It's often said that pets and their owners can start to look alike, but these adorable photographs take the old mantra to a new extreme. They are the work of Svetlana Valyiskaya (27), from St Petersburg, who snaps pets in everyday poses in her spare time from her job as a commercial photographer. The vibrant costumes and scenes, which Svetlana designs herself, have made the photos a hit in her native Russia – and it's not hard to see why. She said: “I really love animals, they are loyal, faithful and true and always interesting to work with – plus they never criticise the photographs afterwards”. (Photo by Svetlana Valyiskaya/Mercury)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

French retoucher Christophe Huet is a true photoshop Master! His work is fascinating. He is the one who creates the famous advertising for Playstation, but also some for Nike, Motorola, Surfrider Foundation…. I spend an hour on his site looking all of his work, and the Best of all is that he has few working progress slideshows where you can see the process of each image, Like the one above… Its really interesting and inspiring.

A brown-hooded kingfisher sits on a branch with a freshly caught frog in it's beak. Riaan Marais who took the photo said, “We were doing a boat safari on the Rufiji river in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania when I spotted the bird with the frog on an overhanging branch on the river bank. It most probably caught the frog in the reeds along the river’s edge as this is where these frogs stay. The kingfisher must have caught the Common Reed Frog just before I took the image, as the frog was still alive, I had a brief moment to take the image before the bird flew off with the frog”. (Photo by Riaan Marais/Solent News and Photo Agency)

Anil Saxena from Mumbay, India creates amazing photo manipulations using Photoshop. These surreal photos will truly amaze you. Anil started out doing conventional darkroom photo composition and retouching them before moving these skills over to Photoshop. He is a true perfectionist: “If the image is a success but my work goes unnoticed, I’m doing my job well.” says Anil. I think we definitely should notice these works, because what he does is amazing!

The manager of Jinhua Partytime Latex Art and Crafts Factory wears a mask of U S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as he poses and gives a thumbs-up as during a presentation of products to reporters at his factory's showroom in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China, May 25, 2016. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Cristine Angelie Garcia (C), 24, rides a jeepney on her way to work at a call centre for the midnight shift in Taguig city, Metro Manila, Philippines October 3, 2016. “Maybe there is another way where people do not need to die”, she said, adding she felt safer walking the streets at night. “I'm on Duterte's side. Maybe he's just misunderstood because he grew up on the streets”. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Reuters)