Andy Rouse / Maasai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) silhouetted by beams of light from setting sun, Maasai Mara, Kenya, Africa. Winner of the African section of the Natures Best Windland Smith Rice...

Floris van Breugel / Ice cave with melt water running through, Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska, USA, August 2014.

Sandra Bartocha / Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) trees in snowy woodland in evening sunlight, Potsdam, Germany, January.

Andy Rouse / Maasai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) under setting sun Maasai Mara, Kenya, Africa

Merryn Thomas / Broadhaven Beach, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Pembrokeshire, Wales, March 2012.

Sven Zacek / Rays of sunshine behind pine trees, Southern Estonia, May early morning.

Felicity Lanchester,Felicity Lanchester / Cloud iridescence forming above a cumulonimbus cloud, caused by light refraction through individual water droplets and ice crystals at high altitude, Sierra Leone.

Ben Cranke / Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) at dawn, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa

Marie Read / Sun beams passing through misty trees, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, New York, USA. October 2008. Highly Honored in Nature's Best 2010 competition.

Aflo / Y-11404 View of Planet Earth above Moon

Aflo / Y-12304 Huge full moon above Emerald Bay at sunset, Lake Tahoe, California USA

Aflo / Y-10805 Forked lightning racing across sky at night

Aflo / Y-11001 Double rainbow on horizon over sea

Aflo / N-14802 Aerial view of river flowing through woodland, Japan.

Michael Hutchinson / Sunrise over three stone megaliths at Avebury Stone Circle (World Heritage Site) Avebury, Wiltshire, UK

Michael Hutchinson / Silhouette of stone megalith at sunrise, Avebury Stone Circle (World Heritage Site) Avebury, Wiltshire, UK

Ashley Cooper / Sunrise over sailing boats on Lake Windermere in Ambleside, Lake District, England, UK. December 2014.

Ashley Cooper / View down into the Langdale Valley above valley mist formed by a temperature inversion on Loughrigg, near Ambleside in the Lake District National Park, England, UK, December 2014.

Ashley Cooper / Looking across hoar frosted grass on the Helvellyn Range, Lake District, England, UK, December.

Ashley Cooper / Sunrise over sailing boats on Lake Windermere in Ambleside, Lake District, England, UK. December 2014.

Ashley Cooper / Sunrise over men fishing in a boat on Lake Windermere in Ambleside, Lake District, UK. December 2014

Ashley Cooper / Sunrise over Lake Windermere in Ambleside, Lake District, UK, with a man paddling a Canadian Canoe. December 2014

Sven Zacek / Full moon rising, Tartumaa, Estonia, December 2013.

Juergen Freund / Uluru / Ayers Rock on starry night, Northern Territory, Australia. January 2013

Erlend Haarberg / Downy birch (Betula pubescens) with rain shower over Aurlandsfjorden in the background. Aurland, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, June 2012.

David Noton / Shwedagon Pagoda illuminated at dusk, Yangon, Myanmar. November 2012.

David Noton / Shwedagon Pagoda in distance, Yangon, Myanmar. November 2012.

David Noton / Statue of the reclining Buddha with smaller statues around in a cave, the Blue Lagoon, near Vang Vieng, Laos, March 2009.

David Noton / Wat Khili Temple, with flowers in the foreground, Luang Prabang, Laos, March 2009.

David Noton / Wat Khili temple, with Buddhist monk in the entrance, Luang Prabang, Laos, March 2009.

Philip Stephen / Sunrise at the Eider platform, 60 miles northeast of Shetland, North Sea, November 2013. All non-editorial uses must be cleared individually.

Charlie Summers / Pleiades or Seven Sisters, Messier Object M45, in the Constellation Taurus. Taken on the night of 8th November 2013 from eastern Colorado, USA. Digitally stacked image.

Niall Benvie / Green aurora borealis light in night sky, Senja, Norway, February 2012

Wild Wonders of Europe / Sá / Underwater view of tree, with sun rays entering the water, Fibreno Lake nature reserve, Lazio, Italy.

Ross Hoddinott / Rays of sunlight penetrating woodland, Rhinefield, The New Forest, Hampshire, UK. November 2012.

Enrique Lopez-Tapia / Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) footprints in snow, Larkya La glacier (5.106m). Manaslu Conservation Area, Himalayas, Nepal, October 2009.

Nick Garbutt / Mist and low cloud hanging over lowland Dipterocarp Rainforest, just after sunrise, Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo, May 2011.

Peter Lewis / The Nine Stones in winter snow. Erected possibly 1000 BC. Near Winterbourne Abbas, Dorset, UK, January 2010.

Aflo / N-22708 Sun rays shining from behind clouds, Myokogen, Shikuoka, Japan

Aflo / Y-9703 Sunset in peaceful evening sky

Aflo / Y-9702 Sun setting in evening sky with cloud

Aflo / Y-9701 Sun setting in evening sky with a lot of cloud

Aflo / Y-7803 Abstract clouds in sky at sunset

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

Aflo / Y-11804 View of the Earth surface from space

Aflo / Y-11902 Galaxy in space, M8, Higata Nebula, Lagoon Nebula

Aflo / Y-11903 Milky Way galaxy, the brightest part extending from Scutum to Scorpio, through Sagittarius

Aflo / Y-10501 Northern lights / Aurora borealis above coniferous forest Alaska, USA.

Aflo / Y-23404 Northern lights / Aurora borealis, Alaska, USA

Aflo / Y-23403 Northern lights / Aurora borealis, Alaska, USA

Aflo / Y-10504 Northern lights / Aurora borealis, above Brooks Range, Alaska, USA

Aflo / Y-8706 Moon in evening sky above Death Valley silhouette, California, USA

Aflo / Y-8301 Cloud formations above mountain peaks, Yatsugatake, Nagano, Japan

Aflo / Y-9401 Aerial view of clouds with mountain peaks just visible, Fujimi, Nagano, Japan

Aflo / Y-9104 Mountain range with cloud and mist lieing in valleys between peaks, Japan

Aflo / Y-9105 Aerial view of cloud lieing in valley below mountain peaks, Chamonix from Aiguille Du Midi, France

Aflo / Y-8901 Aerial view of clouds above and below mountain peaks

Aflo / Y-9704 Sun setting in evening sky over cloud shrouded mountain peak

Aflo / Y-7506 Sunset sky

Aflo / Y-12003 Hyakutake Comet moving across night sky

Aflo / Y-12006 Stars in night sky

Aflo / Y-11906 Hale-Bopp comet in night sky

Aflo / Y-10601 Northern lights / Aurora borealis over forest

Aflo / Y-23407 Northern lights / Aurora borealis over forest, Brooks Range, Alaska, USA.

Aflo / Y-23408 Northern lights / Aurora borealis over forest

Aflo / Y-10602 Northern lights / Aurora borealis over mountains, Honningsvag, Norway, Europe

Aflo / Y-10603 Northern lights / Aurora borealis over houses, Brooks Range, Alaska USA

Aflo / Y-23406 Northern lights / Aurora borealis Alberta, Canada

Aflo / Y-10502 Northern lights / Aurora borealis above feeding Reindeer, Alberta, Canada

Aflo / Y-10506 Northern lights / Aurora borealis above town, Alaska, USA

Aflo / Y-10505 Northern lights / Aurora borealis Brooks Range, Alaska, USA.

Aflo / Y-23405 Northern lights / Aurora borealis Brooks Range, Alaska, USA

Aflo / Y-10803 Forked lightning above city at night

Aflo / Y-10804 Forked lightning above city lights at night

Aflo / Y-10802 Forked lightning racing across sky at night

Aflo / Y-10801 Forked lightning racing across sky at night

Aflo / Y-10905 Forked lightning on horizon above sea in storm

Aflo / Y-10701 Forked lightning racing across sky at night

Aflo / Y-11003 Rainbow over waterfall, Hallingsafallet, Jamtland, Sweden, Europe

Aflo / Y-10401 Rainbow on horizon over sea with dark clouds above

Aflo / N-22501 Misty landscape, Mt Norikuradake, Nagano, Japan.

Aflo / N-22701 Misty landscape, Mt Norikuradake, Nagano, Japan.

Aflo / Y-8405 Misty landscape at sunrise, Mt Norikuradake, Nagano, Japan.

Aflo / N-22003 Misty landscape at sunrise, Norikura, Japan.

Aflo / Y-9601 Sun rising above misty mountains, Nagano, Japan.

Aflo / Y-8701 Sun rising above misty landscape, Nagano, Japan.

Aflo / Y-9803 Bank of cloud at dawn over snowy landscape in half light. Japan.

Jerry Monkman / Low sun, mist and branches at dawn at Walden Pond State Reservation, Concord, Massachussets, USA

Jerry Monkman / Low sun, mist and branches at dawn at Walden Pond State Reservation, Concord, Massachussets, USA

Jerry Monkman / Sunrise and sea of clouds / fog viewed from Sugarloaf Mountain, Cohos Trail, Nash Stream State Forest, Stratford, New Hampshire, USA