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)

Frances Fowler leads the Bowie VFD Marching Thoroughbreds in the Bowie 4th of July Parade in Bowie, Md., on July 4, 1976. (Photo by James M. Thresher/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Participants take pictures of themselves as others run past the Tiananmen gate during the Beijing Marathon in Beijing, China, September 17, 2016. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

In this March 29, 2016 photo, a man shoulders a coffin with the remains of a loved one who was slain more than two decades ago by Shining Path rebels, as he walks to the cemetery for a group burial service, in Ccano, a village in the Huanta area of Ayachcuo department, Peru. Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori's base of support is in places like Ccano, where promises to build roads, clinics and schools recall her agronomist father’s own legacy of delivering aid to the long-overlooked countryside. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Grey seal pup “Nikolaus” licks a window at the seal enclosure in Friedrichskoog, Germany, 19 December 2014. The pup was abandoned by his mother and would not have a chance at survival without human help. Nikolaus will be fed at the enclosure for two to three months until he has reached the minimum weight of 45 kilograms for being released. (Photo by Daniel Reinhardt/EPA)

A Palestinian fighter from Ezz-Al Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, checks debris at the site of an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 26, 2019. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP Photo)

A caretta caretta pup is seen at Cirali Beach as they in a process of hatching and meeting the sea in Kemer district of Antalya, Turkey on July 22, 2020. 6 caretta caretta pups came out of the nest opened by the officials met the sea in the early morning. (Photo by Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

LGBT activists take part in a “Rave Pride” demanding state support for the local LGBTQ outside Ukrainian President's office in Kyiv, Ukraine on July 30, 2021. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)