Welcome to The Top 100 winners gallery of Close-up Photographer of the Year 6 (2024), in association with Affinity Photo. These pictures were selected by our jury of 25 experts from over 11,000 pictures sent in from 61 countries.

For a closer look at The Top 100 pictures, download the CUPOTY 6 eBook. You’ll get all of the images in high resolution with full captions, shooting settings and photographer tips, as well as all of the shortlisted pictures and CUPOTY CHALLENGE: Water winners. All entrants will receive a free copy.

Insects

 
 

Close-up Photographer of the Year 6
Overall winner & Insects winner

 
 

Svetlana Ivanenko | Clash of the Titans

 
 
 

2nd place | Insects

Imre Potyó | Mayfly Arena

3rd place | Insects

Avilash Ghosh | My Own Galaxy

 
 
 

Finalists | Insects

 

Animals

 
 

Winner

 
 

Santiago J. Monroy García | God in the Shadows

 
 
 

2nd place

Imre Potyó | Moonlight

3rd place

Csaba Daróczi | Pine Marten Portrait

 
 

Finalists | Animals

 
 

Butterflies & Dragonflies

 
 

Winner

Yong Miao | Damselfly by the Waterfall

 
 

2nd Place

Ferenc Kocsis | Sphere

3rd Place

Imre Potyó | December Moth

 
 

Finalists | Butterflies & Dragonflies

 
 

Arachnids

 
 

Winner

Pierluigi Rizzo | Queen of Hearts

 
 
 
 

2nd place

Avilash Ghosh | Fire Stream Scorpio

3rd place

Artur Tomaszek | Crazy in Love

 
 

Finalists | Arachnids

 
 
 
 

Invertebrate Portrait

 
 

Winner

A Caerostris spider rests on a stick in the Malaysian jungle

Aran Gibbs | Bark is Worse than its Bite

 
 
 
 

2nd place

José Manuel Lois Rial | Stauropus Fagi

3rd place

Manfred Auer | Lynx Spider

 
 
 

Finalists | Invertebrate Portrait

 

Underwater

 
 
 

Winner

A doctorfish struggles in the jaws of a lizardfish in Kona, Hawaii

Gabriel Jensen | Everything's A-OK

 
 

2nd place

A leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) swims with a school of rough bullseye fish (Pempheris klunzingeri) in Rapid Bay, South Australia

Jenny Stock | Search for the Dragon

3rd place

A reef goby guards its eggs on a blue tunicate in the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

Saeed Rashid | A Caring Mother

 
 
 

Finalists | Underwater

 

Intimate Landscape

 
 

Winner

The etched tunnels of bark beetle larvae (Ips typographus) beneath the bark of a spruce tree in the French Alps

Jean-Philippe Delobelle | A Network of Life and Death

 
 

2nd Place

ead Jack Pine branches cross-cross vibrant huckleberry plants in Nova Scotia, Canada

Andrew Mielzynski | Fall Matrix

3rd Place

A white fir tree surrounded by three giant sequoias in Sequoia National Park, California, USA

Sigfrido Zimmermann | Among Giants

 
 

Finalists | Intimate Landscape

 
 

Fungi & Slime Moulds

 
 

Winner

 
 
 

Barry Webb | Ear-Pick Fungus

 
 
 

2nd place

Puffball mushrooms release spores in a chestnut forest in Covas, Spain

José Luis Gigirey González | Autumn Storm of Spores

3rd place

A mushroom covered in sand on Holywell Bay Beach, Cornwall, UK

Jamie Spensley | Sandy Mushroom

 
 
 

Finalists | Fungi & Slime Moulds

 
 
 

Plants

 
 

Winner

Garden moss covered in dew drops in Sneek, Netherlands

Piet Haaksma | Mosses

 
 
 
 

2nd place

Autumn lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) in the early October sun of Toulouse, France

Sébastien Blomme | Tournicoti

3rd place

A giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) frond in the water of Channel Islands National Park, California

Sigfrido Zimmermann | Flowing Kelp

 
 
 

Finalists | Plants

 
 
 

Studio Art

 
 

Winner

Rob Blanken | Artificial Landscape

 
 
 
 

2nd place

Oil drops on water

Matt Vacca | Drift 5

3rd place

A copper plate distressed and oxidised by everyday household materials

Paul Kenny | Copper Works No. 13 – 2024

 
 
 

Finalists | Studio Art

 
 
 

Young
(Under 18s)

 
 

Young Close-up Photographer of the Year 6

A European Bee-eater in mid-flight with an insect in its beak

Andrés Luis Dominguez Blanco | Spring
(14 years old)

 
 
 
 

2nd place

A robber fly (Asilidae sp.) feeds on a flesh fly (Sarcophagidae sp.) in Brandenburg, Germany

Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas | Afternoon Snack
(17 years old)

3rd place

A Globular springtail (Dicyrtomina ornata) infected by the entomopathogenic fungus Pandora batallata in Berlin, Germany

Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas | Pandora
(17 years old)

 
 
 

Finalists | Young