A walrus kisses a visitor during a sea animal show at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Monday, September 11, 2017. (Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)

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)

A boy dressed as Hindu Lord Shiva poses before performing in a religious procession at the Mahashivratri festival in Allahabad, India, March 7, 2016. Hindus across the country celebrate Mahashivratri, better known as Lord Shiva's wedding anniversary. (Photo by Jitendra Prakash/Reuters)

Second place, Nature: double trapping. Picture taken in the Brazilian Pantanal ... when I downloaded the CF did not want to believe it ... The nature knows we always give magnificent events but sometimes extraordinary. (Photo by Massimiliano Bencivenni/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Spur Lacasse of Cochrane, Alberta rides the horse Rebel Warrior in the novice bareback event during the Calgary Stampede rodeo in Calgary, Alberta, in this July 12, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Todd Korol/Reuters)

In this undated photo entitled “Close Call”, a Hawaiian green sea turtle swims through a breaking wave on the North Shore of Oahu near Haleiwa, Hawaii. The image appears in photographer Clark Little's new book, “The Art of Waves”. (Photo by Clark Little via AP Photo)

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo poses at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures gala in Los Angeles, California, U.S. September 25, 2021. (Photo by Ringo Chiu/Reuters)

Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek gives a shoutout to her “piece of art” dress with a busty display on November 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by salmahayek/Instagram)