An image of airborne ink droplets won first place in the 2026 Nikon Small World photomicrography competition, whose winners were announced October 21. Now in its 52nd year, the contest recognized 86 images, revealing intricate details in subjects ranging from everyday machinery to living tissue.
Winner Ole Bielfeldt, a design student in Cologne, Germany, began exploring microscopic photography around 2021 after discovering an old school microscope in his attic during pandemic quarantine. To photograph the printer, he constructed a custom setup that moved the paper while keeping the ink nozzles stationary and in focus. He estimated that the droplets traveled at nearly 20 meters per second, beyond what his best slow-motion camera could resolve. Working in darkness, he used a single brief flash to arrest their motion as the printer repeatedly produced the word “macro.”
John-Oliver Dum received second place for a pollen-dusted jumping spider, its bristling hairs and several of its eight eyes clearly visible. Preparing such photographs can take years: his wife grows plants selected for the pollen he uses in his images. Other recognized work included a three-dimensional view of a mouse eye by University of Helsinki cell biologists Sinem Karaman and Satu Paavonsalo, which placed 19th. An image of human nerve cells by Faith Fernandes and James Glover at the University of California, Berkeley, received an Image of Distinction. Those neurons developed from reprogrammed adult cells capable of becoming any cell type in the body.
