Microsculpture: Insect Portraits Under The Microscope By Levon Biss

Jewel Longhorned Beetle

Levon Biss is a talented British photographer and filmmaker, who’s typically shoots portraits of world-class athletes. His passion for nature led him to create the striking “Microsculpture” project, a unique photographic study of insects in mind-blowing magnification. His talent for capturing insects started as a side-project in his home, and featured bugs caught by his son, and now Levon embraced the world of macrophotography and has taken the genre to a new level.

More info: Levon Biss, Microsculpture (h/t: photogrist)

Branched Backed Treehopper

Levon Biss used a 36 megapixel Nikon D810 with a 10x microscope objective attached through a 200mm prime lens. Each of his images is composed of around 8-10,000 individual shots. Segments of the specimen are lit and photographed separately, ‘stacked’ to maintain sharp focus throughout, then combined into a single high-resolution file.

Darkling Beetle

“Each image from the Microsculpture project is created from around 8000 individual photographs. The pinned insect is placed on an adapted microscope stage that enables me to have complete control over the positioning of the specimen in front of the lens. I shoot with a 36-megapixel camera that has a 10x microscope objective attached to it via a 200mm prime lens,” says Levon.

Flying Saucer Trench Beetle

Ground Beetle China

Marion Flightless Moth

Orchid Cuckoo Bee

Splendid-necked Dung Beetle

Treehopper

Tricoloured Jewel Beetle