Levon Biss Zooms In on Insects and the Result is Stunning

Have you ever looked at a beetle up close? And when we say “close”, we mean up close and personal. No? Well, now you can, with Levon Biss’ microphotographs of insects. Printed in large-scale formats, his insects are presented as three-meter high prints. Each image takes three weeks to create and is produced from over 8000 individual photographs. The effect is absolutely breathtaking.

“I started researching macro techniques, microscopy, objectives, and microscopes and shooting my own specimens from the garden,” he explained in an interview with Lecture in Progress. “After a while, the photographic process got to a point where I felt I needed better specimens to shoot. I went to the Oxford Museum of Natural History, presented some of my work and asked if they were interested in collaborating. I kept zooming into the images and they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. They gave me open access to their entire collection, and the assistance of their entomologist James Hogan who helped me find and prepare the specimens.”

“It was a challenge to see if I could take all the lighting and studio skills, that I’d be honing for over 20 years, and translate them onto a subject that was five millimeters long, and still keep all the clarity and the creative control,” he added.

Take a look at some of his stunning photographs.