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Headline: Spectacular Winning Photos Of The 2018 Nikon Small World Contest Reveal The Hidden Beauty Of A Microscopic World

Caption: IN PHOTO: 10TH PLACE - Stalks with pollen grains Nikon has announced the winning photos from the 2018 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition, the 44th annual contest celebrating “excellence in photography through the light microscope.” The first place photo was captured by Emirati photographer Yousef Al Habshi and shows part of the compound eye of an Asian Red Palm weevil and the greenish scales that surround it. The beetle is usually less than 0.43in (11mm) in length. Al Habshi created the photo using reflected light and by stacking 128 micrographs into a single photo. “The main challenge was to show the black body against the black background without overexposing the skin and scales,” the photographer says. “Because of the variety of coloring and the lines that display in the eyes of insects, I feel like I’m photographing a collection of jewelry. Not all people appreciate small species, particularly insects. Through photomicrography we can find a whole new, beautiful world which hasn’t been seen before. It’s like discovering what lies under the ocean’s surface.” Second place was awarded to Rogelio Moreno for his colorful photo of a Fern sorus, a clustered structure that produces and contains spores. The image was produced using image stacking and autoflorecence, which requires hitting the sorus with ultraviolet light. Each color represents a different maturity stage of each sporangium inside the sorus. Saulius Gugis captured third place for his adorable spittlebug photo, captured using focus-stacking. The spittlebug can be seen in the process of making his “bubble house.” Spittlebugs produce the foam substance to hide from predators, insulate themselves from temperature fluctuations and to stay moist. In addition to the top three winners, Nikon Small World recognized an additional 92 photos out over almost 2,500 entries from scientists and artists in 89 countries.

Keywords: feature,photo feature,photo story,photography,contest,competition,macro,close-up

PersonInImage: Stalks with pollen grains