Meet the photographer behind the viral ant face close-up

Terrifying close up of ant’s face wins photography distinction

Kavaliauskas is a wildlife photographer who has won several honours over the years. On his web portfolio are mostly pictures of birds of prey.

But he decided do something new four years ago, he told The Washington Post in an interview. A friend and fellow photographer inspired him to venture into photomicrography -- taking photos under a microscope.

He got the idea to take an ant's photo by observing them in a forest near his house. A lot of playing with lighting and shadows went into creating the terrifying effect the photo had on viewers.

For Kavaliauskas, the perception of horror or wonder depends upon an individual's point of view.

He said when he started microscopic photography, insects seemed monstrous to him. But now, his outlook had changed.

The ant photo is an example of of divine designs and the undiscovered miracles under our feet, he said.

Indeed many such wonderful photos were entered into the Nikon competition. The first prize went to a striking photo of a tiny hand of a Madagascar gecko's embryo.

The photo, that revealed an intricate network of veins and bones, required 63x magnification. It was the work of Grigorii Timin and Dr. Michel Milinkovitch from the University of Geneva.