Close-Up Nature

Gavin's managed to capture a cracking shot of this dragonfly with muted minimalist tones and a diffused background the dragonfly with its wings outstretched takes centre stage. Our only slight criticism it's every so slightly soft and fuzzy and the depth of field would benefit from being a little deeper to get both pairs of wings in sharp focus as well as the head. This small issue aside it's a wonderful close-up. Great job!

Graham's shot of a Papilio Zelicaon butterfly is full of colour and instantly caught our eye against its dark and moody background. His composition is spot on, leaving plenty of active space around his subject. Our only slight issue is the focus doesn't look razor sharp on the butterfly, however that could be more a limitation of his 55-250mm lens than his focussing technique. This small issue aside it's a brilliant capture. Great job!

This is a wonderfully autumnal photo. Taken on a 50mm lens it proves you don't necessarily need a macro lens to get great close-up images. In fact the super wide f/1.4 aperture on his 50mm lens has provided some fantastic shallow depth of field and dreamy bokeh in the background. Our only slight issue with this picture is the twigs and sticks in the foreground that pull the eye out of the frame. For future photos it would be well worth taking the time to remove any distracting debris from the scene so that the subject can take centre stage without any interruptions. This issue aside it's a fantastic capture, great job!

Lucy's caught a brilliant close-up image here achieving a frame-filling shot of a jumping spider with her 100mm macro lens. Both the background and foreground have been kept clean for a minimalist composition that allows her tiny subject and the incredible detail in its eyes to take centre stage. Great job!

Chris has turned the ordinary into the extraordinary by placing some frogspawn in a clear container with a colourful background beneath it. It's a novel idea and one that we haven't seen before. The abstract shapes and vibrant colours instantly caught our attention. Great job!

This is an incredible shot of two mantis clashing heads on a pre-posed stick with beautiful studio lighting. The side-on composition works well and she's made sure to include all of both mantis figures, as well using a wide aperture of f/4.5 to blur the background and create some fantastic bokeh behind them.

Yvonne’s incredible close-up of a purple poppy was taken with a Canon EOS 70D and EF-S 18-135mm kit lens, which just proves you don't need the most expensive kit to take top photos. Her shot is full of colour, interesting details and swirling lines from the petals that guide the eye.

John's wildlife shot has incredible split-second timing, perfectly framing the precise moment a cormorant is about to eat its catch of the day. John's expertly used a high ISO for a rapid shutter speed of 1/3200 sec, fast enough to eliminate any shake from hand-holding and any movement from his subject for a completely pin-sharp shot.

Michelle's caught a beautiful kingfisher portrait here with stunning lighting and an almost halo effect on the background behind. The kingfisher is masterfully posed, central in the composition and side on looking into the active space on the right. Great job!

Julie used a long telephoto Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens to zoom in on this tiny chipmunk and get a frame-filling portrait. Her composition is fantastic, with the chipmunk side-on and seemingly unaware of Julie's presence. Great job!

There's some incredible depth in Henrik's portrait of this marbled white butterfly. Using a telephoto 180mm lens he's given himself a good working distance so he doesn't spook his subject and this long focal length with a wide aperture of f/3.2 has thrown the background completely out of focus some wonderful swirling motion in the bokeh. Great job!

Jay's taken an incredible close-up portrait of this damselfly covered in hundreds of tiny little water droplets from the morning dew. The front-on angle and central composition works well and although damselflies have thousands of lenses on each of their eyes, it looks like it staring right at us.

Janice's macro close-up of an akita dahlia is full of detail and beautiful colours. She's made sure to get even closer to the flower using an extension tube to ensure the heart of the flower was large in the composition for a frame-filling shot. Great job!

While we've seen countless close-ups of leaves in the past, which have fantastic details and colours in the veins. Mohamad has done a great job at putting his own spin on this type of shot simply by overlaying a second leaf to add extra contrast and depth, introducing abstract lines and shadows. Great job!

Angi has found a brilliant side-on composition for her Tokay gecko, catching it with its mouth open and displaying a fascinating colour and pattern. Her aperture of f/18 may sound high but this still provides very shallow depth of field when shooting macro, so her subject is nice and sharp but the icy blue background has been diffused beautifully.