“Aurora Hunters”. Photographers taking part in a photography tour on the Lofoten Islands in Norway, pull over on the side of the road to take a photo of their first ever Aurora Borealis after spotting it from their tour bus. Photo location: Rystad, Lofoten Islands, Norway. (Photo and caption by Mark Gee/National Geographic Photo Contest)

These hilarious photos show some of nature’s mightiest animals — yawning away! (Actually – not always; AvaxNews). The images were taken by photographers across the world, from the African savannas to the Pacific Ocean. Here: Elephant Seal. (Photo by David Crocker/Caters News Agency)

This photo of an elephant seal and Gentoo penguin shot by Andrew James in Yankee Harbour, Antarctica. (Photo by Andrew James/Travel Photographer of the Year)

A hunter holds a hare he just killed during a hunt in a field near the village of Novosyolki, Belarus November 5, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

The sun rises between Sgurr nan Gillean and Knight’s Peak, Black Cuillin, Isle of Skye. (Photo by Adrian Trendall/Mountain Photo of the Year)

Do tears of joy look the same as ones of woe—or ones from chopping onions? In “The Topography of Tears,” the Los Angeles-based photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher explores the physical terrain of one hundred tears emitted during a range of emotional states and physical reactions. Using a Zeiss microscope with an attached digital camera, she captures the composition of tears enclosed in glass slides, magnified between 10x and 40x. “There are many factors that determine the look of each tear image, including the viscosity of the tear, the chemistry of the weeper, the settings of the microscope, and the way I process the images afterwards,” she says.

“Kilauea Rules”. The most extreme place we put ours kayakers to paddle till now. Photo location: Big Island, Hawaii. (Photo and caption by Alexandre Socci/National Geographic Photo Contest)