Nikon Small World 2023 Photomicrography Competition
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Photographic subjects can be all shapes and sizes, from vast landscapes to tiny animals and everything in between. But what’s often overlooked – and understandably so – is the teeny, tiny and beautifully detailed microscopic world. Beyond the reach of the naked eye (most of the time) and your traditional macro lens, the world of microscopy, or photomicrography, is a specialized style of photography that bridges scientific imaging technology with visual creativity.
Now in its 49th year, Nikon just announced the winners of this year’s Small World photo contest, with the top prize being awarded to Hassanain Qambari, assisted by Jayden Dickson of the Lions Eye Institute, for his image of a rodent optic nerve head.
DPReview has highlighted the Top 20 recognized images from this year’s competition, including artist information and details about the magnification and imaging techniques used. For the full gallery of this year’s top images, please head over to the Nikon Small World photo gallery.
1st Place: Rodent optic nerve head showing astrocytes (yellow), contractile proteins (red) and retinal vasculature (green)
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Artist(s): Hassanain Qambari, Jayden Dickson (Lions Eye Institute, Department of Physiology & Pharmacology: Perth, Western Australia, Australia)
Technique: Confocal, Fluorescence, Image Stacking
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
2nd Place: Matchstick igniting by the friction surface of the box
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Artist(s): Ole Bielfeldt (Macrofying: Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
Technique: Brightfield, Image Stacking
Magnification: 2.5X (Objective Lens Magnification)
3rd Place: Breast cancer cells
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Artist(s): Malgorzata Lisowska (Independent Value Based Healthcare Consultant: Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland)
Technique: Brightfield, Image Stacking
Magnification: 40X (Objective Lens Magnification)
4th Place: Venomous fangs of a small tarantula
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Artist(s): John-Oliver Dum (Medienbunker Produktion: Bendorf, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany)
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
5th Place: Auto-fluorescing defensive hairs covering the leaf surface of Eleagnus angustifolia exposed to UV light
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Artist(s): Dr. David Maitland (www.davidmaitland.com: Feltwell, Norfolk, United Kingdom)
Technique: Fluorescence, Image Stacking
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
6th Place: Slime mold (Comatricha nigra) showing capillitial fibers through its translucent peridium
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Artist(s): Timothy Boomer (WildMacro: Vacaville, California, USA)
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
7th Place: Mouse embryo
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Artist(s): Dr. Grigorii Timin, Dr. Michel Milinkovitch (University of Geneva, Department of Genetics and Evolution: Geneva, Switzerland)
Technique: Light Sheet
Magnification: 4X (Objective Lens Magnification)
8th Place: Caffeine crystals
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Artist(s): Stefan Eberhard (The University of Georgia: Athens, Georgia, USA)
Technique: Polarized Light
Magnification: 25X (Objective Lens Magnification)
9th Place: Cytoskeleton of a dividing myoblast; tubulin (cyan), F-actin (orange) and nucleus (magenta)
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Artist(s): Vaibhav Deshmukh (Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics: Houston, Texas, USA)
Technique: Fluorescence, Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM)
Magnification: 63X (Objective Lens Magnification)
10th Place: Motor neurons grown in microfluidic device for separation of cell bodies (top) and axons (bottom). Green – microtubules; Red – growth cones (actin)
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Artist(s): Melinda Beccari, Dr. Don W. Cleveland (University of California, San Diego, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine: La Jolla, California, USA)
Technique: Confocal, Fluorescence
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
11th Place: Crystallized sugar syrup
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Artist(s): Dr. Diego García (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Real Sociedad Española de Física: Madrid, Spain)
Technique: Polarized Light
Magnification: 25X (Objective Lens Magnification)
12th Place: Cuckoo wasp standing on a flower
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Artist(s): Sherif Abdallah Ahmed (Tanta University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology: Tanta, Egypt)
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 4X (Objective Lens Magnification)
13th Place: Blood and lymphatic vasculatures in the ear skin of an adult mouse
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Artist(s): Satu Paavonsalo, Dr. Sinem Karaman (University of Helsinki, Individualized Drug Therapy Research Program, Faculty of Medicine: Helsinki, Finland)
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
14th Place: Sunflower pollen on an acupuncture needle
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Artist(s): John-Oliver Dum (Medienbunker Produktion: Bendorf, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany)
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 40X (Objective Lens Magnification)
15th Place: Fluorescent image of an Acropora sp. showing individual polyps with symbiotic zooxanthellae
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Artist(s): Dr. Pichaya Lertvilai (University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography: La Jolla, California, USA)
Technique: Darkfield, Fluorescence, Image Stacking
Magnification: 5X (Objective Lens Magnification)
16th Place: Carbon nanotubes
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Artist(s): Dr. Diego García (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Real Sociedad Española de Física: Madrid, Spain)
Technique: Stereomicroscopy
Magnification: 30X (Objective Lens Magnification)
17th Place: Chinese moon moth (Actias ningpoana) wing scales
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Artist(s): Yuan Ji (World Expo Museum, Shanghai, China)
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
18th Place: A cryptocrystalline micrometeorite resting on a #80 testing sieve
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Artist(s): Scott Peterson (New Hope, Minnesota, USA)
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
19th Place: Stomata in peace lily (Spathiphyllum sp.) leaf epidermis
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Artist(s): Marek Miś (Marek Mis Photography, Suwalki, Podlaskie, Poland)
Technique: Polarized Light
Magnification: 40X (Objective Lens Magnification)
20th Place: Adult transgenic zebrafish head showing blood vessels (blue), lymphatic vessels (yellow), and the skin and scales (magenta)
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Artist(s): Daniel Castranova, Dr. Brant M. Weinstein (National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: Bethesda, Maryland, USA)
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 4X (Objective Lens Magnification)
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