“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

A young male fiddler crab is dwarfed by an older male of the same species, looming behind it at Morua estuary, in the Gulf of California, Mexico on January 4, 2022. Whereas female fiddler crabs have small claws of equal sizes, the males’ pincers can vary in size, with the small one used to pick up food and the larger to impress females. (Photo by Claudio Contreras/Solent News)

Actors and figurants participate in the staging of the Live Stations of the Cross and Procession of the Dead Lord during the celebration of the easter in the Medieval Village of Ourem, Portugal, 15 April 2022. The Live Stations of the Cross is dramatized by about 100 actors and extras from the local community, besides the requalification of the Castle and Palace of the Counts of Ourem that will provide a new setting, a new protagonist will embody Jesus Christ along the 14 stations of the Stations of the Cross. (Photo by Paulo Cunha/EPA/EFE)

A Colombian soldier hugs his girlfriend during the graduation ceremony of soldiers in Nilo, Colombia, February 17, 2017. The soldiers will be deployed to occupy territories formerly controlled by FARC rebels. (Photo by Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters)

A pangolin carries its baby at a Bali zoo, Indonesia, Thursday, June 19, 2014. The pangolin baby was born on May 31. (Photo by Firdia Lisnawati/AP Photo)

A cat meows in it's owner's bag after fleeing from Kiev in Ukraine to Romania, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the border crossing in Siret, Romania, March 10, 2022. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

Revellers dance at a rave party in central Kyiv, Ukraine on August 27, 2022. (Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters)

German model Micaela Schaefer (2nd from Left) and German actor Yvonne Woelke (2nd from right) sighted during Oktoberfest at Theresienwiese on September 21, 2014 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Chad Buchanan/Getty Images)