Layers of breathtaking colour streak the rolling hills of this vast desert, making the landscape appear as though it has been tie-dyed. The natural phenomenon, nicknamed the “Painted Desert”, was formed when the area was once a river floodplain. Each colour corresponds to a different underground geological feature – rocks which have seemingly dyed the layers of earth above. Formed from volcanic activity, the hills at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in East Central Oregon, USA, are almost bursting with colour. Pictured: The colourful hills at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in East Central Oregon, USA. (Photo by Mark Brodkin/Solent News/SIPA Press)

“People and Space”. Winner: Wanderer in Patagonia by Yuri Zvezdny (Russia) A lone stargazer stares up at the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as they stretch across the night sky over the glacier “White Stones” (Piedras Blancas) in the Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina. El Chaltén, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, 27 September 2016 iOptron Sky-Tracker mount, Sony A7S camera, 18 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 5000, 30-second exposure Wanderer in Patagonia. (Photo by Yuri Zvezdny/Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017)

Shortlisted: “Two big eyes” by Miao Yong (Zejiang province, China). Damselflies look over the leaves. “I was photographing insects in a park near my home when suddenly I found two damselflies in the grass. They kept flying and it was very difficult to focus until suddenly they parked behind a leaf”. (Photo by Miao Yong/2017 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year)

Irwan bathes a domesticated crocodile at his house in Bogor, Indonesia on January 22, 2018. Irwan found it as a baby and now it has been living with Irwans family for 20 years. Indonesia is known as a hotbed of exotic pet domestication and trade. People have been known to keep endangered animals such as slow lorises, eagles and pangolins, angering conservationists and animal rights activists. (Photo by Eko Siswono Toyudho/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

British underwater photographer of the year – winner. “Love Birds” by Grant Thomas (UK). Location: Luss Pier, Loch Lomond, Scotland. Thomas’s initial idea was to frame a split shot of one swan feeding below the surface of the water but when he noticed how comfortable they were around him he was confident, with some patience, he could get that magical shot of the two. (Photo by Grant Thomas/UPY 2018)

A Thai Marine instructor drinks a cobra's raw blood after killing it as he gives instruction to US Marines and South Korean Marines during jungle survival training as part of the multinational joint military exercise Cobra Gold 2018 at a Force Reconnaissance Battalion camp in the Royal Thai Naval Base, Sattahip district, Chonburi province, Thailand, 19 February 2018. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA/EFE)

A journalist reports on a ladder outside the Great Hall of the People during the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China March 5, 2018. The NPC has over 3,000 delegates and is the world's largest parliament or legislative assembly though its function is largely as a formal seal of approval for the policies fixed by the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. The NPC runs alongside the annual plenary meetings of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), together known as “Lianghui” or “Two Meetings”. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

An aerial view of the new Panama Canal expansion project on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal during an organized media tour by Italy's Salini Impregilo, one of the main sub contractors of the Panama Canal Expansion project, in Panama City May 11, 2016. The newly expanded Panama Canal will be inaugurated on June 26, 2016. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)