Creative imagery, gold winner: Sprats and Bread, Ruediger Schulz, Germany. (Photo by Ruediger Schulz/2021 Bird Photographer of the Year)

Despite the mild 14°С shoppers and commuters battle against the wind and rain on Waterloo Bridge, London on December 28, 2022. (Photo by Alex Lentati/London News Pictures)

Miss Universe Puerto Rico, Karla Guilfu, parades in a swimsuit during the Miss Universe 2023 preliminary gala in San Salvador, El Salvador, 15 November 2023. (Photo by Rodrigo Sura/EPA/EFE)

Midnight at the Palace, at Big Yin at Gilded Balloon Patter House during Edinburgh fringe 2025 in the first decade of August 2025. (Photo by Damian Robertson/The Guardian)

Apples are collected from an orchard in Somerset. UK for the cider company on August 20, 2025. Thatchers, marking its earliest harvest in more than 120 years thanks to a hot summer. (Photo by Brad Wakefield)

A trader carries his mannequins as he closes his business ahead of the lockdown restrictions set by the government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Eastleigh district of Nairobi, Kenya on May 6, 2020. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Public Space series, 2015. This series by Morteza Niknahad and Behnam Zakeri tends toward cinema, taking an almost cartoonish view of modern life in Iran. This work was inspired by the social life of dolphins. (Photo by Morteza Niknahad and Behnam Zakeri/The Guardian)

Runner-up; Hon Yen marine ecosystem. Phu Yen, Vietnam. Every year between May and August, the coral of this rich and diverse ecosystem becomes exposed at low tide. (Photo by Truong Hoai Vu/Royal Society of Biology Photography Competition)