Spectacular Winning Images of The Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2022

Nikon Small World is widely regarded as the leading forum for recognising the art, proficiency and photographic excellence involved in photomicrography, or the art of photography through a light microscope. Each year, the competition attracts hundreds of vivid pictures revealing details of a world unseen by the naked eye. Founded in 1975, this year’s entries numbered almost 1,300 and were drawn from 72 countries.

First place

Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis) (confocal, 63x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Grigorii Timin & Dr. Michel Milinkovitch/Nikon

More: Nikon Small World, Instagram h/t: guardian

Fourth place

Pholcus phalangioides, or the long-bodied cellar/daddy long-legs spider (image stacking, 3x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Dr. Andrew Posselt/Nikon

Honourable mention

A butterfly egg (image stacking, 10x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Zhang Ye Fei/Nikon

Sixth place

Unburned particles of carbon released when the hydrocarbon chain of candle wax breaks down (brightfield, image stacking, 2.5x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Ole Bielfeldt/Nikon

10th place

A fly under the chin of a tiger beetle (image stacking, 3.7x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Dr. Marek Sutkowski/Nikon

Fifth place

A slime mould of the Lamproderma genus (image stacking, reflected light, 10x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Alison K Pollack/Nikon

Ninth place

Portrait of a man in uniform made with liquid crystal mixture (image stacking, polarised light, 40x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Dr. Marek Sutkowski/Nikon

17th place

Tail fin of a zebrafish larva with peripheral nerves, seen in green, and extracellular matrix, seen in violet (confocal, 10x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Dr. Daniel Wehner & Julia Kolb/Nikon

13th place

Agatised dinosaur bone (image stacking, 60x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Randy Fullbright/Nikon

16th place

Longitudinal section through a white asparagus shoot tip (fluorescence, 10x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Dr. Olivier Leroux/Nikon

19th place

Bacterial biofilm on a human tongue cell (confocal, 63x objective lens magnification). Photograph: Dr. Tagide deCarvalho/Nikon