A hot-air balloon flies over Metropolitan Park during the International Hot-Air Balloon Festival in Leon, state of Guanajuato, Mexico, on November 16, 2024. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)

Swimmer silhouetted in a waterslide in the coastal suburb of Glenelg, Adelaide, Australia on January 21, 2025. (Photo by Amer Ghazzal/Alamy Live News)

Wide-angle category winner. Part of the Illusion by Marcus Blatchford (UK). Location: National Dive & Activity Centre, Chepstow, Wales. “This is the deepest inland dive centre in the UK. The dive plan was to explore the deep end, but this time I dived ‘unplugged’ (without my strobes). With the exception of this change to my camera technique, there were no planned shots I wanted to achieve – just a fun dive with ad-hoc photos along the way. Shortly after this photo was captured, in 6C water and two hours of decompression ahead of us, we turned and started the long ascent back to the surface”. (Photo by Marcus Blatchford/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2016)

“Two Brothers”. We found about 20 lions eating a buffalo. When the male leaved the group we anticipated him to take photos. It is 8AM, light is perfect and the position too. The lion stops and looks down from the hill, another lion is coming up, it stiffens, I think that will be a fight, i'm tense, the camera is OK, the shots previously made perfect. The two meet, looking directly into their eyes, they sniff, rub against their heads, the tension drops, they start walking with the same step as when they were puppies, they are two brothers. Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Massimo Mei/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Walkers cross the river Waalbrug during the first day of the 98th annual four-days walking event, the “Vierdaagse” in Nijmegen, Netherlands, July 15, 2014. The “Nijmeegse Vierdaagse” is an annual public four-day field march which is held since 1909 in the third week of July. (Photo by Erik van 't Wout/EPA)

A boy runs past one of the exhibits during the Dinosaurs exhibition in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, August 21, 2014. “Dino Park” has opened at Belgrade's Kalemegdan Fortress. (Photo by Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo)

Robert Price of TREWGrip LLC demonstrates a TREWGrip handheld rear-type keyboard and air mouse for Apple and Android tablets at the “CES: Unveiled”, media preview for International CES, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas on January 5, 2014. (Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP Photo)

“Diver in Magic Kingdom”. Green Lake (Grüner See) is located Tragöss Austria. In spring snowmelt raises the lake level about 10 meters. This phenomenon, which lasts only a few weeks covering the hiking trails, meadows, trees. The result is magical to watch diving landscapes. Photo location: Grüner See at Tragöss, Austria. (Photo and caption by Marc Henauer/National Geographic Photo Contest)