not eligible to compete, but theymay supply images to the regional library.
Hints for Improving Photos:
Make sure your camera is set to large file format.
Remember that early morning light or overcast days provide the best lighting.
Think about photo composition before you take the shot. Remember the “rule of thirds.”
If photographing in your own garden, remove spent flowers, dead foliage, plant markers and any other distractions that appear in your view finder. Never do this in someone else’s garden. Just work around detractions: shoot from a different angle or do close-ups.
Avoid scenes with heavy shade in one part of the garden and bright sunlight in another.
Watch for hats that shade the faces of people.
2024 CAROLINA DIGITAL PHOTO WINNERS
ARTISTIC 1st Place: Blushing Summer Valentine Salter Oakes 2012 w/ Early Morning Sun Shining Through the Rib - Carol Forszen 2nd Place: Frog on a Daylily Leaf - Leslie Platt 3rd Place: Butterfly and Daylilies - Leslie Platt
CULTIVAR 1st Place: Pony Up Holmes Owen 2014 - Cecil Martin 2nd Place: Hen Party Shooter Hensley 2018 - Cecil Martin 3rd Place: Carolina Rug Rat Selman 2015 - Stephen Isham
DIFFERENT 1st Place: Bill's Garden - Linda Sue Barnes 2nd Place: 'Kodo Candle' Boatright 2015 - Linda Sue Barnes 3rd Place: 'Katherine Tims' Selman 2018 - Linda Sue Barnes
LANDSCAPE 1st Place: Blue Ridge Dailies - Stacie Isham 2nd Place: Mitchell Hagler's Former Garden in Concord NC - Mitchell Hagler 3rd Place: Bill Hurt and Marshall Morrow Garden Beds - Carol Forszen
PEOPLE 1st Place: Pat Mansfield at Blue Ridge Daylilies June 2023 - Carol Forszen 2nd Place: JD Stadler Tells About His Hybridizing Program in His Garden - Leslie Platt 3rd Place: Peeking Through Gardener Self Portrait - Cecil Martin