{"id":124548,"date":"2025-10-15T22:18:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/124548\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T22:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:18:14","slug":"51st-nikon-small-world-winners-reveal-a-hidden-world-of-wonders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/124548\/","title":{"rendered":"51st Nikon Small World Winners Reveal a Hidden World of Wonders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

Nikon has unveiled the winners of its 51st annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition<\/a>. The top 20 winning images showcase the best microscopy and extreme macro photographs of the year. <\/p>\n

Zhang You Wins First Place for a Stunning Rice Weevil Portrait <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s first-place winner is Chinese photographer Zhang You, whose photo of a rice weevil mounted on a grain of rice shows a common agricultural pest in a striking way, providing a new perspective on an often overlooked insect. You\u2019s photo shows the rice weevil with its wings fully extended, frozen in time.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up1st Place \u2014 Rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) on a grain of rice by \u00a9 Zhang You. Image stacking, 5x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World <\/p>\n

You is a member of the Entomological Society of China and the Entomological Society of Yunnan Province. Nikon notes that the winning photo is the culmination of You\u2019s many years of dedicated ecological and insect science photography. You is also an entomology teacher. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt pays to dive deep into entomology: understanding insects\u2019 behaviors and mastering lighting,\u201d the photographer explains. \u201cA standout work blends artistry with scientific rigor, capturing the very essence, energy, and spirit of these creatures.\u201d <\/p>\n

The scale of the winning photo is fascinating. While the insect appears to be a fairly typical size, given that it is on a grain of rice, it is clear that the rice weevil is actually tiny. You used a medium-format camera and a 5x microscope objective, and ultimately stacked over 100 photos to achieve the expanded depth of field. It took two weeks of careful shooting and post-processing to create the final image. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had observed rice weevils in grains before, but never one with its wings spread,\u201d You says. \u201cThis one was naturally preserved on a windowsill, perhaps in a final attempt to escape. Its tiny size makes manually preparing spread-wing specimens extremely difficult, so encountering it was both serendipitous and inspiring.\u201d <\/p>\n

In addition to his victory, Zhang You also took 15th place in the competition, and this image is seen further down. <\/p>\n

\u201cZhang You\u2019s work demonstrates the remarkable power of microscopy to reveal new perspectives on the world around us,\u201d says Eric Flem, Senior Manager, Communications and CRM at Nikon Instruments. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes this year even more extraordinary is that it was his very first time entering the competition, and he not only captured first place, but also placed another image in the top 20. His achievement highlights the spirit of Nikon Small World: inspiring wonder, making scientific understanding accessible to all, and celebrating the artistry of the microscopic realm,\u201d Flem continues. <\/p>\n

Second and Third-Place Winners \"A2nd Place \u2014 Colonial algae (Volvox) spheres in a drop of water by \u00a9 Dr. Jan Rosenboom. Reflected light, 5x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Yellow3rd Place \u2014 Pollen in a garden spider web by \u00a9 John-Oliver Dum. Image stacking, 20x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World The Rest of the Top 20 \"Microscopic4th Place \u2014 Heart muscle cells with chromosomes condensed following cell division by \u00a9 Dr. James Hayes. Confocal, 100x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World
\n \"Colorful,5th Place \u2014 Spores (blue\/purple structures) of a small tropical fern (Ceratopteris richardii) by \u00a9 Dr. Igor Siwanowicz. Confocal, 25x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Microscopic6th Place \u2014 Rat liver cells by \u00a9 Dr. Francisco L\u00e1zaro-Di\u00e9guez. Confocal, 63x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"A7th Place \u2014 iPSC-derived sensory neurons labelled to show tubulin and actin by \u00a9 Stella Whittaker. Confocal, fluorescence, image stacking, 10x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"A8th Place \u2014 Mallow pollen germinating on stigma while being parasitized by a filamentous fungus by \u00a9 Dr. Igor Siwanowicz. Confocal, 40x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Close-up9th Place \u2014 A fungus (Talaromyces purpureogenus) known for its red, diffused pigment by \u00a9 Wim van Egmond. Image stacking, 10x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Colorful10th place \u2014 Heart muscle cells (iPSC-derived) showing condensed chromosomes in metaphase by \u00a9 Dr. Dylan Burnette & Dr. James Hayes. Structured illumination microscopy (SIM), 60x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Colorful,11th Place \u2014 Sunflower trichomes (hair-like plant outgrowths) by \u00a9 Marek Mi\u015b. Polarized light, 10x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World
\n \"A12th Place \u2014 The actin cytoskeleton (cyan) and endoplasmic reticulum (red) of a mouse brain cancer cell by \u00a9 Halil Lindamood & Eric Vitriol. Confocal, deconvolution, 100x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Close-up13th Place \u2014 Slime mold (Arcyria major) releasing spores by \u00a9 Henri Koskinen. Image stacking, reflected light, 10x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"A14th Place \u2014 Quartz with biotic goethite filaments by \u00a9 Manfred Heising. Image stacking, 5x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"A15th Place \u2014 Geometer moth (Geometridae) laying eggs by \u00a9 Zhang You. Image stacking, 5x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Close-up16th Place \u2014 Water fleas (Daphnia) and algae by \u00a9 Rogelio Moreno. Fluorescence, image stacking, 40x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"A17th Place \u2014 Water fleas (Daphnia) and algae by \u00a9 Hong Guo. Image stacking, 5x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Cross-section18th Place \u2014 Fluorescently marked mouse colon by \u00a9 Marius M\u00e4hlen, Koen Oost, Prisca Liberali & Laurent Gelman. Confocal, 20x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Close-up19th Place \u2014 Parasitic fungus (Cordycipitaceae) on a fly (Calliphoridae) by \u00a9 Eduardo Agustin Carrasco. Image stacking, 2x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World \"Close-up20th Place \u2014 Marine copepod by \u00a9 Zachary Sanchez. Confocal, 60x (objective lens magnification). | Nikon Small World More From the 51st Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition <\/p>\n

Alongside the top 20 images featured above, this year\u2019s judges awarded an additional 51 images for their excellence, including Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction. These additional winning photos are available on the Nikon Small World website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Image credits:<\/strong> Photos provided courtesy of Nikon Small World. Photographers are credited in the individual captions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikon has unveiled the winners of its 51st annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. The top 20 winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,428,7512,366,18,117,19,17,14877,15764,11692,43706,55428,7515,75570],"class_list":{"0":"post-124548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-competition","13":"tag-contest","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-eire","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-macro","20":"tag-micro","21":"tag-microscopy","22":"tag-nikon","23":"tag-nikonsmallworld","24":"tag-photocontest","25":"tag-photomicrography"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}