Overview
- Chinese photographer Zhang You took first place with a staged image of a rice weevil on a grain of rice, created by focus‑stacking more than 100 photos after discovering the insect already dead on a windowsill.
- Second place went to Jan Rosenboom for colonial algae (Volvox) spheres in a droplet of water, and third place went to John‑Oliver Dum for pollen caught in a garden spider web.
- Zhang reported spending about two weeks cleaning, lighting and post‑processing the specimen before assembling the final stacked image to maintain sharp focus across depth.
- Entries were judged on originality, informational content, technical proficiency and visual impact, reflecting the contest’s dual emphasis on art and science.
- Coverage highlights a broad range of subjects and techniques across the winners, with reported participation of 1,925 photo entries from 77 countries and methods including confocal, light‑sheet, polarized light, fluorescence and image stacking.