Nikon Microscopic Photo Contest (LA Times)

It really is a small, small world | Nikon's Small World microscopic photography competition - Los Angeles Times

The Universe is equally interesting and diverse at both ends beyond our normal perceptions.

Talk about a philosophical can of worms.

Beautifully interesting.

Thanks for posting.

The Universe is equally interesting and diverse at both ends beyond our normal perceptions.

 

Thankfully, our local environment is also quite interesting. Otherwise, photography wouldn't survive.

My master's thesis had some images from a Raman microscope that was built on a Nikon optical microscope, but I'm guessing that Raman images of nanoparticles probably aren't what they're looking for(aside from the fact that my SEM and AFM images were a lot more important, and really none of them were THAT significant to what I was doing..I couldn't even convince my advisor to spring for TEM since it wouldn't tell us anything).

I have seen some amazing SEM images that look like landscapes with excellent textures and full grayscale tonality. Aesthetics wise alone (without considering scientific merit), I think SEM looks the best among the three, SEM, TEM and AFM.

I agree-SEM images can be fascinating, although mine are all pretty mundane. Also, my stuff was small enough that SEM didn't really tell me a lot. If I'd been making novel nanoparticles(as opposed to just doing novel stuff with them) I probably could have managed to get some TEMs, which really would have told me a lot more.

 

I really needed TEM for what I was doing, although like you said they're not that aesthetically pleasing regardless of the subject. Cost/time kept me from doing them. Plus, I think there are 4 or 5 SEMs on campus and once you've been trained on them, you just schedule time and go for it. My research group had our own AFM, although tip cost limited its use. There's ONE TEM on campus, and only one guy who runs it.

Acronyms, FYI - not a field I was familiar with - Scanning Electron Microscope, Transmission Electron Microscope, Atomic Force Microscope. Some confusion on one definition set (Wiki) also mentioning scanning Force and Scanning Probe. Pls share the info wealth!