Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

The Rio de Janeiro Olympics kick off on August 5 for some two weeks of competitive games drawing athletes as well as audiences from around the world. As they prepare to cover the event, Reuters photographers look back on their favourite pictures from past Olympics where they captured the action on the ground as well as the participants' tears and joy that followed. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

How sure are you of your geographical knowledge? Buzzfeed recently put Americans’ geographical knowledge to the test with a survey in which participants had to write in countries’ names on a blank European political map. Unfortunately, they didn’t fare too well, but some of their responses are hilarious (or hilariously mis-informed). But don’t be so quick to judge Americans – when Buzzfeed posted a similar survey testing Brits’ knowledge of the 50 United States, they also came up short. On the one hand, knowing a country’s states is different from knowing independent countries, but on the other, some U.S. states are larger than some European nations, and some U.S. states have larger economies than some European nations.

As part of FLAIR Melbourne – a Flinders Lane art festival – Melbourne’s Lisa Minogue presents stylised photographic portraits of Australian women of colour, their faces painted vibrantly to accentuate their individuality and encourage the viewer to study each face more closely. Minogue asked each woman the same question: “What do the words “coloured girl” mean to you?”. (Photo by Lisa Minogue/The Guardian)

Dan surrounded by seven days of her own rubbish in Pasadena, California. If you've never thought about how much rubbish you throw away an honest photographic series will open your eyes. Men, women, couples and families with young children have been photographed lying on their backs surrounded by a week's worth of their own rubbish – from old cartons of milk, used nappies and even tampons. The startling series “Seven Days of Garbage” by Californian photographer Gregg Segal is an unforgettable reminder of the amount of waste a human collects in just seven days. (Photo by Gregg Segal/Barcroft Media)

Few things are more beautiful than puffy white clouds floating in the bright blue sky. Do you remember the time when you would lay on the soft green grass, look up at the sky, and try to recognize shapes in the clouds floating overhead? Wasn’t it wonderful, just lying there, letting the wind caress your skin, as you imagine that the clouds in the sky are actually mystical or not-so-mystical creatures? Dragons, ducks, teddy bears, dinosaurs, everything was up there. It was good old times. As adults we forget about simple pleasures of life. However, an Argentinian artist Martin Feijoo didn’t forget those times, and took them a step further. After imagining what a particular cloud looks like, he draws that particular shape over the picture of the cloud, allowing the entire world to see what goes on in his mind. (Photo by Martin Feijoo)

Photographer Gregg Segal travelled the world to document children and the food they eat in a week. Partly inspired by the increasing problems of childhood obesity, he tracked traditional regional diets as yet unaffected by globalisation, and ironically, found that the healthiest diets were often eaten by the least well off. (Photo by Gregg Segal/The Guardian)

Runner-up. “The City of London, looking towards the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England. The ever-changing London skyline provides many excellent opportunities for cityscape photography, none more exciting than the ebb and flow of traffic at night”. (Photo by Mark Caldon/The Guardian)