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)

Lazar and his sister Andjelka sit by a candle in their home in the eastern Serbian town of Majdanpek, December 4, 2014. Electricity workers in Serbia struggled through snow, ice and treacherous terrain on Thursday to restore electricity to an eastern town left shivering without power, heating or running water for a fourth day. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

A cyclist rides the path around Lake Harriet on Memorial Day in Minneapolis on Monday, May 25, 2020. The area around the Lake Harriet Bandshell was busy but not crowded on Memorial Day evening. (Photo by Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP Photo)

The Tianzi Hotel with the shape of Chinese deities Fu, Lu and Shou is pictured on November 20, 2017 in Langfang, Hebei Province of China. The 41.6-meter-tall Tianzi Hotel has an exterior of Chinese Sanxing, whose names are Fu, Lu and Shou with the qualities of prosperity, status and longevity in traditional Chinese culture, in Langfang city. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A man takes his pet African spurred tortoise called Lupin for a walk during a heatwave in Tokyo, Japan on July 3, 2022. (Photo by Masatoshi Okauchi/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Fans of Gimnasia de La Plata choke on tear gas during a local tournament match between Gimnasia de La Plata and Boca Juniors in La Plata, Argentina, Thursday, October 6, 2022. The match was suspended after tear gas thrown by the police outside the stadium wafted inside affecting the players as well as fans who fled to the field to avoid its effects. (Photo by Gustavo Garello/AP Photo)

Dancers attend a photocall for the new “The One – Grand Show” at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany September 28, 2016. The show, which features costumes by French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, premieres on 06 October. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

In this May 2016 photo released by The Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey, a boat sails near a coral reef that has been bleached white by heat stress in the Maldives. oral reefs, unique underwater ecosystems that sustain a quarter of the world's marine species and half a billion people, are dying on an unprecedented scale. Scientists are racing to prevent a complete wipeout within decades. (Photo by The Ocean Agency/XL Catlin Seaview Survey via AP Photo)