geyser at Yellowstone

crown-shaped pinnacle in Colorado

these are either a batch of eggs that will eventually develop into full-grown candy-canes, or this is a super closeup shot of a red gladiolus flower petal and these juicy 'eggs' are the plant cells that make up the flower's beauty and shine. each cell measures about 0.0015 inches across which is the thickness of aluminum foil in your kitchen (the thin/economic type; not the heavy duty) and what appears to be a bubble inside each cell is the cell nucleus (averaging around 1/1200 of an inch).

appearing as a beautiful iridescent wing from a magical creature, this is actually a small portion of a single grain of black sand. we were exploring a small clump of sand for a good shot, and noticed a tiny colourful spot sparkling out from one of the grains of lava rock. zooming in much more, we discovered this 'wing' shape measuring 0.0058 inches long (equivalent to the thickness of a sheet of paper). the entire grain of sand at this level of magnification, would fill 20 of these photos.

Temple of the Sun in Cuzco

tall Saguaro cactus towering over others in southern Arizona