We’re looking for your best garden photos—plant portraits, borders and beds, garden structures and ornaments, and other favorite scenes from your garden. Photos will be judged on composition, sharpness and focus, unusual and creative perspective, interesting subject matter, and appealing color and texture. “The deadline for the Photo Contest was July 1, 2008. We are no longer accepting entries. Winners will be printed in the November/December 2008 issue of Gardening How-To.”

2007 Winner: Life Member Lorraine Gunn; Mount Pleasant, SC

Prizes:

First Prize: Swift 825 Eaglet Binoculars from Swift Sport Optics, www.swift-sportoptics.com. Value: $530
Second Prize: The AeroGarden Pro 100 and Salad Chef Pack seed kit from AeroGrow, www.aerogrow.com. Value: $209
Third Prize: $100 gift card from Lee Valley Tools, www.leevalley.com. Value: $100
Honorable Mention: Organic fertilizers, wild bird seed, deer repellent, and flower pots from TerraCycle, www.terracycle.net. Value: $75

Submissions
• Send no more than three photos per member.
• We accept color slides (original 35 mm or larger), high-quality prints, and digital images.
• With each print, slide, or digital image, please include your name, address, daytime phone number, and member number. Describe the people in the photo (if any) and their relationship to you, and provide common and botanical names (if known) for all plants. Please label each slide or print clearly; do not tape them together.
• Photos must be of your own garden (not public parks or gardens) and must be taken
by you.

“The deadline for the Photo Contest was July 1, 2008. We are no longer accepting entries. Winners will be printed in the November/December 2008 issue of Gardening How-To.”

• We regret that we cannot return any materials or acknowledge receipt of entries.

Photo guidelines and tips
• Gardens photograph best in early morning, late afternoon, or on hazy days. Avoid shooting in bright sunlight.
• Use a tripod or set your camera on something solid for sharp focus.
• Don’t include distracting elements, such as stray garden hoses or garbage cans, in the photograph.
• Don’t use special effects or shapes in cropping, and make sure your camera’s time/date stamp is turned off.

Guidelines for digital photos
• Digital photos must be shot at the highest resolution possible, using a 2.5 megapixel camera or higher, and formatted as a JPEG.
• If you send photos by e-mail, please send as attachments rather than embedding them into the body of the message. Do not send links to photo Web sites.
• If you print out digital photos, use high-quality photographic paper. Print photo 5 by 7 inches or larger.
• If you send a CD, please label CD and case.
• Do not send digitally compressed or “zipped” photos.
• If you have more than one digital entry, send each photo in a separate e-mail.

Official Rules

Open to members of the National Home Gardening Club (NHGC). No additional purchase is necessary. Employees of NHGC, Swift Sport Optics, AeroGrow, Lee Valley Tools, TerraCycle,  their affiliates, subsidiaries, agencies, and suppliers and the families of each are not eligible. Void in PR, Quebec, and where prohibited by law. Entries must be postmarked or e-mailed on or before 7/1/08. No responsibility is assumed for lost, late, damaged, illegible, postage-due, or misdirected entries. All photos become the property of NHGC and will not be returned or acknowledged. Photos will be judged on composition, sharpness and focus, unusual and creative perspective, interesting subject matter, and color and texture. The judges reserve the right to adjust and modify photos prior to publication. NHGC judges' decisions concerning all matters related to this contest are final. Winners will be selected on or about 8/1/08. Winners will be notified by mail on or about 8/15/08. Winners will be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility, liability release, and publicity release. Submission of an entry and/or acceptance of a prize grants NHGC the exclusive, perpetual right to publish, use, edit, adapt, modify, and/or copy the entry for any and all purposes in any and all media currently in existence or hereafter invented without further compensation to entrant/winner. All taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner. Winner releases NHGC and sponsors from any liability arising out of participation in this contest. Winner grants to NHGC the right to use his/her name, photograph, likeness, and biographical information in advertising and promotion without compensation or permission except in TN or where prohibited by law. Winners' names and photos will be published in Gardening How-To magazine at the NHGC's sole discretion. For a list of the winners, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Garden Photo Contest at address listed above by 12/31/08.