Close-up Photographer of the Year 2026: Stunning winning images from the global macro photo competition
Close-up Photographer of the Year is an international photography competition dedicated to revealing the hidden wonder of the world through macro, micro and close-up imagery. The seventh edition of the competition attracted over 12,000 entries from 63 countries. This year’s winning images span 11 categories, with subjects ranging from frog spawn resembling a galaxy and a ghost-like swarm of mayflies approaching a Hungarian town, to an ice-covered tree in Nagano and a fantastical landscape created by oxidising a copper plate with household materials.
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Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon has won the grand prize at Close-up Photographer of the Year 7 for Fractal Forest, an extraordinary underwater image photographed inside a cauliflower soft coral in the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. The image earned Gudgeon the competition’s top award and a £2,500 prize. © Ross Gudgeon / CUPOTY
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A Malagasy frog (Guibemantis sp.) egg clutch hangs on a small trunk next to a pond in Maromizaha rainforest, Madagascar. 1st-Animals-Amphibian Galaxy-Filippo Carugati-CUPOTY 7 © Filippo Carugati / CUPOTY
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A lynx spider (Oxyopes sp.) feeds on a few termites in Hong Kong. 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. © Artur Tomaszek / CUPOTY
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A Camberwell beauty (Nymphalis antiopa) flashes its wings to defend its feeding spot on a birch tree trunk in Follo, Norway. 1st-Butterflies-Butterfly Flash-Pål Hermansen-CUPOTY 7. © Pål Hermansen / CUPOTY
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Fragment of the lower part of the cap of a lamellar mushroom in Moscow region, Russia. ‘The lower part of the cap of a lamellar mushroom. After all, there is something of the “nude” style in this.’ 1st-Fungi-Mushroom in the ‘Nude’ Style-Valeria Zvereva-CUPOTY 7. © Valeria Zvereva / CUPOTY
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Danube mayflies (Ephoron virgo) swarm in Szentendre, Hungary. After a few decades, the spectacular endangered Danube mayfly has returned to the river Danube, probably due to increasing water quality after disappearing from the rivers of Middle Europe owing to water pollution. The summer of 2024 was memorable for fans of these mayflies, as the season — likely extended by dry, hot days and persistently low water levels — lasted nearly a month. 1st-Insects-Blue Army-Imre Potyó-CUPOTY 7. © Imre Potyó / CUPOTY
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A tree covered with rime ice in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The composition relies on soft, pale tones, anchored by the dark, intricate shape of the tree trunk and its distorted form. 1st-Intimate Landscape-Dreamy State-Sho Hoshino-CUPOTY 7. © Sho Hoshino / CUPOTY
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A moth (Bombycidae sp.) in Tinamaste, Costa Rica. ncredibly photogenic, the large eyes and antenna positions of these moths, especially the males, always lend their portraits a somewhat melancholy feeling. 1st-Invertebrate Portrait-Good Boy-Laurent Hesemans-CUPOTY 7. © Laurent Hesemans / CUPOTY
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Decaying lotus leaves and floating fern (Salvinia natans) in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, China. 1st-Plants-Rebirth from Destruction-Minghui Yuan-CUPOTY 7. © Minghui Yuan / CUPOTY
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A copper plate distressed and oxidised by everyday household materials. 1st-Studio Art-COPPER WORKS No.25 - 2024-Paul Kenny-CUPOTY 7. © Paul Kenny / CUPOTY
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Stingless bee (likely Tetragonula sp.) nest in Mezhathur, Kerala, India. 1st-Young-Guardians of the Hive-Rithved Girish-CUPOTY 7. © Rithved Girish / CUPOTY
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