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)

Tsunami, an eleven year old female Sumatran Orangutan eats a fruit platter during her birthday celebration at the National Zoo Ape Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, December 31, 2015. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

A swimmer competes in Le Defi Monte-Cristo (Monte Cristo Challenge) swimming event at the Chateau d'If, off the coast of Marseille, southern France, on June 21, 2019. Created in 1999 and inspired by Alexandre Dumas' character of Edmond Dantes, the Monte Cristo Challenge will take place from June 21 to 23, 2019. (Photo by Boris Horvat/AFP Photo)

Pawel Karpinski and Nadine Kinczel of Poland dance as they compete during IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Lomianki near Warsaw, November 9, 2014. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

A woman reacts as she receives a dose of the COVISHIELD vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), manufactured by Serum Institute of India, at a vaccination centre in Ahmedabad, India, December 27, 2021. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

A couple enjoys the view of the ethnographic and amusement center Kremlin in Izmailovo reflected in the Serebryano-Vinogradnii lake in Moscow, Russia on July 30, 2017. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

Japan's Naomi Osaka sits with her towel over her head during a break in her third round loss to Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, January 24, 2020. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

A South Indian dancer puts finishing touches to his make up as he gets ready to performs a traditional dance during a promotion event for Indian tourism in the Kerala state, in Kolkata, Eastern India, 28 January 2020. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA/EFE)