Creatures Close Up

Philippe Martin creates his close-ups by "stacking" images inside his computer. To create one picture, he takes dozens of photographs, each time focusing the camera on a slightly different part of the subject. Then, using computer software, he combines the images into one perfectly focused composite image. Finally, he cleans up the image pixel by pixel.

The result is almost three-dimensional photographs of animals and plants, with such sharpness and brilliance that they appear to leap from the page.

Creatures Close Up includes a selection of amazing photographs of flora and fauna -- snakes, frogs, insects, spiders, lizards and other creatures. Many of these creatures are on the endangered species list in Madagascar, where Martin spent a month shooting in the rainforest.

These large, hyper-realistic images bring the viewer face to face with tiny creatures and plants, where the smallest details can be examined. This is nature photography as never seen before. It will fascinate children of all ages and a wide range of interests.

Gillian Watts, a writer and editor for more than 30 years, has great knowledge about a vast number of things natural.

Philippe Martin is an ecologist, photographer, including underwater subjects, and author of numerous books with a career spanning more than 40 years. His book Hyper Nature Tropical received the First Place "French Book Prize" 2014.