ARS Slide / Photo Competition
ARS Photography Competition
In the fall, your roses should be preparing themselves for their last big flush of the season. This means it's time to finish taking your photos and begin making plans to enter the next American Rose Society Slide/Digital Photo Contest. Entries are due by the last Friday in November each year!!
The judging panel is made up of ARS horticultural and/or arrangement judges who are also experienced photographers.
• You will probably be using equipment, principles and techniques of close-up photography in most of the Classes. These might include the use of supplementary close-up lenses or a macro lens for close-up work.
• Use a tripod and cable release to help eliminate camera movement.
• Use a small aperture (f11, f16, f22, etc.) to gain more depth of field for most shots, but be sure you use as fast enough shutter speed to freeze movement to blooms caused by wind.
• Remember to plan each shot and to carefully search the viewfinder for any distracting objects or reflections before snapping that shutter. A written record of each exposure is helpful for later review.
• The winning photos usually are the ones in which the bloom or subject fills as much of the frame as possible, but care should be taken so petals or parts of the desired image are not cut off.
• The rule of thirds for off-center placement should generally not be used here as one-bloom photos should be as close to center as possible.
• When that really great specimen comes along, take a number of shots, bracketing the exposures. It often is a good idea to use both a vertical and a horizontal format if the subject is suitable.
• When photographing a one-bloom specimen at close-up range, a camera angle of 30 to 45 degrees to the bloom will usually produce a better photo.
• Grooming, when needed, is very important as slight defects are magnified when the photos are projected onto a screen.
• A gray card may help you determine exposure when photographing difficult-to-capture true colors such as white blooms with a dark background, mauves and some reds. Use of reflectors can help eliminate dark areas and uneven lighting.
1. Send all slides and digital photographs directly to
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Paul Colombo
20652 Woodcrest
Harper Woods, MI 48225
2. Slides and CDs should be properly packaged for safe delivery and accompanied by the entry form and a padded, self-addressed, envelope with adequate postage for safe return. There is no need to send slides or CDs special or overnight delivery.
3. Make sure you have some form of permanent identification on each slide. SLIDES WITH GUMMED LABELS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED! ! They have been known to fall off in the projector from the heat. Please print clearly.
4. If you are submitting digital pictures, they must be placed on a CD and mailed along with the entry form. The CD will not be returned and should have the contestant’s name, e-mail and address printed on the CD.
l. Contestants are permitted to enter a maximum of three slides and/or three digital photographs or any combination per class in Classes 1-10. One variety per class - that's a total of 30 entries. New ARS members who qualify for Class 12 and Youth who qualify for Class 14, may submit three additional slides and/or digital photographs or any combination in that class for a total of 36 entries.
2. Digital photographs must be saved as jpg files. All digital photographs must be submitted as high resolution jpg’s with a minimum resolution of 225 dpi. The high resolution is necessary to ensure that a winning entry will print properly in the magazine. Low resolution digital files will not be considered for awards. Slides must be 35mm, in cardboard or plastic mounts, and may be cropped to any size or format.
3. All photos must have been taken by the entrant, who must be an ARS member and an amateur photographer. An amateur is defined as someone who does not have a business license as a photographer.
4. Slides and digital photographs which have won awards in previous contests are not eligible.
5. The rose photos will be entered under the ARS Approved Exhibition Names. Grooming the rose(s) is encouraged, and artificial backgrounds may be used.
6. For slides, mark the lower left-hand corner of each with a red circle as held for hand viewing; identify each slide with your name, address, class entered and the name of the rose, location or society where applicable. Do not write in the upper right-hand corner.
7. Digital photographs shall be saved in the following format: class number and a-c for multiple pictures in the same class, last name of the contestant, and the approved exhibition name of the rose. An example would be 10c Colombo Gemini. Only one entry would be 10a Colombo Gemini. Any added text that is on the photo or slide mount itself will be cause for disqualification.
8. Digital photographs may be enhanced by the use of any graphic program, such as Photoshop, Elements or Photo Impact.
9. ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE LAST FRIDAY IN NOVEMBER.
1. One bloom, at its most perfect stage, Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora, Floribunda, of any variety including Singles, no sidebuds.
2. One spray, Grandiflora, Floribunda, Polyantha or Hybrid Tea, two or more blooms.
3. Open bloom rose(s), stamens must show.
4. One bloom or spray of an Old Garden Rose, Shrub or Climber.
5. One bloom of a Miniature or Mini-Flora rose, no sidebuds.
6. A spray of a Miniature or Mini-Flora rose.
7. A photo of a standard size arrangement, following the American Rose Society Guidelines for Judging Rose Arrangements. Please indicate arranger's name if known.
8. A photo of a miniature arrangement, following the American Rose Society Guidelines for Judging Rose Arrangements. Please indicate arranger's name if known.
9. Abstract or Impressionism - A photo having non-objective design, form or content, of a rose plant(s) or any portion thereof. (Let your imagination run rampant.) This does not include abstract arrangements.
10. A photo of any rose garden OR any rose society activity. Arbors and garden ornaments permitted in the garden photo. Indicate society and name of event in the society activity photo.
11. NOVICE CLASS: Open only to those ARS members who have not previously won an award (1st through 6th place) in the ARS Digital Photograph & Slide Contest. Eligible contestants may enter either the novice or the regular classes, but not both. Those entering the novice class may enter any class, 1-10 by preceding the class number with the number 11 (Class 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, etc.). There will be six winners (1st place thru 6th place), and the 1st place winners will be eligible for the Best of Contest Awards (Queen, King, and Princess).
12. NEW MEMBER – A photo of any type rose or rose garden. Restricted to members who have joined ARS within the past 12 months.
13. MASTER CLASS: For all contestants who have had 5 or more first place entries in the ARS Digital Photograph and Slide Contest. Also, for all contestants with 5 or more first place entries, in the digital photography classes. Eligible contestants may have entries in the four following classes by preceding the class with the number 13 (Class 13-1, 13-2, 13-3, 13-4). There will be six winners (1st through 6th place) and the 1st place winner will be eligible for Best of Contest awards (Queen, King, and Princess). Contestants who qualify for this class are ineligible to compete in other classes.
14. YOUTH CLASS: A photo of any type of rose, rose garden or rose activity. For all entrants under the age of 16.13-l: One bloom, any classification, at exhibition stage.
13-2: An inflorescence (2 or more blooms) of any classification.
13-3: An arrangement, either standard or miniature, following the American Rose Society Guidelines for Judging Rose Arrangements.
13-4: An abstract shot or any rose or rose parts or any photo of a rose garden
or area.
1. The judging panel will consist of ARS accredited rose judges who are photographers.
2. Classes 1-6, 11, and 13-1 and 13-2 will be judged 50 percent on exhibition quality and 50 percent on photographic excellence.
3. Classes 7, 8, and 13-3 (arrangement shots) will be judged 50 percent on the arrangement design and flower quality following the American Rose Society Guidelines for Judging Rose Arrangements and 50 percent on photographic excellence.
4. Classes 9, 10, 12, 13-4, and 14 will be judged on photographic excellence only.
There will be six Certificate’s of Photographic Excellence Awards in each class: Gold for 1st place, Silver for 2nd, Bronze for 3rd, and one each for 4th, 5th and 6th Honorable Mention awards. The first place winners in each class, along with the names of all winners, will be published in the May/June issue of American Rose. All first place winning slides will be eligible for the Best of Contest Awards.
