The 2020 Macro Art Photography Awards Just Announced Its Winners And The Photos Are Breathtaking

"I photographed these two Polyommatus icarus (common blue) butterflies at rest on this Mentha (apple mint) flower head in Derbyshire’s first dedicated butterfly nature reserve."

"I found this South China tree toad (Annam tree frog) at rest on the foliage of plants in the forest. I watched from underneath through the holes in the leaves, and I focused on the head of the amphibian, which was gazing into the surrounding environment. It's like nature provided a window for me in this exact moment, so I could see into the frog’s world."

"The spiral-shaped filiform structure of the Passiflora (passion fruit) tendrils are an important specialised botanic feature. They are used by climbers like claws to affix themselves for support and provide a stable place to grow and flower."

"I used spectral light coming from a prism to bathe this Lilium (lily) flower in the full colours of the rainbow. Like many photographers I initially struggled to be creative during the COVID-19 lockdown. I convinced myself that home confinement was incompatible with a creative life but as the weeks went by I proved myself wrong. I used a prism and the sunny days of spring to look at flowers under (literally) a different light."

"I spotted this tiny scene and used my macro lens to photograph this jewel bug (metallic shield bug) exploring an open seed pod."

"I spotted this tiny glass frog on a flower in the rainforest, which looked like it was posing; I liked the contrast of colours - making the frog more visible and showing its size in scale."

"For this macro photograph of an Abutilon flower, I used a frontal perspective to capture the beauty of the perfect, circular symmetry formed by the pattern of the coiled petals."

"Although classified as a common annual weed, I used a macro lens to reveal the delicate beauty of Capsella bursa-pastoris seed pods– known commonly as shepherd’s purse. Being part of the Brassica family its seeds are edible and are consumed across Asia."

"When the tulip petals all fell off the flower they still looked beautiful; such lovely colours and texture abound - so i laid them out and took a photo of them, they resembled little coloured mountains."

"A brown praying mantis in my garden - whose improbable alien look I emphasised by matching its slender curves with the curves of the plant."

"I photographed female and male Plebejus argus (silver-studded blue) butterflies at rest on heather flowers. They are one of my favourite butterfly species due to the amazing and intricate wing patterns with the individual colours to complement each sex. I used focus stacking to blur out the heavy background and bring out the detail of the subjects."

"I photographed this leaf structure handheld and naturally backlit by the sun; the conditions at Hampton Court that day were very hot."

"I found a sleeping butterfly in the early morning and took the chance to capture some extreme macro shots of its wings. Top achieve this, I used an ultra macro lens at around 5:1 magnification. The result is a very detailed and intriguing image, rich in colour, shapes and textures of tiny scales that are covering the wings. I am always amazed by nature, especially when such beautiful details can be explored through macro photography."

"I created this original artwork by photographing a dandelion seed head in natural sunlight (handheld) using my macro lens, I then used Adobe Photoshop to achieve the desired artistic look."

"I used my long-barrelled macro lens to capture this spider on its web, waiting; as the patient hunter for any vibration - to inform it that its prey had arrived."

"During a sunny afternoon in Salzburg, I photographed these wild carrot flowers in my garden; they grew very high this year, more than 2 metres tall. I managed to get some in both the foreground and background and discovered that the sun had created a beautiful bokeh as it backlit the flower heads."

"I received a bouquet with all sorts of Allium flowers in it, including two leek flower buds. One of these flower buds burst open leaving its 'hat' on and I just had to capture it like that. The bouquet was in front of our chimney, the slightly stained-looking background is the marble stone of the chimney. I lightened the background and gave the image a slightly brighter vignette to keep the attention on the flower bud; I wanted to achieve a botanical feel to the image."

"To create this artistic photograph, I first used a normal glass-fronted photo frame and placed it on a glass-topped table. Into this I splashed some water and oil, and touches of watercolour paint and under the table I put one of my hand painted backgrounds. I then positioned a glass bowl with a blue rim on top of the background; I did this to offer a shape to echo the curve of the flower, then I carefully placed the rain-drenched Camassia onto the photo frame 'dish'."

"I developed this photograph of the bark of a Eucalyptus tree trunk in post-processing to reveal an intriguing and original abstract macro artwork."

"This photograph of a knot in the bark of a Eucalyptus tree has been developed to reveal an abstract artwork."