Take part in our Earth Day competition
Tips for taking great photos
Want to enter our Earth Day competition for the chance to win one of ten woven badges?
We’ve put together some top tips for taking photos of nature. Will you take a photo of a shining sunset, an amazing view or a cute animal! Or maybe something else!
All you’ll need is something that can take photos, like a phone or camera, and you could take photos as part of your unit meeting or at home.
Use rule of thirds
Rule of thirds is used in photography all the time and it’s all about breaking the picture into thirds horizontally and vertically, so you have nine parts in total. Then the subject of the picture is put in one of the thirds. In this photo, the Ranger’s face is in the top right third and it makes them really stand out as the subject to focus on in the photo.
You can add gridlines to your phone to help do this. On an Android phone, open the camera app and click on settings, which is normally a cog shape. Then turn on assistive grid. On an iPhone, Open the settings app, scroll down and tap camera and then, under composition, turn on grid.
Use natural lighting
Make the most of natural lighting in your photos. If you take a photo during golden hour, when the sun is setting, you’ll get an orange glow, and if you take a right before sunrise of after sunset, you might get a hazy, dreamy effect on your photo.
And if you take a photo when the sun is bright, everything will stand out and be really colourful. Try out taking pictures at different times of day to see what effects you can create!
Try looking at things from a different angle
We normally see the world from eye level, and you might take photos like that too – but what if you tried changing it up? Crouch down, safely stand on something to make you taller or maybe even lie down with your camera to see how it makes your photo look different.
Use leading lines
Leading lines do exactly what they say on the tin! They’re lines in a photo that lead you to the subject. For example, in this photo, the wooden logs lead your eyes to the Brownie, who’s the subject of the photo.
Strong, obvious lines, whether they’re a log, plant stem, tree trunk or something else, can help make something the clear subject of a photo.
Make sure everything is in focus
Being in focus means that your photo isn’t blurry. Check after you’ve taken a picture that everything is in focus. Some cameras can make the background blurry and the subject in focus, and lots of phones now have this option too. Have a play around in the settings and see what you can do to change up how your photo look. But most importantly, check that the thing you want people to look at isn’t blurred!
Have fun!
The most important thing when you’re being creative is to have fun! Enjoy practising and be proud of what you create - our judging panel can’t wait to see your photos. After taking your photos, why not learn more about Earth Day?
How to enter the competition
Share your photo with us on social media by adding it to the comments of our Earth Competition posts, uploading it to your Instagram or Twitter account and tagging @girlguiding or by emailing it to [email protected]. If you’re entering on behalf of a young member, include the member’s name, section and age with your photo.
To enter, you need be a Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, Ranger, young leader or leader. If you're under 16 you need a parent or guardian’s consent. Parents and guardians can also enter on behalf of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers and young leaders.
The competition will run from 9am on Friday, 25 March to midnight on Friday, 8 April 2022 and entries will be judged by Jen, Lowie, Eleanor, Kat and Priya from Girlguiding HQ. Ten winners will get an Earth Day 2022 badge.
The Promoter
The promoter is: The Guide Association (“Girlguiding”) of 17-19 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0PT.
The competition
The title of the competition is Earth Day Photo Competition.
To enter, take a photo that shows the beauty of our planet. It could be a shining sunset, a breathtaking view or an adorable animal, and you can do this as an activity with your unit or at home. Share your photo with us on social media by adding it to the comments of our Earth Competition posts, uploading to your Instagram or Twitter account and tagging @girlguiding or emailing it to[email protected]. If you’re entering on behalf of a young member, include the member’s name, section and age with your photo.
To enter this competition, you must be a Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, Ranger or young Leader who must have their parent or guardian’s consent if you are under 16 years of age or must be a parent or guardian of a Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, Ranger or young leader entering on their behalf. Leaders may also enter the competition.
Photos are submitted in good faith, under the understanding that they are the original work and belong to the named entrant.
How to enter
- The competition will run from 9am on Friday 25th March 2022 (the "Opening Date") to midnight on Friday 8th April 2022 (the "Closing Date") inclusive.
- All competition entries must be received by Girlguiding via social media or by e-mail at [email protected] by no later than midnight on the Closing Date. All competition entries received after the Closing Date are automatically disqualified
To enter the competition
Send the name, age and section of the person entering together with the photograph to [email protected] and/or share the photographs with us by posting on Instagram or Twitter and tagging @girlguiding or adding it to the comments of one of the Girlguiding Earth Day competition posts on Facebook.
- Girlguiding will not accept responsibility for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example, as a result of any equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, computer hardware or software failure of any kind.
- By submitting a competition entry, you and/or your parent or guardian are agreeing that the photo may be used in any publicity material by Girlguiding and to be bound by these terms and conditions.
- For help with entries, please contact Girlguiding on social media.
- The competition entries will be judged by a panel of five judges. The decision of the panel of judges (acting reasonably) will be final.
- A list of names of the judges are Jen, Lowie, Eleanor, Priya and Kat.
Eligibility
The competition is only open to all residents in the UK ,:
- employees of Girlguiding or its holding or subsidiary companies;
- employees of agents or suppliers of Girlguiding or its holding or subsidiary companies, who are professionally connected with the competition or its administration; or
In entering the competition, you confirm that you are eligible to do so and eligible to claim the prize or any prize you may win. Girlguiding may require you to provide proof that you are eligible to enter the competition. Girlguiding will not accept competition entries that are automatically generated by computer; completed by third parties or in bulk; illegible, have been altered, reconstructed, forged or tampered with; or photocopies and not originals.
There is a limit of one entry per person.
Girlguiding reserves all rights to disqualify you if your conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of the prize competition.
Competition entries cannot be returned.
The prize
The prizes are 2022 Earth Day badges and ten (10) are available to be won.
Prizes are subject to availability. There is no cash alternative for the prize.
The prize is supplied by Guide Association Trading Service Limited (“Trading”) of 17-19 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0PT (the "Supplier"). Girlguiding reserves the right to replace the prize with an alternative prize of equal or higher value if circumstances beyond Girlguiding’s control makes it necessary to do so.
The prize is not negotiable or transferable.
Winners
The decision of the judges nominated by Girlguiding is final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.
Girlguiding will contact the winner personally as soon as practicable after the Announcement Date, using the email address or social media handle provided with the competition entry. Girlguiding will not amend any contact information once the competition entry form has been submitted.
Girlguiding must either publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place. To comply with this obligation Girlguiding will publish the surname and county of major prize winners and, if applicable, their winning entries on the Girlguiding website and will also share a blog post across the Girlguiding social channels on 22/04/2022 (Announcement Date).
If you and/ r your parent or guardian object to any or all of your surname, county and winning entry being published or made available, please contact In such circumstances, Girlguiding must still provide the information and winning entry to the Advertising Standards Authority on request.
Claiming the prize
Please allow 14 days for delivery of the prize.
Girlguiding shall make all reasonable efforts to contact the winner and/or your parent/ guardian. If the winner or/ and the parent/guardian cannot be contacted or is not available, or has not claimed their prize within 7 days of the Announcement Date, Girlguiding reserves the right to offer the prize to the next eligible entrant selected from the correct entries that were received before the Closing Date.
Girlguiding does not accept any responsibility if you are not able to take up the prize.
Limitation of liability
Insofar as is permitted by law, Girlguiding, its agents or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner and/or parent/guardian or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of Girlguiding, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected.
Ownership of competition entries and intellectual property rights
Girlguiding does not claim any rights of ownership in your competition entry.
You and/or your parent/guardian agree that Girlguiding may, but is not required to, make your entry available on its website and any other media, whether now known or invented in the future, and in connection with any publicity of the competition. You and/or your parent/guardian agree to grant Girlguiding a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable licence, for the full period of any intellectual property rights in the competition entry and any accompanying materials, to use, display, publish, transmit, copy, edit, alter, store, re-format and sub-licence the competition entry and any accompanying materials for such purposes.
Data protection and publicity
Girlguiding shall only process your personal information as set out in the Privacy Notice. See also condition 3 and condition 6.4, with regard to the announcement of winners.
General
If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these terms and conditions, Girlguiding may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude you from participating in the competition.
Girlguiding reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the prize competition where it becomes necessary to do so.
If any term is found to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable it shall be severed and deleted from these terms and conditions, and the remaining terms shall survive and remain in full force and effect.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by English Law, and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
