Close-up Photographer of the Year 2024: In pictures
- Published
- comments
Take a look at some of these stunning winning images from this year's Close-up Photographer of the Year competition.
11,870 entries from across the world were submitted for judging and there were winners across 11 categories - including Animals, Underwater and Butterflies & Insects.
The overall winner was taken by photographer Csaba Dar贸czi from Hungary.
The picture, named The Bird of the Forest, was taken on a GoPro camera, usually used for action sports.
It was submitted to the Animals category and bagged the snapper a cool 拢2,500 in prize money.
Csaba said: "In the winter of 2023, I took a lot of photos in a nearby forest. Almost every week I found a new topic that I perfected over several days.
"That's how I found this place surrounded by trees. I discovered a hollowed out tree stump... and put my Gopro 11 camera inside it. The results were amazing.
"After a few days, however, I figured out that an animal would improve the composition. I placed a sunflower near the hole, which the mice and the birds found."
Csaba also won the Butterflies and Dragonflies category with this stunning image of a nosy insect who had landed on a window outside a wedding party in Hungary.
The winner of the Young Close-Up Photographer of the Year was Carlos P茅rez Naval from Spain.
The 17-year-old called his image Small Wonders. It is a close up of pyrolusite, which is the naturally occurring magnesium mineral in a stunning leaf-like formation, next to a Moorish gecko.
The winner in the Insects section was this amazing image, entitled, Wood Ants Firing Acid Secretion.
Ren茅 Krekels, who is a Dutch Biologist, said they took the picture when studying these ants for work.
"I noticed... a very large ants' nest seemed eager to scare me off by spraying acid towards me. Luckily it wasn't that destructive, and it provided me with a great opportunity to photograph them defending the nest."
Australian photographer Simon Theuma was the winner of the Underwater theme, with this shot of a commensal shrimp, also known as a glass shrimp.
A British gardener, Barry Webb won the Fungi, Slime and Mould prize with this amazing image of a crown of ice on top of a fungi.
He said it took him a few attempts to get this shot with other growths - his breath had melted the ice before he managed to take the perfect shot. But he eventually managed it.
- Published5 October 2023
- Published10 January