“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)

Two women pose as they drink real ale at the Great British Beer Festival in the Olympia exhibition centre on August 13, 2013 in London, England. The festival, which runs until August 17, 2013, has over 24 bars serving over 800 different beers, ciders and perries. (Photo by Oli Scarff)

Selena Gomez performs at the MTV Movie Awards. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision for MTV)

World War II veterans danced during Victory Day celebrations in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, May 9, 2013. Belarus and other former Soviet countries celebrated the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany on Thursday. (Photo by Viktor Drachev/AFP Photo)

The Royal Observatory just announced its Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2013 winners. Australian photographer Mark Gee was chosen among a thousand amateur and professional photographers around the globe to win the top title. His work is part of an exhibition of the winning photographers, which opened on Sept. 19 at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The Royal Observatory shared with us the winners and notable mentions of the competition. Their descriptions of the prizewinners can be found below the images.

Green Bay Packers' Johnathan Calvin rides a bike to NFL football training camp on July 27, 2017, in Green Bay, Wis. (Photo by Morry Gash/AP Photo)

Afghans shout anti-U.S. slogans as they burn tires and block a highway during a protest in reaction to a small American church's plan to burn copies of the Quran, at Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, September 10, 2010. Religious and political leaders across the Muslim world welcomed a decision by the church to suspend its plans to torch copies of their holy book but some said Friday the damage has already been done. (Photo by Rahmat Gul/AP Photo)