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)

A woman stands at the door of her shanty at a slum in Mumbai, India July 20, 2016. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

Revellers enjoy themselves during Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh, Scotland on December 31, 2017. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

A boy dressed as Hindu Lord Shiva poses before performing in a religious procession at the Mahashivratri festival in Allahabad, India, March 7, 2016. Hindus across the country celebrate Mahashivratri, better known as Lord Shiva's wedding anniversary. (Photo by Jitendra Prakash/Reuters)

A man watches the huge waves which brakes at the Paseo Nuevo's promenade in San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain on 11 January 2016 where the wind has reached to 90 km/h and have been registred waves of eight kilometres due to the bad weather. (Photo by Juan Herrero/EPA)

Boats moored in the middle of Dal lake are silhouetted against the setting sun on January 15, 2018 in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian administered Kashmir, India. Kashmir, the Muslim majority state, known as the “Paradise on Earth” has for centuries captured the imagination of many writers, poets and film makers and is integral to the tourist trade. Kashmir has been a contested land between nuclear neighbors India and Pakistan since 1947, the year both the countries attained freedom from the British rule. (Photo by Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)

Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)

The Rafflesia Arnoldi flower (Amarphophallus titanum) which has been cultivated is seen in Palupuah Village, Agam District, West Sumatra, Indonesia, on April 13, 2022. The West Sumatera Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA) estimates around seven Rafflesia Arnoldi flowers will bloom in Palupuah Village this year. (Photo by Adi Prima/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)