Linden Gledhill is a photographer with a background in biochemistry, and lately, he's been using his scientific training to make the microscopic world look absolutely breathtaking.
Gledhill uses one of three basic set-ups to produce his work: Macrophotography, a microscope that reflects light, or a transmission scope, wherein light passes through an object and is captured using differential interference contrast, optical staining, or dark field contrast. What's amazing about Gledhill's work is the variety of ways he's able to manipulate light, causing ordinary things such as soap bubbles and food coloring to take on bizarrely alien forms.
Here are a few of the photographs from Gledhill's portfolio that reveal the stunning microscopic world all around us:
Ferrofluid using reflected light microscopy
Soap film using macro photography
Ferrofluid using reflected light microscopy
Glue using differential interference contrast microscopy
Crystalized salicylic acid using differential interference contrast microscopy
Ferrofluid using reflected light microscopy
Ferrofluid using reflected light microscopy
Ferrofluid using reflected light microscopy
Center of snowflake using reflected light microscopy
Crystalized food colouring dark field lighting
Center of snowflake using DIC microscopy
Gledhill, who's always searching for new and interesting projects to collaborate on, recently produced a series of visuals depicting DNA crystallization for a genomic sequencing project targeting autistic people. He also just produced an exhibit for Montreal Space for Life that reveals the nanoscale architecture of butterfly wings, and is currently working on a monster movie. You can learn more about Gledhill's work on his website or check out his full portfolio on Flickr. [Linden Gledhill via PetaPixel]
Top image: Oil on water using reflected light. All images are courtesy of Linden Gledhill
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