Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Alert reader “P” called my attention to a Guardian piece that presents the annual winners of the Nikon Small World Photomicrography competition. While I usually show contest winners involving animals or nature on a large scale, this contest celebrates the beauty of the small, inconspicuous, and invisible. Here are some of the lovely winning shots (note: there are a lot of others, with several involving Drosophila!):
Click to enlarge:
2nd Place, Walter Piorkowski, South Beloit, Illinois. Live newborn lynx spiderlings4th Place, Dr W Ryan Williamson, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia. Drosophila melanogaster visual system halfway through pupal development, showing retina (gold), photoreceptor axons (blue), and brain (green)9th Place, Geir Drange, Asker, Norway. Myrmica sp. (ant) carrying its larva16th Place, Douglas Moore, University Relations & Communications/Geology University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Fossilized Turitella agate containing Elimia tenera (freshwater snails) and ostracods (seed shrimp)17th Place, Charles Krebs Issaquah, Washington. Stinging nettle trichome on leaf vein.18th Place, Dr David Maitland, Feltwell, UK, Coral sand.
The one above is my favorite. Talk about art imitating life: to me it resembles a painting by Paul Klee.
19th Place, Dr Somayeh Naghiloo, Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences , University of Tabriz, Iran. Floral primordia of Allium sativum (garlic).20th Place, Dorit Hockman, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Cambridge University, UK/ Embryos of the species Molossus rufus (black mastiff bat).
19 thoughts on “Winners: Nikon “small world” photography contest”
If you’d like to see more beautiful spider images from Walter Piorkowski, please click on this link to a post on my blog that will let you click through to three different sites displaying his photos of spider spinnerets–they’re really a bit mind-blowing. (And if you want to find out more about spiders and their evolution, trawl around through my other blog posts.)I think Walter is an “amateur”–quite an amazing hobby he’s got going there. http://www.lesliebrunetta.com/blog.htm?tag=Piorkowski
They remind me of the Japanese wise monkeys, with from right to left: Mizaru (“see no evil”, covering his eyes), Iwazaru (“speak no evil”, covering his mouth), and Shizaru (“do no evil”, crossing his arms). For obvious reasons, Kikazaru, “hear no evil”, wouldn’t be a bat!
I don’t know if all of them did but a lot of them had references to microscopes in the text at the bottom of the pictures. So the macro lens wouldn’t be needed?
How about this much shortened version, without a link to the photos.
I used Leslie Brunetta’s link above to help find the original pictures. In the comments below the pictures the photographer wasn’t aware of being a second place winner 🙂
Canon is correct,50D, but, looks like the images were taken through a microscope.
Thanks–I didn’t know about these additional photos. He’s pretty amazing, huh?
Yes! Leslie, have you seen all the others too?
If not go to the photomacrography site and there is a search button just under the title graphic at the top of the page. On the search page, the second input bar is “Search for Author:”. Just put in “Walter Piorkowski” and a whole page of links to his pictures will be served for your enjoyment. Even spider teeth!
Replying to your comment below: thanks again–I’ll do that.
That’s some pretty impressive work. He’s doing what’s called “focus stacking,” where you take one photo, move focus a small bit, take another photo, move focus the same amount, and so on, and then digitally combine the sharp bits of each photo into a single image.
Obviously, there’s going to be significant amounts of automation, both in the changing of focus and the combining of images. But there’s still a hell of a lot of work involved, and do do all that with live subjects….
b&
I didn’t know ants have holes in their heads. That suggests they might be using some of the christian gods as well.
Well, technically it’s the queen’s larva, and (most likely) the worker ant’s sibling. Unless you want to take “its larva” to mean “a larva under its care”.
Reblogged this on Sarvodaya and commented:
Talk about art imitating life. There’s a whole universe of beauty all around us, beyond the reach of the naked eye.
If you’d like to see more beautiful spider images from Walter Piorkowski, please click on this link to a post on my blog that will let you click through to three different sites displaying his photos of spider spinnerets–they’re really a bit mind-blowing. (And if you want to find out more about spiders and their evolution, trawl around through my other blog posts.)I think Walter is an “amateur”–quite an amazing hobby he’s got going there. http://www.lesliebrunetta.com/blog.htm?tag=Piorkowski
The colored bits in the “Coral sand” picture are probably tiny pieces of plastic.
The bats! Awwww – they’re tiny gargoyles. Fantasy imitating art imitating life … or something or the other way around 😉
They remind me of the Japanese wise monkeys, with from right to left: Mizaru (“see no evil”, covering his eyes), Iwazaru (“speak no evil”, covering his mouth), and Shizaru (“do no evil”, crossing his arms). For obvious reasons, Kikazaru, “hear no evil”, wouldn’t be a bat!
Great stuff!
It’s a Nikon-sponsored contest…but I have to wonder how many photos were made with a Canon camera and this lens:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/ef_lens_lineup/mp_e_65mm_f_2_8_1_5x_macro_photo
Nikon doesn’t offer anything comparable….
Cheers,
b&
I don’t know if all of them did but a lot of them had references to microscopes in the text at the bottom of the pictures. So the macro lens wouldn’t be needed?
Generally, when using a microscope for high quality photography, you would mount the camera directly to the microscope — same thing with a telescope.
But that spider shot at the top is a classic example of SLR macro lens photography. I’d be astounded if any microscope was used.
b&
How about this much shortened version, without a link to the photos.
I used Leslie Brunetta’s link above to help find the original pictures. In the comments below the pictures the photographer wasn’t aware of being a second place winner 🙂
Canon is correct,50D, but, looks like the images were taken through a microscope.
Since that worked I will try to make a munged link available:
photo
macro
graphy
net/forum/
viewtopic.php?t=14117&highlight=spider
Thanks–I didn’t know about these additional photos. He’s pretty amazing, huh?
Yes! Leslie, have you seen all the others too?
If not go to the photomacrography site and there is a search button just under the title graphic at the top of the page. On the search page, the second input bar is “Search for Author:”. Just put in “Walter Piorkowski” and a whole page of links to his pictures will be served for your enjoyment. Even spider teeth!
Replying to your comment below: thanks again–I’ll do that.
That’s some pretty impressive work. He’s doing what’s called “focus stacking,” where you take one photo, move focus a small bit, take another photo, move focus the same amount, and so on, and then digitally combine the sharp bits of each photo into a single image.
Obviously, there’s going to be significant amounts of automation, both in the changing of focus and the combining of images. But there’s still a hell of a lot of work involved, and do do all that with live subjects….
b&
I didn’t know ants have holes in their heads. That suggests they might be using some of the christian gods as well.
Really wonderful stuff, wow.
Well, technically it’s the queen’s larva, and (most likely) the worker ant’s sibling. Unless you want to take “its larva” to mean “a larva under its care”.
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.
I’ve tried several times to reply to Ben above without success. This is just a test comment to see if I can comment here at all.
Reblogged this on Sarvodaya and commented:
Talk about art imitating life. There’s a whole universe of beauty all around us, beyond the reach of the naked eye.