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 model showcases designs on the catwalk by Manning Cartell during A Review of Australian Fashion Week show as part of Mercedes Benz Fashion Festival Sydney 2011 at Sydney Town Hall on August 27, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Don Arnold/Getty Images)

A young man with the date 25 painted on his face, gives the victory sign in Tahir Square ahead of the first anniversary of the revolution on January 24, 2012 in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Police officers take cover as they clash with protesters after an officer shot and killed a black man in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 11,2021. Protests broke out April 11, 2021 night after US police fatally shot a young Black man in a suburb of Minneapolis – where a former police officer is currently on trial for the murder of George Floyd. Hundreds of people gathered outside the police station in Brooklyn Center, northwest of Minneapolis. Police fired teargas and flash bangs at the demonstrators, according to an AFP videojournalist at the scene. (Photo by Kerem Yucel/AFP Photo)

Residents wade through the flood brought by typhoon Vamco in Manila, the Philippines, on November 12, 2020. Typhoon Vamco, the third powerful cyclone to batter the Philippines in 11 days, made landfall on Wednesday night, unleashed fierce winds and intense rains that triggered landslide, rockslide and flash floods. (Photo by Rouelle Umali/Xinhua News Agency)

People and dogs take part in Anthony Rubio Designs Womens Wear Canine Couture show as part of New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York on February 12, 2021. (Photo by Adam Gray/Action Press/South West News Service)

Zulu maidens dance during the memorial service for King Goodwill Zwelithini in Nongoma, South Africa, March 18, 2021. King Goodwill Zwelithini died on March 12, 2021 in the eastern city of Durban, aged 72, after weeks of treatment for a diabetes-related illness. (Photo by Phill Magakoe/Pool via Reuters)

Mozambique army soldiers take a ride on a motorbike in the streets of Palma, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, 12 April 2021. The violence unleashed more than three years ago in Cabo Delgado province escalated again about two weeks ago, when armed groups first attacked the town of Palma. (Photo by Joao Relvas/EPA/EFE)