Is this some kind of rare jewel? Or perhaps a luridly lit cave? How about a landscape from the latest fantasy video game? A computer was involved in making the image, but the subject is all too real. If this spiky terrain gives you a slightly queasy feeling, there's a reason: it's a kidney stone. Not actual size, of course, just one magnified 400 times and presented in a rainbow of false color. This image, made in 1998, is one of hundreds of specimens – animal, vegetable and mineral – shot by photographer and scientist David Scharf, a world-renowned pioneer in microscopy. For more than 30 years, Scharf, based in Los Angeles, has painstakingly documented a world that is largely unseen by the naked eye, bringing out the beauty in the grotesque.

Like most kidney stones, the one seen here is made mostly of jagged-edged calcium oxylate crystals. "You can see why they hurt so much," Scharf says. "Even at this magnification, it looks like a bunch of razor blades."...

Science Faction recently announced that its image collection is available for licensing through Getty Images. Founded in 2004 by Roger Ressmeyer, a photographer of space and science and a former executive in the stock photo industry, Science Faction represents imagery that captures the universe of physical and natural sciences, high technology, medicine and space.

The collection includes work by science photographers and artists such as Tony Hallas, Fred and Randi Hirschmann, Nancy Kedersha, Chad Kleitsch, Yoav Levy, Flip Nicklin, Louie Psihoyos, William Radcliffe, David Scharf and Henry Schleichkorn.

For more information, contact Caren Brinkema at 206-232-2300, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .