Now celebrating its 40th year, Nikon Small World is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed entries from all over the world covering subjects ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at biological specimens. The 2014 winners will be revealed on October 30th. In 2014, the competition received over 1,200 entries from more than 79 countries around the world. (Photo by Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World 2014)

A coil-shaped Helix Nebula showing a fine web of filamentary “bicycle-spoke” features embedded in the colorful red and blue ring of gas. At 650 light-years away, the Helix is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth. A planetary nebula is the glowing gas around a dying, Sun-like star. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

Lazar and his sister Andjelka sit by a candle in their home in the eastern Serbian town of Majdanpek, December 4, 2014. Electricity workers in Serbia struggled through snow, ice and treacherous terrain on Thursday to restore electricity to an eastern town left shivering without power, heating or running water for a fourth day. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

CANADA: Stanley Ferdinand filets large trout he caught in Great Bear Lake in Deline, Northwest Territories, Canada September 8, 2016. (Photo by Pat Kane/Reuters)

A farmer seen harvesting his crops while Mount Sinabung spewing out volcanic ash on July 4, 2017 in North Sumatera, Indonesia. The increased volume of lava dome that reaches one million eight hundred cubic meters, said volcanologist, through radio communications, do not dampen the activities of the people around sinabung, such as farming, harvesting their crops, picking up objects that are still left behind, or just take a picture while walking around near mount Sinabung. (Photo by Sabirin Manurung/Pacific Press/Barcroft Images)

Four actors on horseback dressed in Game of Thrones related costumes carry the Queen's Baton as they make their way way along the Dark Hedges on August 29, 2017 in Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Dark Hedges near Stranocum in County Antrim featured as the King's Road in season two of Game of Thrones and has become a tourist mecca for fans of the television series along with other filming locations in the province. The Queen's Baton Relay is currently on a tour of the United Kingdom as it makes its way around Europe in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

People wearing costumes walk during Halloween in Sierra Madre, California, U.S., October 31, 2017. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

11-year-old Balinese dancer girl Intan puts on makeup before she performs Mergapati Dance at a village event in Banjar Wangaye Kelod, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on November 19, 2017. To preserve traditional dances and culture, Balinese train their children to learn various traditional dances from childhood. (Photo by Mahendra Moonstar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)