TL;DR
Ole Bielfeldt, a student and experimental photographer based in Cologne, won the 2026 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition with a microscopic view of an inkjet printer depositing ink on paper. The listed winners and distinctions also feature mouse neurons, insects, fungi, a tardigrade, a snowflake and a daisy; the available details do not include judging criteria or technical specifications for every image.
Ole Bielfeldt, a student and experimental photographer based in Cologne, Germany, won the 2026 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition with a close-up image of droplets inside an inkjet printer as it deposits ink on paper. The winners span technology, cells, insects and other microscopic subjects, showing how photomicrography can make structures too small to see unaided visible to a wider audience.
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Bielfeldt made the winning image using a hand-built rig, according to the contest announcement. The image focuses on ink droplets during printing, turning a familiar process into the contest’s top-ranked photograph. The available details do not specify the rig’s design, the magnification used or how the final image was processed.
Kaelin Wulf and Rachel Flannery, of the Allen Institute’s Department of Neural Dynamics in Seattle, placed third with an image of neurons in an expanded mouse brain. Other ranked entries include a dedifferentiated liver endothelial cell photographed by Francisco Lázaro-Diéguez, and a mouse trachea image by Julien Resseguier showing hair-like cells that move mucus alongside nerves associated with muscles.
The selection also includes organisms and natural materials: a jumping spider carrying pollen, a tardigrade with its feeding structures visible, slime mold spore structures, fungi growing on sheep dung, a honey bee with pollen, a snowflake and a daisy flower head glowing with natural autofluorescence. The competition groups its winning images into Top 20, Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction.
Explore the microscopic world through Nikon Small World
The 2026 winning photographs place a printer’s ink droplets alongside cells, insects and natural materials, making tiny structures visible to a wider audience.
A familiar process, up close
Bielfeldt, a student and experimental photographer based in Cologne, captured ink droplets as a printer deposits ink on paper.
The winning image was made with a hand-built rig.
Microscopy reveals details in an everyday printing process.
The competition brings microscopic subjects to a wider audience.
Many subjects, one microscopic lens
The selection moves beyond laboratory specimens to include technology and familiar natural forms.
Printer ink
Droplets show a manufactured process at microscopic scale.
Neurons and tissue
Images include mouse neurons and a liver endothelial cell.
Small creatures
A jumping spider carrying pollen and a honey bee appear among the selected images.
Fungi and forms
The selection also features a tardigrade, slime mold, fungi, a snowflake and a daisy.
What the announcement tells us
Captions identify some photographers and subjects, while the available details leave methods and judging open.
- Bielfeldt’s hand-built rig
- Subjects in several selected images
- Top 20, Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction
- Judging criteria or judges
- Magnification and most equipment details
- Image processing methods
Microscopy Beyond the Laboratory
The collection connects scientific imaging with subjects that people may recognize from everyday life, including printing, flowers and insects. At extreme magnification, those familiar objects reveal details that ordinary photographs cannot show, while images of neurons and tissue make biological structures visually accessible without suggesting that a single photograph explains how an organism or cell works.
For readers, the range of subjects also illustrates that photomicrography is not limited to medical or laboratory specimens. The winning printer image places a manufactured process alongside living cells, fungi and crystals, highlighting the contest’s mix of science, technology and visual documentation. The images may invite closer attention, but the announcement does not provide enough information to evaluate the scientific conclusions or methods behind each entry.
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The 2026 Winning Image Selection
The Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition recognizes photographs made through a microscope. The 2026 announcement presents a ranked group alongside Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction, rather than limiting its selection to a single subject area. The described entries range from biological specimens to snow and a printer’s ink droplets.
The announcement also points readers to the contest website to see the full selection and mentions Nikon Small World in Motion, a separate video competition. It does not provide a full list of winners in the information available here, nor does it give dates for the competition’s submission, judging or award process. The images and captions, rather than detailed technical notes, form the basis of the current announcement.
Methods and Judging Details
The available announcement does not explain how entries were judged, what criteria determined the rankings or who served as judges. It also gives few technical details about the photographs, including magnification, equipment beyond Bielfeldt’s hand-built rig, lighting, image-stacking methods or post-processing.
Some captions identify the specimen and photographer, but they do not provide enough detail to independently assess how each image was captured or what scientific interpretation, if any, should be drawn from it. The announcement describes the images as winners and distinctions; it does not claim that the competition’s photographs establish new scientific findings.
View the Full Competition Gallery
Readers can visit the Nikon Small World competition website to see the full 2026 selection beyond the entries described in the announcement. It also directs interested readers to Nikon Small World in Motion for the separate video competition.
No additional announcement date, exhibition schedule or follow-up event is specified. Further details about individual images, capture methods and the judging process would need to come from the competition organizers or the photographers.
Source: rss
Key Questions
Who won the 2026 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition?
Ole Bielfeldt, a student and experimental photographer based in Cologne, Germany, received first place.
What does Bielfeldt’s winning image show?
It shows a microscopic view of an inkjet printer depositing ink onto paper. Bielfeldt used a hand-built rig, though the announcement does not describe its specifications.
What other subjects appear among the selected photographs?
The listed images include mouse neurons, a jumping spider, a tardigrade, fungi, a honey bee, a snowflake and a daisy, as well as other cells and biological structures.
Where can readers view the other winning images?
The announcement directs readers to the Nikon Small World competition website for the full selection, including the Top 20, Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction.
Source: thisiscolossal.com
