The Art of Capturing the Sun and Nature, Itself

Sputtered polycrystalline Cu2Se film grown on oxidized silicon substrate

 In our research group, we study thin films of materials. Because these films and are too thin to see with the naked eye and the details of the film surface are important, we must use a variety of techniques to image our samples. These images can be quite beautiful.
The above image is a colorized image of a sputtered polycrystalline Cu2Se thin film. The film has a very rough surface (it was a bad film for what we wanted to do with it), but shows some interesting things. The micrograph shows that Cu2Se prefers to grow in certain directions and on certain surfaces, since the shapes are faceted (not rounded, flattened along certain sides). The film was extremely rough and has pinholes, as the color contrast suggests. It also looks pretty cool!

Polycrystalline Cu2ZnSnSe4 film grown on molybdenum-coated soda-lime glass 

This image shows the surface of a polycrystalline Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin film. You can see that the space is filled well (there are no holes). Similarly, the film did not grow perfectly flat, although it is much flatter than the previous image.
There are actually science photo contests. Check out the FEI image gallery or the FEI Flickr photostream.
One of my best friends is a photojournalist. I am sometimes struck by the similarities between aspects of our work. We both depict reality through images to further understanding. We both worry about our very investigative presence interfering with or altering the reality that we are trying to capture and show. I just focus on inanimate objects and how they are made, while she focuses on people and their interactions with the inanimate objects. I typically image using electrons, while she images using light. Science incorporates a lot of art.