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.

A man in a wartime uniform, poses for a photo on an abandoned tank at a beach, ahead of the 60th anniversary of Second Taiwan Straits Crisis against China, in Kinmen, Taiwan on August 19, 2018. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Activists from the climate action group Ocean Rebellion perform a stunt outside the Science Museum, in London, United Kingdom on May 19, 2021. (Photo by Hannah McKay/Reuters)

Daughter being told off by her mother. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)

Fareeda, wife of Shameem Ahmad Ganai, who according to Fareeda was arrested during a clampdown a day before the scrapping of the special constitutional status in Kashmir by the government, tends to her husband's sheep in their house, in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, August 13, 2019. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

Two stallions confront each other at a horse fighting contest in Rongshui, China. More than 30 horses from surrounding regions took part in the traditional activity of the Lantern festival. (Photo by China Foto Press)

Linda Marigliano, Agro and Dylan Alcott arrive for the 33rd Annual ARIA Awards 2019 at The Star on November 27, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

A group of PETA supporters protest Canada Goose's use of coyote fur, with “Canada Goose Kills” painted on their backs in New York, USA on October 18, 2018. (Photo by Erik Pendzich/Rex Features/Shutterstock)