I just wanted to share that you can take a shot at photomicrography even on a very tight budget. Here are three pictures I took with my Pixel 2 and a $20 microscope from Amazon.

https://imgbox.com/g/WQt0DyEtmV (fly's wings, salt cubes, a mashed raspberry)

I am no photographer, so I am sure people who know more about it than me can take much better pictures. (And I'd love to see them!)

You can get very good results without any specialized equipment.

There are tricks by using reversed lenses. https://digital-photography-school.com/reverse-lens-macro-ph...

If you're into this sort of stuff, there's a relatively new Youtube Channel where the creator puts an interesting subject under an electron microscope and talks about it. I find his videography & micrography aesthetically pleasing, and even relaxing.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Micrographia

A very similar channel but focused on biology is "Journey to the Microcosmos". It's just as interesting and relaxing.

https://www.youtube.com/c/microcosmos/videos

Not sure how much of a coincidence this is, but that series was co-created by Hank Green, who also happens to be one the judges from this competition.

Thank you. Always grateful for stuff thats expands my horizon.

Thanks for recommending this - great channel!

I love this competition. I got an honorable mention in grad school https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2009-photomicrogra...

Belated Congratulations!

The second place photo [1] is absolutely amazing. It looks like galaxies in the universe, and the clear separation between the two populations bridged by axons show the incredible level of control humanity has gained over our world. We're not there yet, but this photo shows us how extremely well we're doing.

[2] https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2021-photomicrogra...

> A microfluidic device containing 300k networking neurons in 2 isolated populations. Both sides were treated with a unique virus and bridged by axons.

Any idea why they created such a device?

Not sure if this is the exact study but it’s probably what is going on. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2426917/

Probably studying axonal transport, the ability of some neuroinvasive viruses to spread from one neuron to the next via the axon & its connection to other cells.

It’s pretty obvious now I know what it means : Photomicrography, photography of objects under a microscope.

Some of these photos are amazing, well worth spending 5 minutes of my day to slow down a bit and scroll through them.

(Correction, 15 minutes. Don’t miss the Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction sections!)

Kinda surprised to see a fairly boring snowflake picture at 14th place. Sure, it looks technically well executed and the black background makes for a clean picture, but still it looks pretty unremarkable to me.

Perhaps you were looking for something like this?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/science/snowflakes-photos...

https://archive.is/OeBIb

Thanks for archive link! I would have not expected Nathan Myhrvold popping up here. This well illustrates how hard this photgraphy is.

You try focus stacking at 4:1. I could barely get things in focus at 1:1. People who judge photography contests look for different things from most people.

Here's a good video on what judges look for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcxcGBbLIwk

don't forget how fast this also has to be done, since the crystals will change if the temperature, humidity, or pressure changes.

Out of curiousity: Do they only accept images taken using Nikon microscopes, or do they also accept other microscope makers (Zeiss, Leica, Olympus)?

> Images do not need to be taken with a Nikon-branded microscope.

https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/photomicrography-c...

Anything, I got an honorable mention using a Leica scope. Homemade would be fine as well.

All of them are wonderful shots, but I especially liked the 16th place image: https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2021-photomicrogra...

Are these photos artificially colored or are these natural colors? (meaning, I guess everything is larger than the resolution of visible light)

I've always wondered how these photos get taken. Do people also do videos?

I'm guessing some combination of staining to accentuate detail/structure in the thing being photographed, manipulation of contrast/saturation/etc., and maybe some outright false color.

Nature is amazing because it seems to have an infinite complexity of detail.

It seems like most of our waking hours is our brain trying to abstract away all of the detail because there is way too much.

Oh boy. Is it me or do these get better each? I've been planning to print a lot of those for our home. Not sure I am going to have enough wall surface area.

Is there a place to get high resolution versions for print?

I don't have particularly big prints in mind. I thought if they look good enough for 24/27 inch 1080/1440 monitor, they ought to suffice for a print of similar size. Not a big expert, me

check the dpi of your monitor. you'll want to consider that the pixel density of your monitor is not the same as a print. I printed six megapixel images at 8x10 inches and you could probably in with lower res at that size. I would be surprised to find that a 16x20 would work though.

Photomicrography - the world where phone camera has not yet conquered :)

I like 15th place photo, btw.

I'm sure that's next :) iPhone 13 just got Macro.