Levon Biss is an international photographer who spoke at a TED talk event. He told the story of how he embarked on his project of magnified portraits of insects. He began by explaining how at the height of success, he was beginning to feel a little unfulfilled in his career. He then began to look for an extraordinary experience to bring to life as a visual creation. During a 2014 spring, his son brought home a ground beetle which they eventually put under a microscope revealing incredibly beautiful photographs of complex galaxy like patterns and diverse colors. Biss then decided to attempt to use his photography skills and lighting control to take pictures of 5 millimeter insects, producing such extraordinary results that Oxford University museum of Natural History decided to give him open access to their entire collection.

Biss then explained his method of photography, starting with splitting the insect into multiple sections, then using certain photography skills that apply to each different section based on the texture of the surface. The shallow depth of field was dealt with by photographing in extraordinary detail about 25 pictures and combining them into one final image, which resulted in one very highly defined photograph. These photographs have been received so well internationally, and have been requested to be used in schools. Biss finally discusses his pride and validation regarding this entire project when he was trusted with a shield bug brought back from Australia by Charles Darwin in 1836, to photograph.