Tech

Ink droplets in motion snag top prize in Nikon Small World contest

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Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 22/10/2026, 20:58:23 UTC.

Briefings

German photographer Ole Bielfeldt won the 2026 Nikon Small World competition with a photo of inkjet-printed ink droplets frozen mid-air. He achieved this by deconstructing the printer to move paper under a stationary head while using a flash as a shutter, freezing the action faster than the camera's shutter speed. Bielfeldt, a 25-year-old German, beat 1,802 entries from 69 countries, inspired by his curiosity about inkjet mechanics during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Key points

• Ole Bielfeldt, a 25-year-old German experimental photographer, won the 2026 Nikon Small World competition with an image of inkjet-printed ink droplets frozen mid-air.
• Bielfeldt achieved the freeze by deconstructing the printer to move paper under a stationary printhead while using a flash as the shutter, overcoming the challenge of capturing droplets moving faster than the camera's shutter speed.

Context

The 2026 Nikon Small World competition featured 1,802 entries from 69 countries. Bielfeldt's work was inspired by his curiosity about inkjet printer mechanics during the COVID-19 lockdown, where he built custom tools to connect a microscope to his father's camera.

Limitations

Evidence is limited to a single article from October 2026. No additional background on the competition rules, prize structure, or Bielfeldt's prior career is supplied. The article does not provide the date of the competition or the specific year of the award ceremony, only the publication date of the article.

Generated by Bittrees-hosted qwen35-2b sha256:aaf42c8b7c3c on 22/10/2026, 20:59:15 UTC. Based on publisher-provided feed evidence; may not cover the full original article. Check the source for details.

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