With high angular resolution, high temporal cadence and a stable point spread function, the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard the Hinode satellite is the ideal instrument for the study of magnetic flux emergence and its manifestations on the solar surface. In this presentation, we focus on the development of ephemeral regions and small active regions. In many instances, SOT has been able to capture the entire emergence process from beginning to end: i.e. from the initial stages of flux appearance in granule interiors, through the intermediate stages of G-band bright point formation, and finally to the coalescence of small vertical flux elements to form pores. To investigate the physics of the flux emergence process, we performed 3D numerical MHD simulations with the MURaM code. The models are able to reproduce, and help us explain, various observational signatures of magnetic flux emergence.