Nikon Small World

Van Egmond is not a scientist, but rather a freelance artist and photographer with a deep interest in science. He captured this image as part of a series of portraits of microorganisms. It shows all the anatomical features of the Rotifer, a microscopic marine animal. His goal in capturing such images is to portray microorganisms in same way one would portray a person – by capturing the 'personality' of the organisms as well as their true physical appearance.

His image was made with differential interference contrast which makes transparent objects more visible but retains the ‘feel’ of transparency. This image was made with an analog camera but used four different images to combine several focus layers and ensure all the interesting pieces were in focus.

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From the nanoworld to the universe — the worlds we measure using our infinite yardstick.

Enjoy learning about Nikon’s long history through a series of interactive episodes.