Nikon Small World

Krebs is a wildlife photographer, rather than a scientist. He submitted this image because he found the complexity of the head of this water beetle larva to be rather stunning. The various sensing mechanisms along with the strong impressive mandibles provide an "image" of a no-nonsense micro-predator.

This image was generated using crossed polarizers to show the internal musculature used to control the mandibles. In order to portray the subject with sufficient depth-of-field a series of separate images made at different focal planes was combined to obtain the three-dimensional image.

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Learn about optical microscopy, digital imaging, and photomicrography.

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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.