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Nikon has announced the winners of its Small World Photomicrography Competition for 2026, where contestants are tasked with sharing images taken through a microscope. The winner is a stunning image that shows what happens inside a printer as it puts ink to paper, with the result looking like something out of a blockbuster sci-fi movie.
A look inside an inkjet, a pen, pencil and, of course, plenty of cells.
Justin Theodore Benttinen, Ole Bielfeldt, Kaelin Wulf & Ms. Rachel Flannery, Dr. Marcel Clemens, Dr. Bruno Cisterna & Dr. Eric Vitriol | Nikon Small WorldThis is the 52nd year that the competition has been held, and there were over 1803 entries from participants in 69 countries. We’re showing the top 20 images here, but you can see honorable mentions and images of distinction over on the Small World website.
First place – Microscopic view of an inkjet printer depositing ink onto paper, Ole Bielfeldt
Ole Bielfeldt / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Ole Bielfeldt, macrofying, Cologne, Northrhine-Westfalia, Germany
Technique: Slow-Motion, Image Stacking
Magnification: 20x (Objective Lens Magnification)
Caption: Captured using a self-constructed imaging rig, using a microscope objective, Bielfeldt’s image sheds light on the previously unseen intricacies of a common process: printing words onto paper.
Bielfeldt is the creator behind macrofying, his photography and videography brand, where he combines photography, microscopy, and self-built equipment to showcase everyday objects in an unfamiliar manner. The winning image was guided by his search to answer a simple question: How does a printer place ink onto paper so precisely? At normal scale, the process happens too quickly and too routinely to notice. But under Bielfeldt’s lens, tiny droplets travel through the air before landing on glossy paper, exposing the machinery, motion, and small imperfections hidden within a device many people use every day.
“I think it was super interesting because I didn’t know how it really worked,” Bielfeldt said of the printer’s internal process. “It’s like it was magic, and I didn’t understand it, but now I do.”
Capturing that moment required Bielfeldt to rethink both the printer and the imaging setup. His first attempts failed because the printhead moved too quickly to keep a small area in focus, and the droplets were too fast for his camera’s shutter speed. Rather than turning to expensive equipment, he reverse-engineered the printer so the paper instead moved beneath a stationary printhead. Working in a dark room, he then used a flash to freeze the droplets in midair, allowing the brief burst of light to serve as the effective shutter.
“After trying and failing many times to capture the droplets in motion, I thought I would need some expensive equipment,” Bielfeldt said. “But it turned out I already had everything I needed.”
Second place – Jumping spider (Salticus scenicus) with pollen, John-Oliver Dum
John-Oliver Dum / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: John-Oliver Dum, Medienbunker Produktion, Bendorf, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
Third place – Neurons in an expanded mouse brain, Kaelin Wulf & Ms. Rachel Flannery
Kaelin Wulf & Ms. Rachel Flannery / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Kaelin Wulf & Ms. Rachel Flannery, Allen Institute, Department of Neural Dynamics, Seattle, Washington, USA
Technique: Expansion Microscopy, Fluorescence, Light Sheet
Magnification: 5X (Objective Lens Magnification)
Fourth place – Tip of a ballpoint pen, Justin Theodore Benttinen
Justin Theodore Benttinen / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Justin Theodore Benttinen, Benttinen Photography, Berkeley, California, USA
Technique: Image Stacking, Reflected Light
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
Fifth place – Inner structure of a closed daisy, Mike Crutchley
Mike Crutchley / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Mike Crutchley, Pembrokeshire, Southwest Wales, United Kingdom
Technique: Darkfield, Image Stacking
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
6th place – Hemitrichia slime mold spore structures (fruiting bodies), Eric Epstein
Eric Epstein / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Eric Epstein, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
7th place – Human neurons reprogrammed from skin cells growing in a microfluidic chamber, Dr. Bruno Cisterna & Dr. Eric Vitriol
Dr. Bruno Cisterna & Dr. Eric Vitriol / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Dr. Bruno Cisterna & Dr. Eric Vitriol, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Department of Neuroscience & Regenerative Medicine, Augusta, Georgia, USA
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
8th place – Pencil lead during exposure to a high-voltage electrical discharge, Dr. Marcel Clemens
Dr. Marcel Clemens / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Dr. Marcel Clemens, Verona, Veneto, Italy
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
9th place – Dedifferentiated liver endothelial cell, Dr. Francisco Lázaro-Diéguez
Dr. Francisco Lázaro-Diéguez / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Dr. Francisco Lázaro-Diéguez, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 40X (Objective Lens Magnification)
10th place – A parasitoid wasp (𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑢𝑟𝑎 sp.) emerging from a butterfly chrysalis (𝑂𝑝𝑠𝑖𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠 sp.), Michael Parra Puentes
Michael Parra Puentes / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Michael Parra Puentes, Macrotipos, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 3.7X (Objective Lens Magnification)
11th place – 20 day old sea urchin larva with blue fluorescent nuclei, Svenja Carolin Kling
Svenja Carolin Kling / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Svenja Carolin Kling, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, La Jolla, California, USA
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
12th place – A tardigrade molting and laying an egg in the old skin, Dr. Gonzalo Quiroga Artigas
Dr. Gonzalo Quiroga Artigas / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Dr. Gonzalo Quiroga Artigas, CRBM-CNRS, Montpellier, Herault, France
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 40X (Objective Lens Magnification)
13th place – Recrystallized estrogen, Sebastian Sparenga
Sebastian Sparenga / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Sebastian Sparenga, McCrone Research Institute, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Technique: Polarized Light
Magnification: 10X (Objective Lens Magnification)
14th place – Pilobolus fungi on sheep dung, Mike Crutchley
Mike Crutchley / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Mike Crutchley, Pembrokeshire, Southwest Wales, United Kingdom
Technique: Image Stacking
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
15th place – Mouse trachea showing tiny hair-like cells that move mucus and nearby nerves (blue) associated with the muscles (yellow), Dr. Julien Resseguier
Dr. Julien Resseguier / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Dr. Julien Resseguier, University of Oslo, Department of Biosciences, Oslo, Viken, Norway
Technique: Confocal, Deconvolution, Fluorescence
Magnification: 60X (Objective Lens Magnification)
16th place – Embryonic Xenopus skin cells, showing cilia (green), centrioles (red), and cell membranes (white), Pierre Nouaux & Laurent Kodjabachian, Camille Boutin
Pierre Nouaux & Laurent Kodjabachian, Camille Boutin / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Pierre Nouaux & Laurent Kodjabachian, Camille Boutin, Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Toulouse, France, France
Technique: Confocal, Fluorescence
Magnification: 63X (Objective Lens Magnification)
17th place – Lab-grown human intestinal tissue showing glowing, brick-like epithelial cell connections that form the intestine’s protective barrier, Dr. Gauri Kulkarni & NA
Dr. Gauri Kulkarni & NA / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Dr. Gauri Kulkarni & NA, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
18th place – 14-day-old mouse hippocampal neurons showing nuclei (green) and synaptic proteins (red), Bilal Akhtar
Bilal Akhtar / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Bilal Akhtar, Institute of Molecular Biology, Department of RNA Biology, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 40X (Objective Lens Magnification)
19th place – Cross-section of a mouse eye showing retinal blood vessels and the optic nerve, Satu Paavonsalo & Dr. Sinem Karaman
Satu Paavonsalo & Dr. Sinem Karaman / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Satu Paavonsalo & Dr. Sinem Karaman, University of Helsinki, Individualized Drug Therapy Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, Helsinki, Finland, Helsinki, Uudenmaan lääni, Finland
Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
20th place – Large sea snail (abalone) shell, Justin Theodore Benttinen
Justin Theodore Benttinen / Nikon Small WorldPhotographer: Justin Theodore Benttinen, Benttinen Photography, Berkeley, California, USA
Technique: Image Stacking, Reflected Light
Magnification: 20X (Objective Lens Magnification)
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