“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)

“Great White Shark of Guadalupe Island”. A great white shark very quiet under the boat and a lot of fish. The sun ray lighting the head of the shark. Location: Guadalupe Island, Mexico. (Photo and caption by Marc Henauer/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Female activists perform a choreography originated in Chile, and inspired by the Chilean feminist group Las Tesis, to protest against gender violence and patriarchy in front of the Greek parliament at Athens' Syntagma Square on December 22, 2019. (Photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP Photo)

Commuters wear protective face masks as they walk through a subway station, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, December 1, 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil joined the widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing prepares to drive in the garage during practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Spain at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on August 14, 2020 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

A Black Pete interacts with children during the arrival of Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, in Maassluis, Netherlands, Saturday, November 12, 2016. Sinterklaas and his helper Black Pete are at the center of a long-time controversy because Pete is often played by white people in blackface makeup. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)

A woman reacts after she mades a wreath of flowers during the celebrations of the Kupala night in Pyrohiv, near Kiev, on July 6, 2021. During the celebration, an ancient slavic ritual related to the summer solstice, people wear wreaths, jump over fires and bathe naked in rivers and lakes. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

People run along a street as rain caused by tropical storm Alberto, the first named storm of 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, falls, in Monterrey, Mexico. on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)