Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

Third place: the rear leg, claw and respiratory trachea of a louse (Haematopinus suis). (Photo by Frank Reiser/Nassau Community College/Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2021)

Indian women beat men with stick (Lathi) during celebration of Lathmar Holi in Nandgaon village of Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, India on February 25, 2018. Holi is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month. (Photo by Javed Sultan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Victoria's secret model Joy Corrigan leaves little to the imagination as she leaves REVOLVE Social Club in West Hollywood for a pre Coachella party on April 12, 2022. (Photo by FILMDIGITALS/The Mega Agency)

American singer Dove Cameron in the last decade of May 2023 takes a moody selfie to talk about her “healing”. (Photo by dovecameron/Instagram)

Canadian actress Nina Kamenova Dobreva, credited professionally as Nina Dobrev puts her long stems on display in the first decade of June 2023. (Photo by nina/Instagram)

LA-based model Tori Brixx at the BET Awards 2023 held at Microsoft Theater on June 25, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Broadimage/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

American television presenter Ashley Roberts attends day one of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 03, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by CarverPR)