Close-up Photographer of the Year 7 The winners of the seventh edition of the Close-up Photography of the Year (CUPOTY) contest have been announced. This year's competition drew more than 12,000 entries from 63 countries, with images revealing wonders of the world through macro, micro and close-up photography.
A jury of 22 expert photographers, naturalists and editors selected the winners. They collectively spent more than 20 hours on Zoom calls to make the winner selections and choose the Top 100 images. The contest includes 11 categories: Animals, Insects, Butterflies & Dragonflies, Arachnids, Invertebrate Portrait, Underwater, Plants, Fungi & Slime Moulds, Intimate Landscape, Studio Art, and Young Close-up Photographer of the Year (for entrants aged 17 or under).
"This was the toughest competition yet," says CUPOTY co-founder Tracy Calder. "The winning image embodies everything close-up photography can achieve – it shows us a perspective we've never seen before and reveals hidden beauty in a familiar subject. The judges were captivated. "
You can see all of the winning and finalist images at the CUPOTY website.
Grand Prize
© Ross Gudgeon / CUPOTY
Name: Ross Gudgeon
Title: Fractal Forest
Category: Underwater
Place: 1st
Nationality: Australian
Picture details: The inside of a cauliflower soft coral in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.
Caption: Named for its characteristic cauliflower-like appearance, this coral has numerous small, rounded, bump-like polyps that give it a puffy texture. This unique perspective was made possible by the Nauticam EMWL (Extended Macro Wide Lens), an underwater version of the probe or insect eye lens. Due to its long length, small diameter, close focus, and wide field of view, this lens allows for perspectives impossible with conventional lenses. I decided to experiment with the EMWL on the soft coral to capture a different view of a common life form. I carefully threaded the end of the EMWL through the branches of the soft coral so as not to damage them, creating an image looking from the inside out.
Technical information:
Camera: Sony A7R IV
Lens: Sony FE 90mm F2. 8 Macro G OSS
ISO: 400
Aperture: F9
Shutter speed: 1/100 sec
Accessories: Nauticam EMWL with 160
Post processing: DXO Pure Raw, Adobe Lightroom, Topaz Photo AI and Adobe Photoshop
Further information:
Instagram: @ross_gudgeon
Facebook: Ross Gudgeon
Animals - First Place
© Filippo Carugati / CUPOTY
Name: Filippo Carugati
Title: Amphibian Galaxy
Category: Animals
Place: 1st
Nationality: Italian
Picture details: A Malagasy frog (Guibemantis sp. ) egg clutch hangs on a small trunk next to a pond in Maromizaha rainforest, Madagascar.
Caption: Conducting fieldwork during cyclone season gave me the opportunity to witness a wonderful natural spectacle: Malagasy frogs' mass reproduction. The Maromizaha rainforest, where I spent six months collecting data for my PhD thesis, hosts an outstanding richness of amphibians, with at least 74 endemic species. For many Malagasy frogs, reproduction peaks correspond with winter months, a period characterised by higher temperatures and intense rainfall. During my nocturnal explorations, I was deeply impressed by the variability in shapes, colours, and sizes of the numerous egg clutches deposited on leaves, branches, and trunks. In this shot, I documented a large egg clutch (20–30cm) hanging on a small trunk. Inside this egg aggregation, several tadpoles were swimming peacefully through the gelatinous substance. Using an external remote-controlled flash, I lit the subject from behind, enhancing the shapes of the converging tadpoles and the colourful mixture within the gelatine, which suggested a cosmic appearance.
Technical information:
Camera: Canon EOS R7
Lens: Canon EF100mm F2. 8L Macro IS USM
ISO: 800
Aperture: F11
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
Accessories: Remote-controlled flash (Canon Speedlight 430) with softbox
Post processing: Photoshop Camera Raw
Further information:
Website: www. filippocarugatiphotographer. com
Instagram: @wildlais
Facebook: Filippo Carugati - Wildlife Photographer
Arachnids - First Place
© Artur Tomaszek / CUPOTY
Name: Artur Tomaszek
Title: Dinner
Category: Arachnids
Place: 1st
Nationality: Polish
Picture details: A lynx spider (Oxyopes sp. ) feeds on a few termites in Hong Kong.
Caption: Lynx spiders are ambush predators that actively hunt prey by sight. Though they produce and use silk, they do not build webs to capture prey. I came across this one during a moth survey on a particularly memorable night. It had been a very hot spring with little rain, but that evening it suddenly started raining, prompting thousands of termites to begin their mating dance and swarm in the air. This provided an excellent opportunity for the lynx spider to make its catch of the night. The main difficulty in capturing the picture was the thousands of termites flying in my face, attracted by the camera's flash. In the end, the spider managed to catch two or three termites at once, creating this striking scene.
Technical information:
Camera: Canon EOS R5
Lens: Laowa 100mm F2. 8 2x Ultra Macro APO
ISO: 320
Aperture: F11
Shutter speed: 1/160 sec
Accessories: Cygnustech diffuser
Post processing: Lightroom
Further information:
Website: www. arturtomaszek. com
Instagram: @artur. tomaszek. photo
Facebook: Inglourious Reptiles
Flickr: Artur Tomaszek
Butterflies - First Place
2026-2-10 22:30
