“This is the heart-stopping moment a photographer came within inches of a young cheetah when it stuck its head through her sun roof. Australian Bobby-Jo Clow, 31, was on safari in Tanzania when the juvenile started heading towards her Landrover with his sibling. She snapped away as the young male dangled its paws in front of her face and smelt her hair before its mother called it away into the wilds of the Serengeti National Park. But not until Bobby-Jo, a full-time elephant keeper at a Tanzanian Zoo, had leaned forward enough to capture the perfect shot, causing the cheetah to hiss and bare its teeth”. – Caters News. (Photo by Bobby-Jo Clow/Caters News)

“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)

These kaleidoscopic images are the work of one persistent photographer’s efforts to capture vibrant hues at the exact moment a wave breaks. Ryan Pernofski‘s stunning shots feature brilliant yellows, reds, blues and purples as an array of sunlight hits the water at the perfect time. What’s even more impressive: Ryan, a 27-year-old Australian, began shooting his popular masterpieces without using a professional camera, taking his iPhone out into the water instead. Ryan began experimenting with this method in 2012, using an underwater housing to protect his phone, as he could not afford a professional camera. (Photo by Ryan Pernoski/Caters News Agency)

People who live in nearby villages make their yearly pilgrimage as they walk up the slopes of the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. Every year on March 12, residents make their way up the volcano celebrate the day of Don Gregorio Chino Popocatepetl, as the volcano is known to them, with food, music, dance and fireworks. When the sun rises, hundreds of pilgrims head out from the towns of Santiago Xalintzintla, Tlamacas and San Nicolas de Los Ranchos in van and trucks to drive, then walk up the 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) volcano for their daylong celebration. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

An Indian worker makes a roll of the kite thread being prepared on a roadside on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, 24 November 2020. The kite string or the “Dor”, in the local language, is made of crushed glass, glue, colors, and egg to make it strong enough to hold the kite. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA/EFE)

Lowry Park Zoo elephants Matjeka, 23, and her 1-year-old daughter, Mavi, apply a liberal coating of “sunscreen” to themselves in a clay mud wallow at the park Tuesday, August 12, 2014, in Tampa, Fla., on the park's first observation of World Elephant Day to raise awareness of the wild African elephant crisis. “Elephants are prone to being sunburned”, said associate curator Chris Massaro. “What they need is lot of mud or clay to roll around in and cover up their skin so it will protect it from the sun”. (Photo by Cherie Diez/AP Photo/The Tampa Bay Times)

Workers hang thousands of different colorful fabrics on iron wires tied between a bamboo framework and constantly turn them so that they dry perfectly in a flooded field in Narayanganj, Bangladesh on March 16, 2022. (Photo by Joy Saha/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)