Few people get a chance to photograph animals such as hippos, hyenas, or crocodiles. Suren Manvelyan, however, has managed to get so close to them, he even captured insanely detailed close-ups of their eyes.
Some of these macro shots look like landscapes of distant yet-to-be-discovered planets while others remind some sort of a portal to another dimension. But they all prove that the eyes really are the windows to the soul; analyzing the images you can't help but experience profound sensations, as if you're uncovering deeply personal secrets.
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Lama
"I began thinking about this series after I completed a similar one about the human eye," Manvelyan told Bored Panda. "After the first project, I had really improved in shooting eyes in any conditions, and eventually settled on the idea to photograph animal eyes."
Manvelyan captured animals pretty much everywhere he could find them, from his backyard to zoos, oceanariums, and so on. "Sometimes, people even contact me, asking to shoot the eyes of their pets."
Husky Dog
"The eyes of every animal is the result of it adapting to its living conditions. That's the reason why there are so many eye types. Water animals have completely different eyes than those living on earth, too. I think this is what makes the animal eye series so interesting to the viewer."
Manvelyan also started a game with his online followers. When he would upload a new photo, he'd ask his Facebook and Instagram fans to guess what species the eye belongs to. "Interestingly, it can become quite a tough challenge."
Being so close to animals, however, is a challenge of its own. For example, Manvelyan spent an hour with a llama in her cage, trying to make her familiar with him and to allow him to get within the required distance for the right shot. "I would like to stress that all animals included in the series were alive and no animal was hurt in any way during shoots," the photographer added.
He wouldn't disclose any technical aspects of these shoots as he spent a lot of time and effort perfecting the setup for this particular series, but said the most interesting part of it all was realizing that nearly all people have the same eye structure. "It doesn't matter if you are young or old, white or black."
Long-Eared Owl
wow, the texture on the eyes looks strange. this is so beautiful and i appreciate the person that took these greatly.
Horse
The line shape is so the horse can see side to side and even a little bit behind to see dangers.
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I knew the pupil of a horse was not round, and kind of oblong I can't figure out what the two knobby thing in the middle are of course most horses eyes are brown. Just amazing.
Corpora nigra, or inner eyelashes, sort of. The help block the sun, kind of like an awning.
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Hah! I hadn't realized until now that horses are extraterrestrial. My bad.
I see something like a Mountain Scape~ Maybe the horse wants to go out for a ride.
This shape of the iris is what gives horses and their cousins the wide-angle of vision necessary for their survival as prey animals. I have read the description of their eye structure, but SEEING it as art!!!
wow, the horse is suck a "common" animal, in movies and documentaries and yet I had never seen their eyes in such detail... also looking at other photos I suppose this kind of elongated horizontal pupil is just part of ungulates anatomy and I suppose it has to do with their movements and the position of their lateral-eyes to achieve that "360°" vision... Amazing... every animal is so amazing.
Such a close shot makes it look like the inside of a thunder egg...
Like a 360° picture of a Rocky mountains landscape in the eye. That's more or less where horses originally come from after all.
I'm calling bs. This can't be anything except photoshopped desert lake scenery into an eye./s
Umm, no, that's really what a horses eye looks like, I work with them, I should know
Load More Replies... looks like a beautiful scenery. with mountains, a river and land around it.
Nylus Crocodile
Tokay Gecko
Rockfish Eye
Blue-Yellow Macaw Parrot
Porcupine Fish
Camel
Hippo
Crane
Chinchilla
Chimpanze
Anolis Lizard
Gecko Eublepharis
Black Rabbit
Blue Crayfish
Discus Fish
Husky Dog
Nice Eye, looks like a planet with some kind of burst or radiation all around it .
Armenian Muflon
i didn't know what that was so i looked it up. it's a type of wild sheep 50d8531e88bd0.jpg 
Coral Zebra Fish
Garden Boa, Python
Tiger Python (Non Albino)
HOW DID YOU GET SO CLOSE TO THIS BEAUTIFUL TIGER PYTHON WITHOUT IT HURTING YOU -cough- but that's a really Cool looking eye
Siam Cat
David's Deer
Note: this post originally had 74 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
A lot of these are so alien yet so familiar too- there's no mistaking that all of these are eyes.
What fascinates me more than anything else is how similar all these forms of life are. Usually two eyes, a heart on the left side, four limbs, etc. And then there are humans that still prefer to be willfully ignorant and to dismiss science altogether. I doubt there is any longtime hope for mankind.
Absolutely amazing. I've always been oddly attached to eyes. There's so much depth and meaning in them.
I find it interesting that all the herd type animals have similar sideways irises, but with subtle differences. The underwater fish eyes just look alien along with the close up snake eyes. Also neat is that the nocturnal animals have eyes that look like solar eclipses. Simply fantastic.
Almost looks like we are looking through a telescope into mysterious space. Excellent photography.
Another amazing accomplishment by an Armenian artist. The talented Armenians have been making an impact in the world for millennia.
Love this post..I have a weird thing for eyes so this was pretty awesome to look at
Eye c what he was trying 2 do! No, we r the stuff of stars n no place do u c that clearer than in the eye!
I never ever thought there could be so many different eyes. I understand that distinct living environments would make a difference, but so, so different!
I wonder if the more wrinkled look on the horizontal pupils is because smooth constriction and expansion is easier on a circular pupil?
Very nice, although the textured lighting lens pretty much ruined it.
Well i can see some of the technique. For one, an led light with a comb filter to produce tightly focused light. Its placed at a severe angle relative to the eye in order to maximize texture and dimensionality with longer shadow. Camera looks like its 60-90deg feom the light (which is why the light glare is often visible). I have to say i definitely like tge shots where light glare isnt visible. 👍
Very fascinating, but I wonder how he/she was able to get a picture so close to the animals eyes.
Tell me how God (the creator of the universe) is not real and all this happened my chance (in the face of entropy)! Just think of how complex the eye is and multiply that exponentially by the entire organisms that is functionally the same but infathomable in there differences. Think about that in an independent vacuum of evolution.
A lot of these are so alien yet so familiar too- there's no mistaking that all of these are eyes.
What fascinates me more than anything else is how similar all these forms of life are. Usually two eyes, a heart on the left side, four limbs, etc. And then there are humans that still prefer to be willfully ignorant and to dismiss science altogether. I doubt there is any longtime hope for mankind.
Absolutely amazing. I've always been oddly attached to eyes. There's so much depth and meaning in them.
I find it interesting that all the herd type animals have similar sideways irises, but with subtle differences. The underwater fish eyes just look alien along with the close up snake eyes. Also neat is that the nocturnal animals have eyes that look like solar eclipses. Simply fantastic.
Almost looks like we are looking through a telescope into mysterious space. Excellent photography.
Another amazing accomplishment by an Armenian artist. The talented Armenians have been making an impact in the world for millennia.
Love this post..I have a weird thing for eyes so this was pretty awesome to look at
Eye c what he was trying 2 do! No, we r the stuff of stars n no place do u c that clearer than in the eye!
I never ever thought there could be so many different eyes. I understand that distinct living environments would make a difference, but so, so different!
I wonder if the more wrinkled look on the horizontal pupils is because smooth constriction and expansion is easier on a circular pupil?
Very nice, although the textured lighting lens pretty much ruined it.
Well i can see some of the technique. For one, an led light with a comb filter to produce tightly focused light. Its placed at a severe angle relative to the eye in order to maximize texture and dimensionality with longer shadow. Camera looks like its 60-90deg feom the light (which is why the light glare is often visible). I have to say i definitely like tge shots where light glare isnt visible. 👍
Very fascinating, but I wonder how he/she was able to get a picture so close to the animals eyes.
Tell me how God (the creator of the universe) is not real and all this happened my chance (in the face of entropy)! Just think of how complex the eye is and multiply that exponentially by the entire organisms that is functionally the same but infathomable in there differences. Think about that in an independent vacuum of evolution.
