Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
2016 Nikon Macro Photo Contest Winners Show The World Like You’ve Never Seen Before
Nikon has just announced the winners of its annual Small World Photomicrography competition, and as you can see from these stunning photographs, bigger isn't always better.
The competition is in its 42nd year and this year over 2000 people from 70 countries entered. For those that don't know, photomicrography is the practise of taking a photograph through a microscope or similar magnifying device in order to capture the intricate details of things invisible to the human eye. From the proboscis of a butterfly and the foot of a beetle to espresso coffee crystals, the pictures below give us a whole new way of looking at world. The categories are divided into winners, honorable mentions, and images of distinction, and you can find the full list on the Nikon Small World website.
More info: Nikon Small World (h/t: demilked)
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Fourth Place. Butterfly Proboscis
Lynn Daley 9 years ago
Stunning! One of the best macro shots I've ever seen. Congradulations on derserving win!
RELATED:
#2
Fifth Place. Front Foot (Tarsus) Of A Male Diving Beetle
#4
Nineteenth Place. Human Neural Rosette Primordial Brain Cells
#5
Eleventh Place. Scales Of A Butterfly Wing Underside
Yvonne Bernal 9 years ago
All butterfly wings look like they're made of a million little feathers.
#6
Thirteenth Place. Poison Fangs Of A Centipede
Yvonne Bernal 9 years ago
At first glance I thought it was an animals teeth. Either way, I would not want to be bit by them!
#7
Sixth Place. Air Bubbles Formed From Melted Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) Crystals
#8
Eighth Place. Wildflower Stamens
Yvonne Bernal 9 years ago
This is what the bees and butterflies see as they approach. How enticing.
#9
Retinal Ganglion Cells In The Whole-Mounted Mouse Retina
#10
Ninth Place. Espresso Coffee Crystals
Nicole Boivin-Chiasson 9 years ago
That one to the left looks like a snakes head, and you can even see a slithering tongue sticking out!!
#11
First Place. Four-Day-Old Zebrafish Embryo
#12
Caudal Gill Of A Dragonfly Larva
#13
Goatsbeard Flower
Yvonne Bernal 9 years ago
Aren't these the same flowers we pick as kids, then make a wish and blow on them?
#14
Second Place. Polished Slab Of Teepee Canyon Agate
#15
Seventh Place. Leaves Of Selaginella
Yvonne Bernal 9 years ago
Interesting. Because of the beautiful lighting, I would never have guessed this to be a fern.
#16
Scales Of A Butterfly Wing
#17
Hippocampal Neurons
#18
Copper Crystals
#19
Scales Of A Butterfly Wing
#20
Jellyfish
#21
Egg Of A Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
#22
Prolegs Of A Hairy Caterpillar Gripping A Small Branch
#23
Interference Patterns On A Glycerin Based Soapy Solution
Veronica Hufana 9 years ago
This looks like an album cover. Hard-pressed to find a worthy bad though.
#25
Beta-Alanine And Taurine Crystals
#26
Gears Coupling Hind Legs Of A Planthopper Nymph
#27
Twentieth Place. Cow Dung
Shane Allon 9 years ago
Quick Fact. Those liquid filled spores you see there are the fastest objects known to man(on earth). they accellerate faster than any bullet. This is so that the bacteria can land on a fresh piece of grass, far far away from the poo so that the cow can eat it again. Clever little spore right?
#28
Water Mite
#29
Leg Of A Water Boatman
#30
Black Elder Tree Flower Stamen
#31
Ant Leg
#32
Wildflower Stamens
#33
Twelfth Place. Human Hela Cell Undergoing Cell Division
#34
Sixteenth Place. 65 Fossil Radiolarians (Zooplankton) Carefully Arranged By Hand In Victorian Style
#35
Licmophora Flabellata Diatoms
#36
Third Place. Brain Cells From Skin Cells
#37
Spore Capsule Of A Moss
#38
Green Bottle Fly
#39
Curvepod Fumewort (Corydalis Curvisiliqua) Seed
#40
Seeds Of An Indian Paintbrush Wildflower
#41
Slime Mold
#42
Fifteenth Place. Head Section Of An Orange Ladybird
Raymond McLaughlin 9 years ago
For all of you future designers, great ideas for spaceship design.
#43
Dentate Gyrus Of A Optically-Cleared Transgenic Mouse Brain
#44
Testis Of A Fruit Fly
#46
Microcrystal Test For Oxycodone Using Platinic Bromide Solution
#48
Section Of A Red Speckled Jewel Beetle
#49
Tenth Place. Frontonia (Showing Ingested Food, Cilia, Mouth And Trichocysts)
#50
Section Of A Begonia Flower
#51
Tail Of A A Small Shrimp
#52
Deep Sea Crustacea
#53
Mouse Hand, Showing Veins
over opinionated 9 years ago
How many pictures of mouse parts not attached have I seen eyes brains hands... sure multi coloured things are pretty but you didn't need to mutilate the poor creature
#54
Young Flower Buds Of Arabidopsis
#55
Diclofenac Crystals
over opinionated 9 years ago
Don't know what they are but I wish they were bigger it would make a good jewelry jewel
#57
Cerebellum Brain Section Of A Rat
#59
Viperfish
#63
Galls Of A Mite
#64
Surface Of Embryonic Mouse Kidney
#65
Tintinnid Ciliate Of The Marine Plankton
#66
Hippocampal Slice Culture Stained For Neurons
#67
Forewing (Elytron) Of A Tiger Beetle
Rudolf Büchi 9 years ago
The forewing of the tiger beetle and the scale oft he forester moth are seen by the unaided human eye as a deep green. This picture with a magnification of 500x reveals that it is an additive color mixing of many color points originating from a combination of multilayer interference and dense arranged dimples in the insect cuticle.
#77
Cross-Section Through A Multi-Layered Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Composite Structure For Defect Analysis
#78
A Daisy’s Central Disc Pattern Of Tiny Unopened Flowers
#80
Dasineura Affinis
#83
Fossil Diatom From Oamaru
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Yvonne Bernal 9 years ago
A few hundred years ago, biologists had to actually draw what they saw beyond the naked eye. Whether its 10X or 300X, the view under microscopes is mesmerizing.
Alannes Moura 8 years ago
These are mostly microscopic photography, what Nikon refers to in another contest as Photomicrography. Great images but most of them are not what you really call macrophotography. Not fair to those who really used a camera, some lens extension, a macro lens, a ring flash and so on. If you are using an electronic microscope to get your images you in are in another category.
Rodolfo Artiga Gochez 8 years ago
Impressive .... However this contest should be call microscopic photography instead of macro photography.
Moria Peters 9 years ago
Tragopogon porrifolius, commonly known as salsify, seedhead, not flower.
Kathryn Anderson 9 years ago
loving the macro world! who needs aliens when you can focus in on the bug world? bizarre are the creatures we share this planet with :)
Tim Rowley 9 years ago
Fantastic. A lot of people are going to learn a lot from this amazing collection.
Brad Ley 9 years ago
Nice pics, but its actually Micro photography (Canon got the term wrong with Macro). As well, the contest isn't called the "Nikon Macro Photo Contest", its "Nikon's Small World: Photomicrography Competition". Macro is the big picture, Micro is super close up. That's why a microscope is called...a MICROscope! Also, see: microbiology, microeconomics, etc...
Aleksandra Kozłowska 9 years ago
All of those are magnificent and amazing. Bravo's for the author's!
Yvonne Bernal 9 years ago
A few hundred years ago, biologists had to actually draw what they saw beyond the naked eye. Whether its 10X or 300X, the view under microscopes is mesmerizing.
Alannes Moura 8 years ago
These are mostly microscopic photography, what Nikon refers to in another contest as Photomicrography. Great images but most of them are not what you really call macrophotography. Not fair to those who really used a camera, some lens extension, a macro lens, a ring flash and so on. If you are using an electronic microscope to get your images you in are in another category.
Rodolfo Artiga Gochez 8 years ago
Impressive .... However this contest should be call microscopic photography instead of macro photography.
Moria Peters 9 years ago
Tragopogon porrifolius, commonly known as salsify, seedhead, not flower.
Kathryn Anderson 9 years ago
loving the macro world! who needs aliens when you can focus in on the bug world? bizarre are the creatures we share this planet with :)
Tim Rowley 9 years ago
Fantastic. A lot of people are going to learn a lot from this amazing collection.
Brad Ley 9 years ago
Nice pics, but its actually Micro photography (Canon got the term wrong with Macro). As well, the contest isn't called the "Nikon Macro Photo Contest", its "Nikon's Small World: Photomicrography Competition". Macro is the big picture, Micro is super close up. That's why a microscope is called...a MICROscope! Also, see: microbiology, microeconomics, etc...
Aleksandra Kozłowska 9 years ago
All of those are magnificent and amazing. Bravo's for the author's!
Related on Bored Panda
