macro

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Art

In ‘Creation,’ Vadim Sherbakov Captures a Macro Cosmos in Glitter and Ink

Vadim Sherbakov is no stranger to wild and expansive vistas (previously), training his lens on vast landscapes and dramatic events. A fascination with light, scale, and the wonders of the unknown permeate much of his work, from terrestrial subjects to his interest in the cosmos.

Rather than shooting through a telescope or homing in on celestial bodies, he transforms our understanding of the universe—as a crucible for the imagination, its physics, and its boundlessness—on a macro scale in his new high-definition video “Creation.”

Sherbakov expresses the incredible energy and power generated by astronomical phenomena like the Big Bang or supernovas, scaled down to fit inside the artist’s studio. An array of inks, alcohol, soaps, glitter, and other materials were painstakingly combined by set designer Luidmila Tregub, who set the substances in motion while Sherbakov captured twelve hours of footage—less than one percent of which made it into the final cut.

“Creation” continues the journey that the artist began in another short film titled “Velocity.” In the latest chapter, he implements new techniques and materials, including magnets and different liquids and inks.

Find more on Sherbakov’s website and Behance portfolio, and follow updates on Instagram.

 

Nature Photography

Close-Up Photographer of the Year Showcases Mindboggling Macro Images of the Natural World

Now in its fifth year, Close-up Photographer of the Year drew nearly 12,000 remarkable entries from photographers in 67 countries who explore macro marvels of the natural world. From a roly-poly isopod in Austria to sunlit lily pads in an atmospheric Mexican cenote, this year’s images portray a vast array of flora and fauna in incredible detail. Eleven categories ranging from animals and insects to underwater and intimate landscapes welcomed submissions that focus on a breadth of amazing scenes.

The competition’s overall winner is Csaba Daróczi, whose spectacular black-and-white capture of a bird in flight, taken from inside a hollow tree stump, presents a unique perspective of forest life. Other category winners included Barry Webb’s extraordinary view of slime mold, Mirko Scortichini’s cluster of blue butterflies, and a ghost goby hovering over a diaphanous bed of pink coral by Laura Storm. You can explore the top 100 photos on the contest’s website.

 

Art

Paint Whirls Through a Sea of Color and the Melodies of Chopin in a New Video by Thomas Blanchard

A vivacious troupe of colorful paint blobs dance across a stage of oil and soap liquid in Thomas Blanchard’s latest video. Sliding around to the sounds of Chopin’s “Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 (E Flat Major),” glittering spheres roll mesmerizingly across shimmering fields of color, which Blanchard (previously) captures in high-definition, slow-motion elegance.

Watch “Colorful Liquids in Motion” above, and find more on the artist’s website and Vimeo.

 

Food Nature Photography Science

An Ambitious Series of Portraits by Uli Westphal Captures the Character of Every Edible Plant Seed

From the fuzzy casing of the levant cotton seed to the speckled scarlet runner bean to the star-shaped pod of the aptly named star anise, the minuscule sources of the world’s edible plants take center stage in photographer Uli Westphal’s newest project. Fascinated by food systems (previously) and the myriad ways we have adapted botanicals to our needs, the artist showcases the phenomenal diversity of plants, or in this case, their tiny origins. In the ongoing Seeds series, he creates a collective portrait of all edible plants, capturing incredible textures and colors in micro-photographic detail.

While other projects include amassing large quantities of produce, he started focusing on a collection of crop seeds during the pandemic, many of which he accumulated over the years. Currently, he has about 400 species, with a shortlist of 3,000 considered highly edible. Varying in shape, size, color, and texture, the specimens require a setup that allows Westphal to capture every minute characteristic.

 

Because the seeds are often so tiny they’re impossible to capture with traditional camera lenses, Westphal added high-resolving microscope objectives—the magnifying part of the microscope lens closest to the object—to his camera. The objectives have an extremely shallow depth of field, so he built a machine that moves the camera a few micrometers at a time, allowing him to take hundreds of images of each seed. These individual shots are used to create one composite image in which the entire seed is in focus.”It’s a time consuming but rewarding process that reveals a world that would otherwise remain invisible to the naked eye,” he says.

Westphal considers this body of work, in addition to others like the Cultivar Series, “infinite projects that I intend to pursue and expand for as long as I’m around…I believe we need this knowledge to raise awareness, celebrate, and safeguard this botanic cornucopia.”

If you’re in The Netherlands, you can see some of the images in the exhibition Spacefarming at the Evoluon in Eindhoven, which continues through March 2024. Westphal is currently working on a project site to accompany the series, but in the meantime, you can explore some of his other projects on his website, and follow updates on Instagram.

 

Nature Photography

In Macro Photos, Barry Webb Captures the Fleeting, Otherworldly Characteristics of Slime Molds and Fungi

Photographer Barry Webb (previously) continues his hunt for the speckled, glimmering, and ice-crested organisms that pop up near his home in South Buckinghamshire, U.K. Armed with a 90-millimeter macro lens, Webb ventures into woodlands and other natural areas where slime molds and fungi thrive. There, he zeroes in on their microscopic features, documenting their wildly diverse characteristics that often last for just a brief moment in time. Recent shots include a tuft of Muppet-like fuzz topping Metatrichia floriformis, a water droplet suspended between two cup-like Craterium minutum, and a cluster of Pink stemonitis filaments propped on spindly black legs.

Webb has won several awards in recent months, including from the Royal Photographic Society and Close-Up Photographer of the Year. Four of his photos will be featured at the Vienna Mushroom Festival next month, prints are available on his site, and you can find more of his work on Instagram.

 

Nature Photography Science

A New USPS Collection Enlarges the World’s Tiniest Lifeforms to the Size of a Postage Stamp

One of the newest releases from the U.S. Postal Service features creatures so microscopic they’re too small for even the back of a postage stamp. Released earlier this month, the Life Magnified collection contains 20 of the world’s tiniest living forms, from a cluster of supple red blood cells and a single strand of fibrous hair to the sprawling network of mouse brain neurons. While most stamps shrink a photo or illustration to fit within the confines of the rectangular sticker that’s less than an inch wide, this series enlarges the images to reveal the infinitesimal in striking, vivid detail.

Included in Life Magnified are several scientists and photographers featured on Colossal, including Igor Siwanowicz (previously) and Jason Kirk (previously). Shop the collection at USPS.