Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

In this Wednesday, November 15, 2012 file photo, a young girl in her colorful dress reaches out to greet a Pakistani policeman securing the road outside Kainat Riaz's home in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan. (Photo by Anja Niedringhaus/AP Photo)

Tessa Evans was born without nose, a very rare facial anomaly called 'arhinia'. The little girl, who is now 18-months-old, has helped in spreading awareness about her condition across the globe.

Eight-year-old handicapped Chinese girl Qian Hongyan crawls with two home-made props and part of a basketball at Zhuangxia Village on January 5, 2005 in Luliang County of Qujing City, Yunnan Province, China. The girl who lost both of her legs in a traffic accident in 2000 at the age of three, struggles to live her life with a basketball as an underprop, “walking” between school and home by herself. The girl's story is widely reported in the country, and experts from China Rehabilitation Research Center has come to Qian's home to help her for rehabilitative treatment early 2005. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Crowds supporting the Same Sеx Marriage Survey listen to politicians and advocates at Taylor Square in the heart of Sydney's gay precinct on November 15, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. Australians have voted for marriage laws to be changed to allow same-sеx marriage, with the Yes vote claiming 61.6% to to 38.4% for No vote. Despite the Yes victory, the outcome of Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey is not binding, and the process to change current laws will move to the Australian Parliament in Canberra. (Photo by James Alcock/Getty Images)

In this picture made available Thursday July 11, 2013 a zoo-keeper presents three of twelve ferret babies at Eekholt Zoo in Grossenaspe, Germany, Wednesday July 10, 2013. The ferret babies were born May 25, 2013. (Photo by Markus Scholz/AP Photo/Dpa)

Scottish photographer George Logan and retoucher Tony Swinney let’s you imagine what it would be like if your cat wasn’t just a purring ball of fur. As a part of “Big Cat, Small Cat” ad campaign for Whiskas, they created a series of funny images showing tiny domestic cats chasing after antelopes, zebras, elephants and doing other “big cat” stuff.

A woman looks at a handgun at the Glock booth at the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, Tuesday, January 19, 2016, in Las Vegas. The SHOT Show, the world's largest annual trade show for shooting, hunting and law enforcement professionals, runs through January 23 and is expected to feature 1,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 62,000 attendees. (Photo by John Locher/AP Photo)