Check Out the 10 Coolest Macro Photos from Apple’s Latest ‘Shot on iPhone’ Challenge

Although Apple’s Shot on iPhone challenge has always showcased the fantastic things that the iPhone camera system is capable of, this time around, Apple has thrown a twist into the challenge to reveal some even more incredible photography.

The Shot on iPhone challenges have been held since the days of the iPhone 6 to demonstrate how an iPhone can rival some of the best DSLRs — at least when it’s put in the hands of a capable photographer.

Most of these have just been straight photography contests where folks are asked to send in their best pictures. However, Apple also occasionally used them to highlight some of the features of its newest iPhone models, such as the Night Mode Challenge two years ago.

This year, Apple has done something similar to show off the features of the iPhone 13 Pro lineup, announcing the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge in late January.

Apple recently announced the top ten winners of this latest challenge, and the results are nothing short of absolutely stunning.

Naturally, the content was limited to folks with an iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max since those are the only models that support a macro mode. Despite this, however, Apple managed to collect photos from a “diverse community of iPhone photographers” around the world, with the finalists heralding from China, Hungary, India, Italy, Spain, Thailand, and the U.S.

Not surprisingly, most of the winning photos featured shots of things in nature, as it’s the natural world that’s often the most fascinating when it comes to the minute details.

The winning images demonstrate that the beauty of macro photography is its ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, and capture the little things in a big way. Photos include incredible nature shots that might be overlooked by the naked eye, like dewdrops on a spiderweb, snowflakes on a dog’s hair, a cavernous hibiscus flower, and a strawberry engulfed in tiny soda water bubbles.

Apple

The ten best photos were selected by an international panel of judges, which consisted of internationally renowned photographers Anand Varma, Apeksha Maker, Peter McKinnon, Paddy Chao, and Yik Keat Lee. These five experts were joined by Apple managers and executives Arem Duplessis, Billy Sorrentino, Della Huff, Kaiann Drance, and Pamela Chen.

Continue reading to browse the ten winning photos selected by Apple as representing the best of iPhone macro photography!