Animal Eye Close-Up Images Show The Intricate Beauty Of Real Creatures (PHOTOS)

We've seen our share of super-magnified awesome images, but sometimes a good old-fashioned camera close-up can blow your mind.

There's also something to be said for the awe-inspiring beauty of nature.

Suren Manvelyan first started taking photos when he was 16, and he became a professional photographer in 2006. In his series on animals, the images capture such intricate detail that it's hard to imagine they're real.

Manvelyan's subjects aren't limited to animals however. His other series of human eyes, entitled "Your Beautiful Eyes" has been highly lauded.

Be sure to check out the full catalogue of Suren Manvelyan's amazing photography at his website.

Comments

[sammie is all]

02:35 PM on 10/14/2011

these pictures are amazing. they actually look very much like sci-fi universes. something out of star trek or star wars.

[ThisAlreadyHappened]

01:50 PM on 10/14/2011

When viewed close up, they all look like places you could insert a penis.

[Asmodean1]

01:14 PM on 10/16/2011

----- Sell Cadre Cola somewhere else.

[brokenleoheart]

01:36 PM on 10/14/2011

not gonna lie a couple of those can pass off being human eyes. snail was the funniest one

[Igor Purlantov]

11:27 AM on 10/14/2011

Amazing pictures. You can really see into an animals soul through their eyes.

[AgentGrey]

01:27 PM on 10/16/2011

Eyes are just the main conduit of social information for humans, so we make a lot of personal associations through them. You're seeing aspects of your own "soul", not that of the animal.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

07:18 PM on 10/13/2011

mother nature is THE artist

[Jacob Aud]

10:18 PM on 10/12/2011

Eyes That See a Different World

The range of colors our eyes [human eyes] capture is but a minute fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum. For instance, our eyes cannot see infrared radiation, which has a longer wavelength than red light. However, pit vipers have two small organs, or pits, between their eyes and nostrils that detect infrared radiation.* Hence, even in the dark they can accurately strike at warm-blooded prey.

Beyond the violet end of the visible spectrum is ultraviolet (UV) light. Although unseen to our eyes, UV light is visible to many creatures, including birds and insects. Bees, for instance, orient themselves in relation to the sun—even on a partly cloudy day when it is hidden—by locating some blue sky and seeing the pattern formed by polarized UV light...

Because birds see in the UV range and because this light gives their plumage extra radiance, birds probably look more colorful to one another than to us. They have a visual "depth of richness that we can't begin to imagine," said one ornithologist...

http://www.watchtower.org/e/20030308/article_02.htm

[brooklyncitizen]

09:09 PM on 10/12/2011

they are like paintings...the reptiles and fish have it going on!

[BuckyJamesDio]

08:21 PM on 10/12/2011

This is why I heart nature. It's amazing what you see when you look closely. This stuff mesmerizes me. And they didn't even include HypnoToad.

[johnb123]

08:15 PM on 10/12/2011

More evidence of DESIGN.

[Lefty Pockets]

08:59 PM on 10/12/2011

Wrong. Did you see the primitive snail eye? Eyes evolve just like other organs.

[johnb123]

09:51 PM on 10/12/2011

So the eye created itself?

[dim]

09:25 PM on 10/12/2011

Evidence of pretty CRAPPY design, considering mammals have inverted retinas.

[johnb123]

09:49 PM on 10/12/2011

n 2009 Kröger anatomically showed in Zebrafish that though the inverted arrangement is nonadaptive in that it creates avoidable scattering of light (and thus loss of light and image blur), it has space-saving advantages for small-eyed animals in which there is a minimal vitreous body, as the space between the lens and the photoreceptors’ light-sensitive outer segments is completely filled with retinal cells.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retina


It shows DESIGN for a purpose.

[bearister]

07:21 PM on 10/12/2011

When I saw the lead photo for this story I initially thought it was going to be about Anthony Weiner's twitter and sexting scandal.

[iknowscottyknows]

07:08 PM on 10/12/2011

How did the eye evolve, exactly? A blind fish knew it needed one and the process began...how, exactly? Must have been incrementally, with the nerves connecting to the brain, etc.

Anyone, anyone at all. Bueller?

[Sacchinftw]

07:15 PM on 10/12/2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_eye

Come back after you've finished going through the references.

[gunnerfan5]

10:24 AM on 10/13/2011

“How did the eye evolve, exactly?

Since evolution is a process which occurs over hundreds of millions of years, how long have you got? Although I suspect even if someone spent a million years explaining evolution to you, you still wouldn't get it.

[fds]

06:58 PM on 10/12/2011

Does anyone edit the articles written by HP? Sheesh.

[clarendon67]

06:57 PM on 10/12/2011

Even though some looked real creepy all I can say is, Wow!

[deborahjoybrat]

06:55 PM on 10/12/2011

Awwwww. the snail eye is cute.

[BuckyJamesDio]

08:19 PM on 10/12/2011

That's what she said.

Yeah, okay that one was a bit of a stretch.

Hey! She said that too! I kiII me ...

[NorthwestBBQ]

08:59 PM on 10/12/2011

Ho ho ho.

[deborahjoybrat]

12:13 PM on 10/13/2011

LOL!!

[MIKEinNYC]

06:11 PM on 10/12/2011

Do I have to tell you what the lead picture looks like.