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

Do tears of joy look the same as ones of woe—or ones from chopping onions? In “The Topography of Tears,” the Los Angeles-based photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher explores the physical terrain of one hundred tears emitted during a range of emotional states and physical reactions. Using a Zeiss microscope with an attached digital camera, she captures the composition of tears enclosed in glass slides, magnified between 10x and 40x. “There are many factors that determine the look of each tear image, including the viscosity of the tear, the chemistry of the weeper, the settings of the microscope, and the way I process the images afterwards,” she says.

Transgender woman Angeles Rojas enters a room at Banco Nación where she works in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, November 5, 2020. Rojas, 23, joined the most important public bank in Argentina this year as part of the trans labor quota that is part of the public policies in favor of the LGBT community that the South American country has implemented in the last decade. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

In this image released on October 1, model Jazzelle Zanaughtti is seen onstage during Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2 presented by Amazon Prime Video at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California; and broadcast on October 2, 2020. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Presented by Amazon Prime Video)

Jason Derulo (C) performs “Get Ugly” at the People's Choice Awards 2016 in Los Angeles, California January 6, 2016. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Show hosts Anna Faris (L) and Allison Janney dance on stage during the 2015 People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles, California January 7, 2015. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Heidi Klum direct a photoshoot for “Germany's Next Top Model” on set filming on Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, USA on January 25, 2017. (Photo by Splash News and Picture)

English journalist and newsreader Lucy Watson attends the “Charlie's Angels” UK Premiere at The Curzon Mayfair on November 20, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)