Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

Indonesian tourists take photos at the Marina Bay in Singapore May 14, 2015. When Singapore celebrated its 50th birthday as an independent country in August,the city state bore little resemblance to the tiny island nation that was expelled from Malaysia in 1965. Its physical stature has swollen by 20 percent thanks to one of the world's most aggressive land reclamation drives. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

Passengers hold 500 (bottom) rupee banknotes to buy train tickets at a railway booking counter in Allahabad, India, November 9, 2016. People are queuing up outside banks across India to exchange 500 and 1,000 rupee notes after they were withdrawn as part of anti-corruption measures. Indians will be able to exchange their old notes, which stopped being legal tender at midnight on Tuesday, for new ones at banks until 30 December. The surprise move is part of a government crackdown on corruption and illegal cash holdings. Banks were shut on Wednesday to allow them enough time to stock new notes. There are also limits on cash withdrawals from ATMs. The BBC's Yogita Limaye in Mumbai says there have been chaotic scenes outside many banks. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

American stand-up comedian and actress Whitney Cummings fools around with photographers after she, Griffin Johnson, and Josh Richards have dinner together at Craig's in West Hollywood, CA. on April 6, 2021. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

Picks him up at 25 miles an hour! If the modern auto or truck hits you don't worry. Equipped with this device you are simply given a free ride. This man even came from behind another car, was struck but not even scratched. The demonstration was given recently in Washington, D.C. (1924 December 17). (Photo by Library of Congress)

Nicole Kidman arrives for the world premiere of "Holland" at the Paramount Theatre during the South by Southwest Conference and Festival on Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP Photo)

In this October 14, 2013 photo, ecology professor Ricardo Freitas catches a broad-snouted caiman to examine, then release back into the water channel in the affluent Recreio dos Bandeirantes suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Caimans are like tanks, a very old species with a remarkable capacity for renovation that allows them to survive under extreme conditions where others couldn't, said Freitas, who runs the Instituto Jacare, or the Caiman Institute, which aims to protect the reptiles. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

A rebel fighter supporter shoots an AK-47 rifle as she reacts to the news of the withdrawal of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces from Benghazi March 19, 2011. The conflict was sparked by clashes in Benghazi and escalated into a rebellion that spread across the country. Gaddafi was captured and killed on October 20, 2011. Libya is currently caught up in a conflict between two rival factions who once battled together against the late Libyan leader. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)