Floris van Breugel / Ancient Bristlecone Pine tree (Pinus aristata) with sunlight shafts beaming through silhouetted gnarled branches, White Mountains, California, USA. July 2007.

Michel Roggo / Fallen tree trunks and shafts of light in spring creek, Croatia, May

Nick Turner / Rays of sunlight shining through trees to country road at Edge, near Painswick, Cotswolds, UK

Michael & Patricia Fogden / Interior cloud forest, shafts of sunlight shining through canopy break allowing growth of understory plants, Costa Rica

Martin Gabriel / Sun rays breaking through trees in winter mist, forest Bavaria, Germany

Jabruson / 'Babango' or Ebenaceae (Diospyros bipindensis or iturensis) close up detail of leaf. Lots of animals in the rainforest feed on the leaves and fruit and the local tribes use the wood for axe handles...

Peter Cairns / 2020VISION / View looking out to sea from the beach, with shafts of sunlight through clouds, Traigh Mangerstadh, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, UK, October 2010

Bryan and Cherry Alexander / Booth Island illuminated by shafts of sunshine through the cloud. Lemaire Channel, Antarctica, February 2009.

Andrew Parkinson / Shafts of evening light over coastline, viewed from the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK, August 2007 (non-ex)

Gerrit Vyn / Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) perched on Pine branch. This is the Pacific subspecies P. c. obscurus, and the shafts of dorsal feathers are distinctly white. Pierce County, Washington, USA May

Laurent Geslin / View of forest interior at dawn, with shafts of light and mist, Chasseral, Jura, Switzerland, October .

Laurent Geslin / View of forest interior at dawn, with shafts of light and mist, Chasseral, Jura, Switzerland, October .

Aflo / Y-7704 Sun shining from behind dark clouds in evening

Aflo / N-2508 Sunlight through Beech leaves {Fagus sp}

Aflo / N-5007 Rays of sunlight penetrating coniferous woodland, Japan

Aflo / N-5004 Shafts of sunlight penetrating woodland, Japan.

Aflo / N-5005 Shafts of Sunlight through woodland, Willapa Bay, Washington, USA.

Aflo / N-5102 Rays of sunlight over coniferous woodland.

Aflo / N-5106 Rays of sunlight over coniferous woodland, Japan

Aflo / N-4904 Dawn with mist rising over coniferous woodland, Hokkaido, Japan

Aflo / N-5008 Rays of sunlight filter through coniferous woodland, Japan

Aflo / N-5101 Rays of sunlight burning off mist above coniferous woodland.

Aflo / N-4805 Shafts of sunlight in coniferous woodland, Akaezomatsu, Japan

Aflo / N-2901 Sunlight through Birch trees {Betula sp} Japan.

Aflo / N-2507 Sunlight through Beech tree leaves, Japan.

Aflo / N-2702 Shafts of sunlight and tree leaf abstract, Japan.

Aflo / N-2908 Sunlight through woodland, Japan.

Bernard Castelein / Sunrise over mountains, viewpoint from Tharepati, Helambu region, Nepal, November 2009

David Noton / Shafts oflight through clouds wih distant figures on the beach, Inch Strand, Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry, Republic of Ireland

Juan Manuel Borrero / Man walking beneath shafts of sunlight in Souk of Marrakech market, Morocco December 2007

Pete Cairns / Pine forest backlit in dawn mist, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, UK.

Jose B. Ruiz / Shafts of sunlight through mist in coniferous forest, Spain

Norbert Wu / Sunlight shafts pierce the Temple of Abydos, Luxor, Egypt

David Noton / Dark clouds with shafts of sunlight hitting the water, Bantry Bay, Republic of Ireland

Onne van der Wal / Glacier and lake with shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds, Chile.

Bernard Castelein / Sunrays piercing the canopy of a European beech woodland {Fagus sylvatica}, Peerdsbos Brasschaat, Belgium