Award-winning photo of slime mold measuring just one millimetre across created from 87 macro shots using world's first IP53 weather-sealed camera

Close-up of three tiny dark slime mold fruiting bodies on a twig with blurred golden-green background.

Macro photographer Barry Webb specializes in photographing slime mold – tiny organisms that come in remarkable shapes, textures, and iridescent colors. His striking work has earned awards before, including recognition at the Close-up Photographer of the Year for an image of a 15mm tall ear-pick fungus.

Now, Webb has won the Botanical Britain category at the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2026 with his image featuring a slime mold species measuring just '1mm tall'. But creating the image was far from simple.

Webb used focus stacking to overcome the razor-thin depth of field that comes with extreme macro photography, capturing a total of 87 separate images at different focus points before merging them into a single final shot – all captured with a Micro Four Thirds camera that introduced two world-first features.

Botanical Britain | Winner

The OM System OM-1 is the world's only IP53 weather-sealed camera and the world's first Cross Quad Pixel AF camera and was launched in March 2022 (Image credit: James Artaius)

Image details
Title: Slime Moulds and a Water Droplet
Species: Slimemould (Lamproderma scintillans)
Location: South Buckinghamshire, England

Shot info
Gear: OM System OM-1 + M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro + 2x teleconverter
Exposure: 0.6sec, f/14, ISO 200

The story behind the still
Webb explains, "These 1mm-tall Lamproder mascintillans were found on a tiny fragment of wood, on a very wet woodchip pile.

"When the water droplet evaporated on the two fruiting bodies on the right, they dried out and reverted to their original blue colour.

"It is thought that the iridescent surface of these fruiting bodies may act as a water repellent in order to protect the spores within the sporocarp.

"A total of 87 shots were focus bracketed and then focus stacked to create the final image."

The BWPA competition

The British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA) is one of the UK's most respected nature photography competitions, celebrating the diversity and wonder of wildlife.

Photographers compete across adult and youth categories, with winning images published in a hardback book by Graffeg.

For more winning images and full results, visit the BWPA website and explore the incredible work of this year's photographers.

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