Light Microscope Photography - 35 Years Worth of the Best Pictures

Image of the male sex organ of a flowering plant took first place in Nikon’s annual Small World photomicrography competition this year.

Dr. Heiti Paves

Tallinn University of Technology
Tallinn, Estonia

Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) anther (20x)

Light Microscopes have been around for almost 350+ years, and Nikon, known for there cameras, has made a competition out of the use of them, called The Nikon International Small World Competition. More info after the jump.

According to Wired Magazine, The competition is winners chosen for both its scientific and artistic qualities from among a record 2,000 entries, this image was captured by Estonian scientist Heiti Paves.


The Nikon International Small World Competition first began in 1974 as a means to recognize and applaud the efforts of those involved with photography through the light microscope. Since then, Small World has become a leading showcase for photomicrographers from the widest array of scientific disciplines.

Some cool picture from the competition, and even the runners up were awesome.

I took some cool pics from the Nikon website.

 "Small World is regarded as the leading forum for showcasing the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope. For over 30 years, Nikon has rewarded the world's best photomicrographers who make critically important scientific contributions to life sciences, bio-research and materials science."
-Nikon International Small World Competition

16^th Place, 2009

Massimo Brizzi

Microcosmo Italia
Empoli, Firenze, Italy

Lymnaea sp. (snail) eggs (200x)

19^th Place, 2009

Yanping Wang

Beijing Planetarium
Beijing, China

Snowflake (40x)

Honorable Mention 2009

Dr. Dylan Burnette

National Institute of Child Health and Human Disease
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Ciliated protozoa (1700x)

More info and pictures can be found at:
Wired Mag's Article
Nikon Small World