Archives

Southern Piedmont Digital Youth Photography Contest Announced

   Written by on July 9, 2020 at 10:48 am

CHARLOTTE COUNTY – Charlotte 4-H is hosting the Southern Piedmont Photography Contest this summer. The contest will be based on the categories supported by the Five County Fair, which is in September each year. We are inviting youth from the surrounding counties (Appomattox, Buckingham, Cumberland and Prince Edward) and the counties that participate in the South Central Fair (Mecklenburg, Lunenburg, and Brunswick) to join and participate in this Southern Piedmont Photography Contest. There will be prizes awarded to the top three winners in each category and a prize for overall best. I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the sponsors who are supporting this program.

The contest will have several categories – again right out of the Five County Fair book. There are seven categories for single color and single black and white photos.  People or person – the main focus of a photo entered in this category should be a single person or a group of people. Landscape – this is a photo that features a scene. It can have a person in it but the person wouldn’t be considered the focus when looking at the photograph. The land, pasture, field, trees, or whatnot would be the focus. Seascapes are pictures mainly from the beach – on the beach, or the beach, or the ocean or other water body taken from the shore, boats on water – the main feature or focus of a seascape photo should be water. Animal or animals and pet or pets are two different categories but very similar. Animals can be anything from insects to wildlife to livestock but are less likely to be the cat, dog, or family hamster. The plant or plants category is somewhat like the landscape category as landscapes will have plants in them but the plant won’t be the focus or feature of the photo – in this plants category the plant or plants will be the focus. It could be your favorite tree, a flowerbed in full bloom, a specific plant or even water droplets on a leaf. The last category is architecture – the main focus of this picture is going to be man made or something that has been built. This could be a building, a staircase, a dock, or some other cool structure. So, the seven categories – people, landscape, seascape, animals, plants, pets, and architecture – will be for both color photos and black and white photos. 

Youth can enter all 14 categories – one photo per category. Some devices will take black and white photos; however, you can also take all color photos and then use your device to remove color and enter the pic as black and white. When you are looking at black and white photos, you want to remember to look for contrast and angles – black and white pics need to have contrast in order to be the “best.” 

Another two categories is the Best Six – which normally would be six photos matted and framed together – in this case it will be six photos entered – but they won’t be attached to each other except in the entry form. These six photos should be different than the photos entered in the single categories. There will be two different classes – color and black and white – to enter both categories youth will need six color photos and six black and white photos. 

The last category for the photography contest will be computer generated graphics. Youth will start with a picture and use the computer to change that photo – enhance it, recolor it, add to it, or whatever they would like to do to change it and make it more of a graphic than just a photo. 

Charlotte County 4-H Tech Changemakers have been posting some how-to videos about photography during the months of May and June on our Facebook page and Youtube channel. Youth can watch those videos to improve their photography skills in preparation for entering the contest.  If you are interested in checking out these videos – search CharlotteVA 4H and Extension on Youtube.  The contest entry is now live with an entry deadline of August 1st. If you have an interest in learning more about the photography contest, sponsoring the contest, or the how-to videos or other videos and information check out @Charlotte4H on Facebook and like our page or call the extension office at 434-542-5884. 

Leave a Reply