A pilot steers his helicopter at night over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, less than two weeks before the start of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, July 23, 2016. Picture taken July 23, 2016. (Photo by Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters)

An orange oakleaf rests on a plant at the Taipei Zoo on November 26, 2020. (Photo by Sam Yeh/AFP Photo)

“Light From Heaven”. Taken around Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia in the morning. Photo location: East Java, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Pimpin Nagawan/National Geographic 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.

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, illuminate the sky over Flakstad beach on Lofoten Islands in the Arctic Circle on September 5, 2017. (Photo by Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP Photo)

A participant in a tiger-themed costume walks during the “bakeneko” or supernatural cat festival as a Halloween parade in the Kagurazaka district of Tokyo on October 13, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)

Three men display their tattoos during the International Malaysia Tattoo Expo in Kuala Lumpur on November 29, 2019. The international tattoo expo is held for the first ime in Kuala Lumpur celebrating that art of tattoo and gathering over a hundred tattoo artists from 40 countries. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)

People light fireworks to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in New Delhi, India on November 12, 2023. (Photo by Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

First place, The Beauty of Plants. “There are many stages of lotus growth on display at the Aquatic Gardens, but to come across twotwisted dancing stems of nelumbo nucifera was unexpected and quite magical”. (Photo by Kathleen Furey/The Guardian)