A celebration of the close-up, macro and micro.
The Close Up Photographer of the Year competition has announced its shortlist for 2026. This year, the eighth time the contest has been held, there were 15,388 photos submitted across 11 categories, all of which are centered around “close-up, macro and micro photography.”
According to the competition, the ultimate winner will be announced in January, 2027, alongside the winners for each category. Alongside the official competition, Close Up Photographer of the Year is running a “themed challenge,” which it encourages “photographers of all levels” to enter by November 30.
We’re sharing some of the standout photos from the shortlist, but you can view all of them on the Close Up Photographer of the Year website.
Animals – Bat Bath, Hira Punjabi
© Hira Punjabi/CUPOTYCaption: I spent seven nights photographing animals visiting a waterhole at Shompole Conservancy in Kenya. Even bats need a way to beat the scorching summer heat! On hot summer days, these fascinating creatures dip themselves in cool water to help regulate their body temperature, stay refreshed and escape the rising heat.
Details: Nikon Z9 | Nikon Z 600mm F6.3 VR S | F6.3 | 1/2000 sec | ISO 1600
Animals – Cloaked auk, James Rogerson
© James Rogerson/CUPOTYCaption: Atop the cliffs of Hermaness National Nature Reserve in Shetland, an Atlantic puffin tucks its bill between its shoulders with striking symmetry. Symmetry is of the utmost importance in my work, and I look for it in everything I shoot. It doesn’t have to be the bilateral kind seen here; a strong adherence to the rule of thirds, or the use of leading lines, feels just as satisfying. Nature already has these elements in abundance. Photography simply draws our attention to them.
Details: Canon EOS R6 | Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS II USM + 1.4x III | 560mm | F11 | 1/640 sec | ISO 320
Animals – Golden dust, Sarthak Agrawal
© Sarthak Agrawal/CUPOTYCaption: A Eurasian hoopoe takes a dust bath on a quiet road running through sugarcane fields on the outskirts of Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. Dust bathing is an essential behaviour in this species. It helps remove excess oil from the feathers, so they don’t stick together, improves flight efficiency, provides insulation, and reduces parasites such as lice and mites. Fast action and swirling dust made focus especially difficult. This evening, everything aligned. By shooting against the low winter sun, the backlight revealed fine dust particles suspended in the air, outlining the bird in a warm golden glow. Out of many attempts across nearly two months, this frame best captures the beauty of the behaviour.
Details: Nikon Z8 | Nikon Z 180-600mm F5.6-6.3 VR | 600mm | F7.1 | 1/1600 sec | ISO 2000
Animals – Nosepick, Steffen Foerster
© Steffen Foerster/CUPOTYCaption: A blackish cinclodes or tussock-bird (Cinclodes antarcticus) picks at the nose of a resting southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) on Sea Lion Island, in the Falkland Islands. These birds are sensitive to ground predation by introduced cats and rats, so they generally only occur on islands where these predators have been eliminated. Their normal diet consists of invertebrates, but they are also known to feed on blood, nasal mucus and damaged tissue of elephant seals. The seals do what they can (which is not much) to discourage the birds from feeding on their wounds.
Details: Canon EOS R1 | Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM | 500mm | F7.1 | 1/1250 sec | ISO 4000
Arachnids – Stilled for survival, Bidyut Kalita
© Bidyut Kalita/CUPOTYCaption: While observing insect activity in an area of Goalpara, Assam, India, I encountered a striking scene – a jewel-toned Solitary Wasp (likely a Spider Wasp) subduing a spider. The precision of the attack was remarkable. Instead of killing the spider, the wasp delivered a sting that paralysed it. I watched as the wasp carefully handled its prey, preparing to transport it to its nest. The immobilised spider would serve as a living food source for the wasp’s offspring. An egg would be laid on it, and the emerging larva would feed gradually, ensuring the prey remained fresh for as long as possible. This image reflects nature’s raw yet balanced design, where survival is both precise and uncompromising.
Details: Canon EOS R6 | Canon RF 85mm F2 Macro IS STM | F18 | 1/160 sec | ISO 320
Bidyut Kalita also received a shortlist nod in the Insects category for the image titled The Weight of Survival, shown below.
© Bidyut Kalita/CUPOTYButterflies and Dragonflies – Bat Defence, Daniel Meier
© Daniel Meier/CUPOTYCaption: This moth is in an evolutionary arms race against bats – sonar versus expert stealth. Bats are fierce nigh-time aerial predators with impressive sonar for targeting flying moths. This moth, (Eucyclodes fascinans) has evolved advanced stealth to try and evade detection. Those wild tufts coming off the thorax aren’t just for show, they play a crucial role in anti-air defence, helping protect the moth’s most vital parts (the tastiest bits) from bats. The tufts interfere with bat echolocation by breaking up and absorbing sound, making the moth harder to detect.
Details: Sony a6700 | Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS | F6.3 | 1/160 sec | ISO 125
Insects – Spoonwing, Lucien Harris
© Lucien Harris/CUPOTYCaption: The rear appendages seen on these Greek Spoonwings (Nemoptera coa) are modified hind wings. They are used to make the Spoonwing much larger than it seems to scare off predators like birds and robber flies. They also act as rear antenna, which help with spatial awareness. I followed this Spoonwing for over 10 minutes as it clumsily flew along the border of an overgrown field in the Peloponnese region of Greece, waiting for the perfect backdrop to compose a photo of this beautiful creature.
Intimate Landscape – Where Worlds Collide, Johannes Kowalewski
© Johannes Kowalewski/CUPOTYCaption: High above the Baltic Sea, an ancient beech forest glows in autumn colours atop the dramatic white chalk cliffs of Jasmund National Park on the island of Rügen, Germany.
Details: Sony a7R V | Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS | 49mm | F9 | 1/40 sec | ISO 500
Intimate Landscape – Untitled 14, Lukas Furlan
© Lukas Furlan/CUPOTYCaption: I was already fascinated by this scene, but rotating the image later revealed an entirely different world, almost like looking through a portal. It’s a reminder of the magic of experimentation and unexpected discoveries in photography.
Invertebrate Portrait – Cicada emergence, Yanis Karamalengos
© Yanis Karamalengos/CUPOTYCaption: The Large Brown Cicada (Lyristes plebejus) is the largest cicada species found in France (4-5cm long). Adults emerge in summer and live for only a few weeks. Most of their life is spent underground. The nymph feeds on the sap of plant roots before leaving the soil and climbing a tree trunk, stem or rock to undergo its final molt – a process known as emergence. Within a few hours, the exoskeleton splits open, revealing the adult, which slowly expands its wings before they harden. This particularly vulnerable stage marks the end of an underground development that can last three to five years.
Details: Olympus E-M1 Mark III | Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro | F8 | 1/50 sec | ISO 200
Underwater – Paper Nautilus, Alexei Magai
© Alexei Magai/CUPOTYCaption: Paper Nautilus swim using jet propulsion (expelling water through a siphon), but sometimes they make life easier for themselves by finding a mode of transport. Jellyfish, leaves, sticks – and, unfortunately, trash – can all serve as their “taxis.”
Underwater – Fish Out of Context, Marco Domenicucci
© Marco Domenicucci/CUPOTYCaption: A shoal of goldfish swim in an urban pond inside a metropolitan business district. Two worlds divided by a thin waterline: glass and concrete above and an aquatic ecosystem below.
Details: Sony a7 IV | Canon EF 8-15mm F4 L Fisheye USM | 15mm | F11 | 1/100 sec | ISO 640
