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carl_dr
It’s pretty obvious now I know what it means : Photomicrography, photography of objects under a microscope.

Some of these photos are amazing, well worth spending 5 minutes of my day to slow down a bit and scroll through them.

(Correction, 15 minutes. Don’t miss the Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction sections!)

zokier
Kinda surprised to see a fairly boring snowflake picture at 14th place. Sure, it looks technically well executed and the black background makes for a clean picture, but still it looks pretty unremarkable to me.
mkr-hn
You try focus stacking at 4:1. I could barely get things in focus at 1:1. People who judge photography contests look for different things from most people.

Here's a good video on what judges look for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcxcGBbLIwk

WaitWaitWha
don't forget how fast this also has to be done, since the crystals will change if the temperature, humidity, or pressure changes.
edge17
Are these photos artificially colored or are these natural colors? (meaning, I guess everything is larger than the resolution of visible light)

I've always wondered how these photos get taken. Do people also do videos?

ghaff
I'm guessing some combination of staining to accentuate detail/structure in the thing being photographed, manipulation of contrast/saturation/etc., and maybe some outright false color.
m_kos
I just wanted to share that you can take a shot at photomicrography even on a very tight budget. Here are three pictures I took with my Pixel 2 and a $20 microscope from Amazon.

https://imgbox.com/g/WQt0DyEtmV (fly's wings, salt cubes, a mashed raspberry)

I am no photographer, so I am sure people who know more about it than me can take much better pictures. (And I'd love to see them!)

oblak
Oh boy. Is it me or do these get better each? I've been planning to print a lot of those for our home. Not sure I am going to have enough wall surface area.
philips
Is there a place to get high resolution versions for print?
oblak
I don't have particularly big prints in mind. I thought if they look good enough for 24/27 inch 1080/1440 monitor, they ought to suffice for a print of similar size. Not a big expert, me
memling
check the dpi of your monitor. you'll want to consider that the pixel density of your monitor is not the same as a print. I printed six megapixel images at 8x10 inches and you could probably in with lower res at that size. I would be surprised to find that a 16x20 would work though.
sveme
Out of curiousity: Do they only accept images taken using Nikon microscopes, or do they also accept other microscope makers (Zeiss, Leica, Olympus)?
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s0rce
Anything, I got an honorable mention using a Leica scope. Homemade would be fine as well.
qwertox
The second place photo [1] is absolutely amazing. It looks like galaxies in the universe, and the clear separation between the two populations bridged by axons show the incredible level of control humanity has gained over our world. We're not there yet, but this photo shows us how extremely well we're doing.

[2] https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2021-photomicrogra...

bryan0
> A microfluidic device containing 300k networking neurons in 2 isolated populations. Both sides were treated with a unique virus and bridged by axons.

Any idea why they created such a device?

dandelany
Probably studying axonal transport, the ability of some neuroinvasive viruses to spread from one neuron to the next via the axon & its connection to other cells.
mwambua
If you're into this sort of stuff, there's a relatively new Youtube Channel where the creator puts an interesting subject under an electron microscope and talks about it. I find his videography & micrography aesthetically pleasing, and even relaxing.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Micrographia

qwertox
A very similar channel but focused on biology is "Journey to the Microcosmos". It's just as interesting and relaxing.

https://www.youtube.com/c/microcosmos/videos

spiraling_shape
Not sure how much of a coincidence this is, but that series was co-created by Hank Green, who also happens to be one the judges from this competition.
scns
Thank you. Always grateful for stuff thats expands my horizon.
Yenrabbit
Thanks for recommending this - great channel!
mensetmanusman
Nature is amazing because it seems to have an infinite complexity of detail.

It seems like most of our waking hours is our brain trying to abstract away all of the detail because there is way too much.