Macro

It's that time of the year again. We've got our hands on the shortlisted pictures from the 2024 Close-up Photographer of the Year competition, so you can feast your eyes on a whole new collection of natural wonders from around the world.

The winner of the latest Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition captured a stunning shot of two young salamanders being slowly devoured by a carnivorous plant. The contest, only in its fourth year, has already become a highlight on the annual photography competition calendar.

The UK's Adaptalux launched a successful Kickstarter for a modular lighting system for macro photographers back in 2015, and has now returned to the platform to fund production of a mini control unit to power even more lighting creativity.

UK-based Adaptalux hit Kickstarter in 2015 with a modular lighting system aimed at macro photographers that featured bendy LED arms. Xenon flash arms for the system followed a while later, and now the newly redesigned flash arms are available to buy.

Now in its third year, the Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition has quickly become an impressive showcase for macro photography. Highlights in 2021 include surreal shots of fungi and a rare glimpse at fighting toad-headed agama lizards.

The Close-up Photographer of the Year competition highlights seldom-seen close-up textures and details of animals, insects, plants and materials. Galice Hoarau's electrifying image of an eel larva snapped during a blackwater dive is the 2020 winner.

The mind-bending winners of the 2020 Macro Art Photo Awards offer a surreal assortment of images. From a close-up of tree bark made to resemble landscape drone photography, to some glimpses of mischievous tree frogs, this macro photography contest is an annual highlight for fans of tiny things made large.

The UK's Adaptalux has added flexible Xenon flash arms to its macro photography lighting arsenal, together with an IR emitter to trigger them.

German photographer Lizzy Petereit has won this year’s Macro Art Photo Project with a lovely close-up of an Anemone flower. Other celebrated images in the impressive competition include an extraordinary snap of a tiny snout-nosed beetle, and surreal cross-section of a developing fig fruit.

The winners of the Macro Art Photo Project have been revealed with first place awarded to a magnificent shot of two mayflies perched atop a poppy. The competition highlights the world of plants and gardens through the lens of macro photography.

Quantum entanglement is the idea that two distant atoms can become so entwined that changes to one can instantly affect the other. Now scientists have managed to demonstrate it on a much larger scale, which is beginning to cross over into our everyday world.

Adaptalux is a lighting system which uses flexible LED arms to offer macro photographers and videographers the ability to easily create a variety of lighting environments. The system is currently looking for funding on Kickstarter.