Think "spider" and most people don't think "adorable"; quite the opposite in fact. But the image from German photographer John-Oliver Dum might make you reconsider that prejudice.
With two huge, black eyes and a face fringed with fluffy white scales, this cute critter looks like something Pixar or Disney would draw for their next kids' film. No wonder the picture has taken second place in this year's Nikon Small World 2026 Photomicrography Competition.
So what exactly are we looking at? Meet Salticus scenicus: a jumping spider common across Europe that typically measures 5mm to 9mm long: that's smaller than the nail on your little finger.
In Dum's prize-winning photograph, it's been magnified 20 times, which turns grains of pollen – which are too small to see with the naked eye – into what look a little like jewels. Perhaps I'm being fanciful, but to me the grains clustered on top look like a crown, while another sits perfectly between the two main eyes, like a pendant. Overall, it's a surprisingly regal effect.
How it was shot
At this level of magnification, depth of field is highly limited, so only a sliver of your subject will be sharp. To solve this puzzle, Dum used focus stacking, a technique he specialises in.
This means that what looks like a single image is actually built from dozens (or sometimes more than 100) individual frames, shot at slightly different focus distances, then merged so everything is pin-sharp.
Based in Bendorf, Germany, Dum typically works at magnifications from 1x to 100x. His kit includes a Sony Alpha 1, an MJKZZ macro rail for making precise, tiny focus steps, and microscope optics from Mitutoyo, Nikon, Olympus and Carl Zeiss Jena. His work has been shown at venues including the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and ARTIS-Micropia in Amsterdam.
For me, it's the level of detail in this picture that's the most impressive. Despite the spider being smaller than a fingernail, you can see the individual scales on its face, the fine hairs on its legs and the texture of every pollen grain clearly.
Photography often shows us the world we're used to seeing from a different perspective. This photograph, though, shows us an entirely different world, that we can't see with the naked eye at all, which in my book makes it special indeed.
Nikon Small World showcases the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope via photography and video, and is open to anyone with an interest in microscopy.
This year’s overall winner was Ole Bielfeldt’s never-before-seen view of an inkjet printer at work. You can view all the winning images on the Nikon Small World website.
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