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)

A visitor takes a selfie with a backdrop of sunflowers in full bloom at the E-World Sunflower Garden in Daegu, 237 kilometers southeast of Seoul, South Korea, 13 July 2024. (Photo by Yonhap/EPA)

Engineer Mikhail Venin works on an antenna for the Express AM8 new generation geostationary telecommunications heavy satellite at the large-sized transformed mechanical systems centre of the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems company in the Siberian town of Zheleznogorsk April 2, 2014. The Express AM6 is a new generation satellite providing services including Russian governmental and presidential mobile communication, digital television and broadcasting, according to the Reshetnev company representatives. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

People in Kathmandu joke that the face mask has now become part of the national dress – an indispensable accessory in an effort to protect themselves from the dust. Nepal has the worst air quality in the world, according to the Environmental Performance Index. (Photo by Pete Pattisson/The Guardian)

In a new project, an international group of photographers have joined forces to use their powerful images to raise awareness and funds to help stop the illegal wildlife trade. Here: Fennec foxes are captured for the illegal pet trade. This three-month-old pup was for sale in a market in southern Tunisia. (Photo by Bruno D'Amicis/Photographers Against Wildlife Crime/Wildscreen/The Guardian)

“The Last Pollen Spore Preparing to Leave a Ladybug Trying to Hold On, Because It Didn't Want to Be Alone”. Photo by Hiep Nguyen Hoang (Hanoi, Vietnam). Photographed in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 2012.

A reporter takes pictures of a soldier during the annual Han Kuang military exercise in Kinmen, Taiwan, September 7, 2015. Rustic Kinmen, with a population of less than 129,000, is a half-hour ferry ride to China, but it takes an hour to fly to major Taiwan cities. Just off its shores, glass-walled high-rises wink seductively from the booming mainland port of Xiamen in one of China's most prosperous provinces. (Photo by Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

Abigail Doyle from St David's Holy Faith Secondary School, Greystones, modeling her Alice in Wonderland themed outfit designed for the Upcycled category of the An Taisce Green-Schools Let's Fix Fashion catwalk event in Cashel, Ireland on May 4, 2023. (Photo by Diarmuid Greene/The Irish Times)