A shepherd rides a donkey as he leads sheep during winter in Van, Turkiye on February 19, 2022. Despite the terrible winter weather and the hard geology of the region, breeders in Van's Gurpnar district, where livestock is the most important source of revenue, do not disregard the care of their animals. Livestock farmers in the Cepkenli and Topcudegirmeni neighborhoods have the similar difficulties as those in rural areas, where the snow depth reaches one meter. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Shooting star by Tony Wu, US/Japan. Winner, underwater. The electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star. As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from spawning sea stars, Wu faced several challenges. Stuck in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he backed up to squeeze the undulating sea star into his field of view. The dancing posture of spawning sea stars rising and swaying may help release eggs and sperm, or may help sweep the eggs and sperm into the currents where they fertilise together in the water. Kinko Bay, Japan. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

“Say cheese”. Cheetahs jumped on the vehicle of tourists in Masai Mara national park, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Yanai Bonneh/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.

These images are enough to make viewers do a double-take. Although they look like vibrant works of abstract art, they are actually drone photographs taken by brothers J.P. and Mike Andrews, from near Wolverhampton, England. Here: Kickflip. (Photo by J.P. Andrews/Mike Andrews/Caters News Agency)

Born in 1958 in Abbazia, Italy, Frank Horvat is considered one of the founding fathers of French fashion photography. Frank Horvat: Storia di un Fotografo is on at Palazzo Chiablese Musei Reali, Turin, until 16 June. Here: Prostitutes, Bois de Boulogne, 1956. (Photo by Frank Horvat/The Guardian)

A white whale wears a wreath at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, Japan, on October 3, 2012. (Photo by Associated Press)

As if pulled from a Disney film, a fox is mesmerised by a butterfly hovering in front of its nose in a field in Taplow, Berkshire, South East England in the second decade of July 2023. (Photo by Ann Aveyard/Animal News Agency)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)