honorable mention
Håkan Kvarnström sweden
title
Micro flowers in a drop of water
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entry description
A drop of water can contain staggering beauty hidden to the human eye. Using a microscope I reveal tiny algae that, in my eyes, are just as beautiful as flowers but only micrometers in size. These live in ponds, lakes and the seas with little or no appreciation of their beauty. This series aim is to make these wonders visible for everyone to see and enjoy. The images show golden algae and green algae and the magnification is between 600X and 1000X. To achieve enough contrast of these thin specimens I deployed a technique called Differential Interference Contrast using polarised light and a specialised set of prisms. Visible light were used to illuminate the algae except in the last image where ultraviolet light were used which caused it's chlorophyll to fluoresce in red and orange. (The algae are Dinobryon, Pandorina, Eudorina, Synura, Gonium and Pediastrum).about the photographer
I am a scientist by heart and education with a passion for photography of hidden worlds. As a hobby I am using a microscope and a camera to reveal a hidden world that few people get to experience. I use a number of lightning and contrast techniques in various combinations to capture the subjects under the microscope. Every drop of water is a new adventure into microcosmos and the camera is always ready to capture the magic the water drop reveals. I gladly share my work with others and my images has featured in magazines as well as being used in university courses for educational purposes.back to gallery