Your Beautiful Eyes

August 5, 2010 2:55 PM

Macro photos of people's eyes by Armenian photographer Suren Manvelyan.
posted by gman (38 comments total)

Wow. The amount of texture in these is shocking.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 3:01 PM on August 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

Some of those eyes look strangely like volcanic crater lakes.
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 3:03 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

I enjoy the reflection of light source in this one. Trippy as hell.
posted by cavalier at 3:03 PM on August 5, 2010

The eye photos are okay, but I'm enjoying some of her other macro shots better -- like this one, it looks like a poster for a movie I wouldn't mind seeing.

I'd also like to know the story, if there is one, behind those "Fire Worshippers" photos.
posted by Gator at 3:06 PM on August 5, 2010

Oh, I see it's a human sacrifice ritual. Carry on!
posted by Gator at 3:06 PM on August 5, 2010

Interesting split between "fluffy" eyes and "petrified" eyes, which I had never noticed before.
posted by chundo at 3:12 PM on August 5, 2010

Dude, your eyes are a wondalaaaand
posted by BurN_ at 3:15 PM on August 5, 2010

Very cool; I can't wait to show these to the ophthalmologists at work!
posted by TedW at 3:24 PM on August 5, 2010

Eye like it.
posted by blue_beetle at 3:26 PM on August 5, 2010

Wait Wait Wait. Human beings have those little hexagons or octagons or whatever like bugs do?

Really?
posted by jefficator at 3:29 PM on August 5, 2010

To me, they look pretty gross. I'm also ashamed to admit that until about 4 months ago, I didn't realize that pupils were basically holes leading into dark pits from which no light escapes. I always thought they were just the part of your eye that is colored black, or something.
posted by Think_Long at 3:30 PM on August 5, 2010

Om nom nom?
posted by yoga at 3:33 PM on August 5, 2010

The pictures are certainly interesting, but really, the structure is pretty messy and sloppy-looking up close.

Blech. Humans.
posted by peachfuzz at 3:48 PM on August 5, 2010

I'm scared. Hold me.
posted by Splunge at 3:53 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was like jefficator quite stunned to see that bug-eye texture going on. But this is till quite stunning even with that in the upper right. It's like a green sea.
posted by dabitch at 4:02 PM on August 5, 2010

Om nom nom.
posted by homunculus at 4:04 PM on August 5, 2010

No, that bug-thing has gotta be from his light-source. Right? Right? Please?
posted by dabitch at 4:04 PM on August 5, 2010

These photos look more scuptural than like eyes. They show the contours nicely.

My wife and I got photos taken some years ago (self-link)... they're impressive up close.
posted by artlung at 4:06 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wait Wait Wait. Human beings have those little hexagons or octagons or whatever like bugs do?

Really?

No, it's from the light source.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 4:11 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

These are pretty crazy too. (previously with some good info)
posted by gman at 4:16 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well done, and...yuck.

/not cut out for med school
posted by everichon at 4:21 PM on August 5, 2010

I did a painting of a section of an eye macro photograph a while back, and I was planning on doing more, so thanks, this is some awesome reference material
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:11 PM on August 5, 2010

Ma! Ma! He's still lookin' at me! Ma!
posted by .kobayashi. at 5:19 PM on August 5, 2010

No, it's from the light source.

Yeah, leaving those reflections in is a pretty basic lighting fault.

It never occurred to me that they would be confusing (knowing what they were), but it shows that there's often an underlying practical reason for the aesthetic rules that photographers follow.
posted by All Out of Lulz at 5:19 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

What are you lookin' at?
posted by bwg at 5:36 PM on August 5, 2010

Good find, gman. These are beautiful.
posted by heyho at 5:43 PM on August 5, 2010

looks like a poster for a movie I wouldn't mind seeing.

Try Microcosmos.
posted by DarkForest at 5:45 PM on August 5, 2010

Gator: "The eye photos are okay, but I'm enjoying some of her other macro shots better -- like this one, it looks like a poster for a movie I wouldn't mind seeing."

I love the little ant out in front of them, looking like, "Goddamn, is that two stink beetles fucking?"
posted by notsnot at 6:50 PM on August 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow. The thumbnails were meh, but the close-ups totally took me by surprise. Didn't think eyes were that unsightly from so close (terrible pun, I know).
posted by Dragonness at 7:49 PM on August 5, 2010

Here's another one.
posted by fantodstic at 10:06 PM on August 5, 2010

:D
posted by fantodstic at 10:06 PM on August 5, 2010

It sounded like a cool thing to see, and now I want to kill myself.

Trypophobia.
posted by Tarumba at 6:33 AM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Man I always imagined the windows to my soul to look like swirling eddies of colour and light, something like the mac screensaver, not a relaxed sphincter. But there you go.
posted by doobiedoo at 6:34 AM on August 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

For some reason those make my skin crawl and now I want to replace mine with Geordi LaForge style robo eyes.
posted by Silentgoldfish at 7:16 AM on August 6, 2010

I don't really understand this. The "normal" color and structure that you expect to find in the iris, like in this photo, is completely gone in most of the pictures. It almost seems like the outer layer has been peeled away.
posted by ymgve at 8:27 AM on August 6, 2010

Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother...
posted by quin at 9:25 AM on August 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is so hypnotic. And creepy. I'm conflicted.
posted by Vomiaouaf at 1:10 PM on August 6, 2010

Yeah, I thought the octagons or hexagons were reflections of the light source too. It's so weird, the brown eyes look all sandy and the blue one looks like a million little fibers.
posted by IndigoRain at 4:46 PM on August 7, 2010