A contestant prepares at the backstage before the Miss Transqueen India 2018 transgender beauty pageant in Mumbai, India on October 7, 2018. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)

A couple walks across the Francis Scott Key Bridge as the setting sun lights up the clouds in Washington, Friday, October 30, 2020. (Photo by J. David Ake/AP Photo)

South Sudanese traditional dancers prepare to welcome Pope Francis during his visit in Juba, South Sudan on February 3, 2023. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Italian disabled dancer Simona Atzori (top) performs, before a special audience with disabled athletes led by Pope Francis, in Paul VI hall at the Vatican October 4, 2014. (Photo by Tony Gentile/Reuters)

A bride looks on as she and others wait to take their wedding vows during a tribal mass marriage ceremony, in which 1101 couples took part, on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, February 17, 2019. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)

Imaan Hammam and Rihanna attend the FENTY x Webster Pop-up Cocktail at The Webster on June 18, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Fenty)

American rapper Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus, known professionally as Cardi B lets her curves pop out in the last decade of March 2023. (Photo by iamcardib/Instagram)

Each year Nikon Small World recognizes the excellence of photography taken under the microscope. The contest showcases the beauty and complexity of life. Anyone interested in microscopy and photography can enter the contest and in its 42nd year, Nikon Small World received 2,000 entries from 70 countries. Here: 11th Place; Scales of a butterfly wing underside (Vanessa atalanta). (Photo by Francis Sneyers/Nikon's Small World 2016)