13 Captivating Entries From The 2023 Water Challenge By Close-Up Photographer Of The Year

Water, an essential element for life, has always inspired photographers, fascinating them with its constant transformations and captivating characteristics.

The Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition recently focused on capturing the beauty of water by dedicating a special category to it. Photographers from around the globe enthusiastically joined in, submitting their most stunning close-up shots showcasing water in its diverse forms. This marked the fourth CUPOTY CHALLENGE, a themed contest held separately from their annual competition.

Scroll down to see the beautiful photographs!

More info: cupoty.com | Instagram

12 PHOTOS

#1 Finalist: "Long Over Dew" By Pete Burford

"At Mousecroft pool, Shrewsbury, I photographed this damselfly covered in dew during the early morning hours, at around 3 am, in May. Given that insects are cold-blooded and need warmth to move, they typically rest at night. The sudden drop in temperature causes dew to cling to them. This moment is ideal for portraits as they cannot move or fly. As they warm up with the rising sun in the morning, they wipe away the moisture and fly off. To enhance the visual appeal, I used a colored background card to add contrast and additional hues to the image. Afterward, I stacked the frames in Helicon Focus, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop, and then finished off with Topaz DeNoise."

The CUPOTY CHALLENGE happens every November, separate from the annual Close-up Photographer of the Year contest. It has a different theme each year, chosen by the CUPOTY community. This year's theme was Water.

Close-up Photographer of the Year was started in 2018 by Tracy and Dan Calder to show the amazing things around us through close-up photography. "We hope to inspire a wider appreciation of nature’s wealth, encourage a deeper connection to often-overlooked animals, plants, and landscapes, and kindle a desire to protect them."

#2 3rd Place: "The Ice Skater" By Sebastien Blomme

"For a long time, the idea of ​​capturing the graceful ballet of damselflies flying over the Garonne (the river that winds near my home) had been running through my head. It’s enchanting to observe hundreds of these creatures circling, skilfully capturing midges and other insects in mid-flight every summer. One day, I settled in the water at a spot where I had noticed a damselfly regularly returned to rest. I waited patiently for its return. At each appearance I fired my camera in burst mode, hoping to capture the moment when its wings would be spread in all their glory. After a hundred attempts, I finally managed to obtain the image I desired."

#3 1st Place: "Between The Stars" By Tibor Litauszki

"In Germany, where I live, there are many clear and slow-flowing streams that provide excellent habitat for alpine newts. I have been following their lives for years, and last year was no exception. A few days after the frogs lay their eggs, at dusk, the newts appear and feast on the spawn all through the night. I wanted to capture this moment underwater. To do this, I placed my camera in an underwater housing, attached it with weights, and placed it under the frogs’ eggs. I was a bit nervous at first because I wasn't sure if the underwater housing was completely waterproof. But I figured that if no bubbles appeared, my camera would stay dry. I manually set the focus on the lens beforehand and hoped to get lucky. Waiting nearby until it got dark, I illuminated the first newt that appeared with an LED light and triggered the camera with a homemade wired remote release."

Hungarian photographer Tibor Litauszki snagged the top spot in the 2023 CUPOTY CHALLENGE: Water with his cool snap of a newt munching on frog eggs in the dark. The photographer takes home £300 and gets his photo showcased to the world, along with 12 other pics, on the winner's page.

#4 Finalist: "Periscope" By Marco Maggesi

"This beautiful snake was looking for prey in a pond. I was really lucky because it stopped right in front of me to taste the air. The light was very soft because it was a cloudy day. I used a 300mm lens to capture this portrait. I will never forget this encounter."

#5 Finalist: "Milking Bonnets" By Tony North

"I found this clump of mushrooms with an almost perfect shape and number in Marbury Country Park, UK. I lit the scene from behind with an LED panel, both to fill the bonnets with light and to illuminate the droplets, which I created with a fine mist spray. I aimed to enhance the natural beauty of the fungi by adding more light and atmosphere. I focus bracketed 40 frames of the bonnets, then took one shot with the fungi and the 'rain'. I combined the files later in Photoshop."

British photographer Ian Gilmour captured 2nd place with his daring and imaginative photo of flowers frozen in ice. Sebastien Blomme from France secured the 3d place on the podium with a graceful damselfly perched on the water.

The other pictures to have made the winners' gallery are Barry Webb, Tony North, Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, Pete Burford, Harald Cederlund, Marco Maggesi, Sandra Stalker, Claudia Gaupp, Gabi Swart and Abby Raeder.

#6 Finalist: "Slime Moulds And Raindrops" By Barry Webb

"Following overnight rain, I came across a colony of 2mm tall Physarum album slime mold fruiting bodies on a short section of beech branch, lying in leaf litter on the woodland floor. On closer inspection, I spotted this little group encased in raindrops. Carefully positioning the branch in a suitable position, taking care not to disturb the droplets, I shot 101 focus bracketed images to capture the full depth of the subjects. The resulting images were focus stacked using Zerene Stacker software."

#7 Finalist: "Sparkling Crown" By Claudia Gaupp

"Love-in-the-Mist (Nigella damascena) is the epitome of early summer for me. I have always been fascinated by the variety of nigella flowers. From the bud to the dried seed capsule – each phase holds its own secret. In this case, I was intrigued by the details of the stamens and petals, which are surrounded by net-like leaves. Shortly after a rain shower, the tiny drops of water caught in the leaves made me think of a sparkling crown on the bloom. I took the picture in my garden in the natural evening light and converted it in post-processing to a very cool blue-green background to match the blue of the flower."

Tracy Calder, the co-founder of CUPOTY, said, "It’s not easy to select a winner from so many different styles and subjects of photography, but expert judges David Maitland, Ross Hoddinott, Keith Wilson, Tracy Calder and the team from Amateur Photographer magazine rose to the challenge."

#8 Finalist: "You See Better With Four Eyes" By Gabi Swart

"This picture was taken in a pond near Ladenburg, Germany. It was shot from a low angle so that the reflection of the frog’s eyes was just visible. I then decided to turn it upside down to confuse the viewer and encourage him or her to look more closely."

#9 Finalist: "Last Flight" By Harald Cederlund

"In early autumn, large quantities of moths were swarming in the mountain birch forest of Grövelsjön, Sweden – giving the hike through it a certain dream-like quality. My hiking buddy wasn’t feeling great, so we had to stay and rest in a mountain station, allowing me time to explore the immediate surroundings with my camera. I followed the trail down to Linnés källa – a spring that was supposedly discovered by the botanist Carl Linnaeus. Its surface was littered with large quantities of dead moths, along with some autumn leaves, grasses, and algae. It looked to me as if the moths were still dancing over a meadow somewhere, taking one last flight. Later on, I combined five frames in Zerene Stacker to give a greater depth of field."

"We asked photographers to show our work on a Water theme. Our callout was answered with images of seahorses swimming through kelp, flowers bejeweled with rain, and insects drying out their wings before taking flight, among so many other things. As usual, looking at all the entries was both educational and inspiring."

#10 2nd Place: "Poppies Tiarella In Ice" By Ian Gilmour