Photography & Digital Art,Art & DesignJAN 29, 2025

33 Award-Winning Close-Up Shots From The CUPOTY 2024

The winners of the 2024 Close-Up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) Awards have been announced, and the results are breathtaking! This year’s competition saw over 11,000 entries from 61 countries, showcasing the incredible talent of photographers capturing the hidden and delicate details of our world.

From tiny insects to intricate fungi, and underwater scenes to incredible microscopic details, these photos show the amazing beauty of the world up close. Scroll down to discover some of the most captivating shots from this year’s competition, and be sure to check out the full gallery of winners and finalists on the CUPOTY website!

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#1 3rd Place In The Category Of Animals: "Pine Marten Portrait" By Csaba Daróczi

"After setting up camera traps to monitor forest wildlife over an extended period, I discovered a daily winter visitor—a pine marten. Capitalizing on this routine, I positioned my GoPro camera under the tree, configuring it to trigger with motion detection. After numerous experiments and adjustments, I finally succeeded in capturing a photograph of the elusive pine marten."

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23points

CUPOTY was started in 2018 by a husband-and-wife team, Tracy and Dan Calder. It's a yearly competition that highlights the amazing details of the world through close-up, macro, and micro photography. Though it's based in the UK, photographers from anywhere, no matter their skill level, can join. In addition to the main contest, there’s a special themed CUPOTY CHALLENGE every November, and Tracy also writes a well-liked newsletter about photography and creativity.

#2 1st Place In The Category Of Animals: "God In The Shadows" By Santiago J. Monroy García

"The highland rainforests of the Andes are among the densest, coldest, and most humid forests on the planet. They are home to the only bear species native to South America: the Andean Bear. This particular individual, known as Nariz de Calavera (Skull Nose), is one of the largest bears living near Bogotá, Colombia, at the Ecopalacio Nature Reserve, about 30km east of the city.

I wanted to capture the bear behaving naturally in its environment, seeking an intimate picture that showcased the unique ecosystem as though it were part of a dream. Using a camera trap, I was able to record the local wildlife without causing any disturbance.

After several unsuccessful attempts, extensive research on the species, consultation with experts, and a great deal of patience, in 2023 I finally captured the image I had envisioned. Fortuitously, the rain splashed the lens in just the right spots, creating brushstrokes and textures that immerse the viewer in the humidity and cold of the highland Andean forests of Colombia. No bait was used in the making of this image."

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22points

#3 Young Close-Up Photographer Of The Year 6 And 1st Place In The Category Of Young (Under 18s): "Spring" By Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco

"I captured this image in late spring in southern Spain. Having previously observed bee-eaters with binoculars, I knew exactly where they would fly after hunting insects. This allowed me to strategically place a hide so that I could get a low point of view to blur the foreground and background flowers in the picture. I spent several weekend mornings in the hide, watching each bird catch 15-20 insects per hour, which provided ample opportunities for me to capture some attractive images. Using a high shutter speed, I was able to freeze the bird in flight, clearly showing the insect in its beak."

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21points

"Every year I’m fortunate enough to spend time with scientists, editors, naturalists, journalists, and photographers while judging CUPOTY, and every year I’m blown away by the caliber of entries. Close-up photography is a celebration of curiosity, and this year’s Top 100 is a true testament to the artistry of everyone involved as well as an invitation to look, marvel at, and honor the world around us," says Tracy Calder, CUPOTY co-founder, reflecting on this year’s contest.

#4 1st Place In The Category Of Underwater: "Everything's A-Ok" By Gabriel Jensen

"Summer brings calm seas to South Florida where a dedicated community of shore diving photographers head out nearly every day to survey the world's third largest coral reef for interesting wildlife. One morning I was signaled over by my friends, Dewalt and Evelyn who had spotted this lizardfish (Synodus foetens) grappling with a challengingly large doctorfish, its eyes seemingly larger than its mouth.

The comically calm doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus) steals the limelight, displaying a remarkable defense mechanism with splayed pectoral and dorsal spines. After a few minutes of struggle, the doctorfish managed to escape. This image now sits on my desk at work, serving as a reminder that even on tough days, 'Everything's going to be A-OK'."

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18points

#5 2nd Place In The Category Of Underwater: "Search For The Dragon" By Jenny Stock

"After descending the steps of Rapid Bay Jetty, South Australia, into the 18ºC water, this baby leafy sea dragon was found at 15 meters deep, next to a small school of Rough Bullseye fish. Although the fish looked incredibly interested in my target, sea dragons do not have many predators. Their combination of excellent camouflage, tough jointed plates, and sharp dorsal spines offer adequate protection. Their main threat is habitat destruction, being caught by collectors or being destroyed for their use in the traditional medicine market – a use which is unfounded.

This baby leafy sea dragon was only eight centimeters long. I set the camera as low to the sea bed as possible. and used two underwater flash guns to highlight the reflective parts of the animal, making it ‘pop’ in the image."

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17points

The CUPOTY 6 jury was made up of photographers Eric Bennett, Sue Bishop, Renee Grinnell Capozzola, Jaime Culebras, Matt Doogue, Guy Edwardes, Wim van Egmond, Marit van Ekelenburg, Viktoria Haack, Brendan ‘Cygnus’ James, Greg Lecoeur, David Maitland, Sarah Marino, Aaron Molenkamp, Piotr Naskrecki, Matty Smith, Georgina Steytler, and Rachael Talibart; alongside editors Nigel Atherton (Amateur Photographer), Tomasz Trzebiatowski (FRAMES),Tom Gilks (Picture Editor BBC Wildlife Magazine), Ailsa McWhinnie, Bart Somers (Insectguru), Keith Wilson, and CUPOTY co-founder Tracy Calder.

"It's always difficult for the judges. The standard of the entries is so high, that it's a tricky task to pick one photograph as the standout winner. The vote for this year's overall winner was very close indeed," Dan Calder, CUPOTY co-founder, shared with Bored Panda.

#6 2nd Place In The Category Of Animals: "Moonlight" By Imre Potyó

"In the freezing cold of winter, the 10°C environment inside an abandoned iron ore mine attracts lesser horseshoe bats. Researchers have noted that unlike other bats, these insect-eating species hunt even during winter, often flying out from the mines to feed in the forest on winter-flying moths. It's remarkable to see bats taking flight among the bare trees of the Börzsöny mountains. For weeks, I experimented with setting up a camera trap near the mine's entrance. On a moonlit night, a long exposure helped illuminate the forest, capturing the bats' winter flights without any disturbance or artificial guidance, strictly adhering to ethical photography guidelines. Witnessing their flight and feeling the air currents from their wings is truly magical. The picture shows two separate individual bats in a single exposure, showing the hidden nocturnal wonders of a wintry forest in the moonlight."

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16points

#7 1st Place In The Category Of Invertebrate Portrait: "Bark Is Worse Than Its Bite" By Aran Gibbs

"During a recent trip to Malaysia, I discovered this amazing bark spider after a long night trek up a mountain in the jungle. At the summit, I captured this shot using a 50-image handheld focus bracket set. The spider rested on a stick while I steadied my camera on my backpack for additional stability."

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14points

The 11 category winners are:

● Insects and overall winner – Svetlana Ivanenko

● Animals – Santiago J. Monroy García

● Butterflies & Dragonflies – Yong Miao

● Arachnids – Pierluigi Rizzo

● Invertebrate Portrait – Aran Gibbs

● Underwater – Gabriel Jensen

● Plants – Piet Haaksma

● Fungi & Slime Moulds – Barry Webb

● Intimate Landscape – Jean-Philippe Delobelle

● Studio Art – Rob Blanken

● Young (Under 18s) – Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco

Each category winner gets £250 in cash (around US $300) and a Universal License for all three Affinity apps (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) for macOS, Windows, and iPadOS. The winner of the Intimate Landscape category will also receive a subscription to FRAMES Photography magazine and its community. Additionally, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in the Studio Art category will receive Retouch4me Dust, Color Match, and Portrait Volumes plug-ins.

#8 3rd Place In The Category Of Fungi & Slime Moulds: "Sandy Mushroom" By Jamie Spensley

"While exploring the sand dunes on Holywell Bay Beach in Cornwall, I came across a tiny mushroom poking out of the sand. My priority was on photographing insects, but the sandy coating on this mushroom intrigued me. I set up my camera on the ground and used the focus-bracketing feature of my camera to capture all the frames needed to reveal as much detail as possible."

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13points

#9 3rd Place In The Category Of Invertebrate Portrait: "Lynx Spider" By Manfred Auer

"I was strolling through the flower meadow of my backyard in Austria, checking for insects and spiders as usual, when this magnificent little critter caught my eye. I immediately ran to the house to get my camera. Luckily, I was fast enough and managed to capture a few stacks of it before it disappeared. I really love its mandibles, which look like tiny boxing gloves."

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13points

"We introduced the Arachnids category for CUPOTY 6 and are very pleased with the entries we had for it. We're always reviewing the categories and there may be a fresh one for 2025, but we haven't decided yet," Dan Calder told Bored Panda.

#10 2nd Place In The Category Of Young (Under 18s): "Afternoon Snack" By Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas

"Robber Flies are among my favorite subjects to photograph, but capturing a macro image of one is no easy task. They are quite skittish, and during the day, they usually fly away long before you can get close enough for a good shot. This particular individual was no exception. I spotted it on a hot, sunny day and couldn't get near it on my first few attempts. However, I noticed it had prey, and since I had been hoping to capture a Robber Fly with prey for quite some time, I decided to keep trying.

Eventually, I got lucky, and the fly allowed me to get within range for a good photo. But one shot wasn't enough—I wanted to create a focus stack to ensure the eyes of both flies were sharp and in focus. Fortunately, the fly stayed still for a few more seconds, allowing me to capture this focus stack of 24 images."

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13points

#11 1st Place In The Category Of Butterflies & Dragonflies: "Damselfly By The Waterfall" By Yong Miao

"In July, Tianmushan Nature Reserve in China is immersed in a hot and romantic atmosphere. This is the fourth consecutive year that I have stepped into this primeval forest, tracing the footsteps of that murmuring stream. Just as the sky was about to darken, I was still exploring the upper reaches of the stream, when, at the bottom of a turbulent bend, I discovered a damselfly (Archineura incarnata) resting on a rock. Its head was lowered to the surface of the water as if appreciating its own reflection. At that moment, time seemed to stand still. Any slight disturbance would make it fly away, so I immersed my body in the water and cautiously crawled towards it. From a distance of about two meters, I firmly set my camera and captured this precious scene."

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12points

When asked about the standout themes or trends in this year's entries, Dan noted that focus stacking remained a particularly popular technique. "This is when the photographer takes multiple shots of the subject, getting a little closer or further away with each shot. Each frame taken is then combined to make one final image that is super-sharp and rich in detail throughout. Examples of this are found in the Invertebrate Portrait finalists, Will Menzies' 'Loving Embrace', and Artur Tomaszek's 'Crazy in Love'.

A lot of images photographed at night seemed to do well this year, many from Hungary. Mayflies gathering in Imre Potyó's 'Mayfly Arena', Avilash Ghosh's 'My Own Galaxy', Tibor Litauszki's 'A Graceful Flight', Imre Potyó's 'Moonlight', Tibor Litauszki's 'On the Way Home', José Luis Gigireys 'The Cave,' and Ferenc Kocsis' 'Sphere' were some of the pictures showing wildlife behavior at night."

#12 1st Place In The Category Of Fungi & Slime Moulds: "Ear-Pick Fungus" By Barry Webb

"I had seen ear-pick fungus a couple of times before, but this was the first one I found myself. Auriscalpium vulgare grows on pine cones and has an eccentric stem attached to one side of the cap, with unusual and distinctive downward-pointing, teeth-like gills. This specimen is particularly small, at around 15 mm tall. I placed a leaf carefully behind the pine cone to create a complementary background, and fired off 74 focus-bracketed shots to obtain sufficient depth of field and to keep the background nicely diffused."

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11points

#13 2nd Place In The Category Of Insects: "Mayfly Arena" By Imre Potyó

"After decades of absence, the spectacular and endangered Danube mayfly (Ephoron virgo) returned to the River Danube in 2012, likely due to improving water quality. This species had vanished from Middle European rivers for decades owing to pollution.

For the past 12 years, I have spent up to 25 nights each summer photographing the mayflies as they swarm on quiet nights. These insects have a fleeting lifespan of just a few hours and their swarming behavior is unpredictable. At some point, they will emerge after sunset and begin their dance just above the water's surface.

Using a fisheye lens and a combination of continuous light and flash, I managed to capture the mesmerizing sight of female and male mayflies chasing each other in an endless mass. These images are incredibly precious to me, as they help raise awareness of these spectacular and endangered water insects."

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11points

#14 2nd Place In The Category Of Invertebrate Portrait: "Stauropus Fagi" By José Manuel Lois Rial

"On a night-time excursion in my garden in Spain, I was searching for spiders when I encountered this Lobster moth caterpillar on a branch. It seemed very calm, which allowed me to take several hand-held shots. I was particularly struck by its incredible shape."

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11points

#15 1st Place In The Category Of Plants: "Mosses" By Piet Haaksma

"After a foggy night in early spring, I noticed many water droplets still clung to some moss in my garden. I used a large aperture with a 150mm macro lens to create a soft, quiet background. Only after combining two shots of the same area, and adjusting the color temperature to create a dreamy blue tint did I achieve the image I had in mind."

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11points

#16 3rd Place In The Category Of Underwater: "A Caring Mother" By Saeed Rashid

"In July 2023, I had the rare privilege of finding a reef goby in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, with its eggs in a remarkably photogenic position on a blue tunicate. To highlight the scene, I used backlighting to illuminate the blue tunicate and goby eggs."

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11points

#17 3rd Place In The Category Of Arachnids: "Crazy In Love" By Artur Tomaszek

"I was very lucky to encounter this stunning female Broad-Headed bark spider (Caerostris sumatrana) with a tiny male perched on her abdomen in Thailand. Initially, I didn’t notice the male at all.

Caerostris spp. spend the day on the bark of a tree and descend to their webs, which they recreate every single night when it gets dark. Their camouflage is brilliant, so to photograph this species on the tree, one must first find them on their web at night, then return during the day and thoroughly search nearby tree branches.

Their love life is rather fascinating, and that’s what this image is really about. Males can piggyback subadult females for some time, ready to mate with the female as soon as she molts to maturity. Sneaky, huh?"

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10points

#18 Close-Up Photographer Of The Year 6 And 1st Place In The Category Of Insects: "Clash Of The Titans" By Svetlana Ivanenko

"For a brief period in the summer, stag beetles (Lucanus cervus) engage in fierce battles for mating rights. These elusive creatures inhabit oak forests, making them hard to find. Witnessing this beautiful event makes me want to share it with everyone."

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10points

#19 3rd Place In The Category Of Young (Under 18s): "Pandora" By Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas

"Over the past few years, I've frequently encountered springtails infected by a parasitic fungus. However, they rarely make for interesting images as the springtail's head is usually curled underneath, making it almost unrecognizable. But when I spotted this one after rolling over a log, I knew I had found something special. For the first time, I was able to capture an angle with the head visible.

By resting my hands and camera on my backpack on the ground, I achieved enough stability to focus-stack handheld at a high magnification of around 4.5:1. This resulted in my largest focus stack to date, compiled from 183 individual images.

With the help of a few people on iNaturalist, I identified the fungus as Pandora deplphacis, a species about which very little is known."

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10points

#20 3rd Place Winner In The Category Of Insects: "My Own Galaxy" By Avilash Ghosh

"During a night walk at Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa, India, I found this bracket fungus. It was producing clouds of spores, which drew me over. As I approached, a leaf hopper landed on the fungus. Using an LED torch allowed me to backlight the scene and capture the swirls of spores around the fungus and insect."

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10points