Let’s be honest. Butterflies are easy. Sure, you have to have a good eye and a steady hand and be in the right place at exactly the right time, but they’re beautiful, and we all grew up predisposed to believe there’s something magical about them, so it’s not terribly hard to take a good picture. Then there are snails.

Ukrainian photographer Vyacheslav Mishchenko has a wonderful way of bringing (very) small natural worlds up to our level. His snail photos (though he has also explored other insects’ points of view) feel posed or other-worldy, but he says he just hangs out waiting for magic to happen. Snails are not known for their quick pose changes, so he  must either very patient or live near some very interesting snails.

His amphibian pictures are equally enchanting:

And if you must do the obvious, here are his butterfly pictures.