A magnified image of marine plankton has won a prestigious international photography contest for tiny works that exist , in the words of the winning photographer , in the `` limbo between art and science . '' Wim van Egmond , a freelance photographer from the Netherlands , took the top prize in the annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition , for his magnified image of marine plankton . It was the 11th year he had entered the contest , which draws entries from professional photographers as well as scientists , who generally produce the images in the course of their work . The winning entries are judged on their scientific and artistic merits . PHOTOS : See high-res gallery of Nikon contest winners . `` For 20 years , I 've been looking through a microscope , and every time I see things I have n't seen before , '' said van Egmond , who has had 19 images recognized as finalists in the competition over the past decade . `` It 's such an endless world -- there are so many species and so many different life stages of these organisms . It 's all so strange and wonderful that it 's become a bit of an addiction . '' The view through the microscope was like `` exploring a different world , or exploring space , with these strange unknown organisms , '' he said . Recognized as one of the contest 's top photomicrographers , Van Egmond runs a website devoted to photomicrography called the Micropolitan Museum . He said he approached his subjects as if he were producing a portrait , trying to `` capture their personalities . '' `` I do n't invent things , I try to make it as naturalistic as possible , but these organisms are such a strange shape that it almost looks like an abstract painting , '' he said . `` You do n't have to make much of an effort to make something that is weird . '' He had long been intrigued by the Chaetoceros debilis , a plant-like plankton with a corkscrew form and bristles . `` It 's very hard to capture because it 's so 3-dimensional and so fragile . It was a bit of a challenge to make a good portrait of the organism . '' The winning entry was created using software to combine various images focusing on different areas of the plankton . `` The difficulty of microscopy is that when you have a ... magnification of an image , you have hardly any depth of field , '' he said . By combining images where some areas were in focus and others were blurred , he could create a 3-dimensional effect , he said . Previous entries in the contest , now in its 39th year , have included a mosquito 's heart , a flea 's head , and a pregnant aphid . See previous winners of the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition .
Magnified image of marine plankton wins Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition . The annual contest draws entries from scientists and photographers alike . View through the microscope is like `` exploring space , '' says winning photographer . Previous entries include a mosquito 's heart , a flea 's head and a pregnant aphid .