10 Of The Best Nature Photographs Of the Year

Hello ATS!
I'm not sure if I can post these pictures or not so I will just post three to get you in the mood for more!
(MODS, If I shouldn't be posting these I will remove them )

From:Popsci (top 10) and also from here: Smithsonianmag for even more fantastic photo's.

Smithsonian magazine has chosen its top picks for its 10th annual photography contest, which draws submissions from amateurs and professionals around the world. This year's finalists for best nature photo include an unforgettably soulful gorilla from the Bronx, a jaw-dropping galaxy rise behind Mt. Ranier, and the delicate wings of a juvenile Spectacled Spiderhunter perched on a branch in a dense green jungle in Malaysia

Mummy, I Am Down Here, and Hungry!

Photo by Bjorn Olesen (Singapore). Photographed in Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia, November, 2010.

The morning this photo was taken was unusually quiet, Olesen says. "I was about to pack my bags I heard this juvenile Spectacled Spiderhunter (Arachnothera flavigaster) calling 'chi-chit, chi-chit,' trying to attract the attention of its parents above while flapping its wings." Olesen snapped as many shots possible before the bird flew away seconds later. "[It was] the highlight of my Borneo Trip."

Taken with a Nikon D3

An Onlooker Witnesses the Annular Solar Eclipse as the Sun Sets on May 20, 2012

Photo by Colleen Pinski (Peyton, CO). Photographed in Albuquerque, NM, May 2012.

The photographer captures a person framed by the annular solar eclipse, watching as the sun sets. “I feel it can inspire so many people around the world, no matter what race, religion or gender,” Pinski says. “Anyone can look at it and feel touched by a ‘beyond this world’ experience.

Man-Made Ice Geyser

Nathan Carlsen

A photographer captured this image of an ice geyser in Duluth, Minnesota last January. The geyser forms from water flowing from a pipe that is left on all winter to prevent the pipe from bursting; Carlsen dropped a rope with several LEDs attached into the center of the geyser to achieve the lighting shown here, and took the shot with a Nikon D70

Please visit the Popsci link at the top of the OP for all 10 photo's or the Smithsonian link for even more great photo's.

reply to post by SilentE

Have to give a shout out to Image #5

That's the huge caterpillar that eats all my chilli pepper and tomato plants every summer. Turns into a huge moth too!

Amazing photo too

Does the photograph have to be done with a regular camera?

If not, how are these photographs not in the selection?....

Stunning photos of Tardigrades!

Nice photos though, i love the one of the milky way above the mountain.

Thanks for sharing the link.

CX.

I like this one

Star and Flag - Great Pics

Originally posted by CX
Does the photograph have to be done with a regular camera?

If not, how are these photographs not in the selection?....

Stunning photos of Tardigrades!

Nice photos though, i love the one of the milky way above the mountain.

Thanks for sharing the link.

CX.

Because it's a nature competition, not a hoover bag contest. (Ok sorry, that's getting old now)

I think the Tardigrade pictures would easily win.

The Milky Way picture is the winner in my eyes. I didn't post it because there was a thread not too long ago that had the same picture.

reply to post by BoogieMan911


That's a good one. I must've missed that when looking.

Reminds me of the film Avatar.

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy
reply to post by SilentE

 

Have to give a shout out to Image #5

That's the huge caterpillar that eats all my chilli pepper and tomato plants every summer. Turns into a huge moth too!

Amazing photo too

edit on 7-3-2013 by Lucid Lunacy because: (no reason given)

Shout out recieved.

Antheraea Polyphemus Caterpillar

Colin Hutton

Photographer Colin Hutton snapped this photo of a caterpillar in Duke Forest, North Carolina, while shooting footage of a jumping spider with a Canon 7D

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy
reply to post by SilentE

 

Have to give a shout out to Image #5

That's the huge caterpillar that eats all my chilli pepper and tomato plants every summer. Turns into a huge moth too!

Amazing photo too

edit on 7-3-2013 by Lucid Lunacy because: (no reason given)

Ditto. That sucker made me wonder whether the aliens were finally here.

But the photo of the gorilla is positively haunting. For some reason my eyes water when I look too long. I think it's what he conveys in that million-mile stare. Yeah I'm no fun at the zoo...

Originally posted by chasingbrahman

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy
reply to post by SilentE

 

Have to give a shout out to Image #5

That's the huge caterpillar that eats all my chilli pepper and tomato plants every summer. Turns into a huge moth too!

Amazing photo too

edit on 7-3-2013 by Lucid Lunacy because: (no reason given)

But the photo of the gorilla is positively haunting. For some reason my eyes water when I look too long. I think it's what he conveys in that million-mile stare. Yeah I'm no fun at the zoo...

Allow me to vent some steam. (It's my thread and i'll go off topic if I want)

I hate zoo's. We visited my Dad in Canada in a few years back and everyone wanted to go to the zoo so we did. I felt terrible. Seeing those animals caged and depressed. I always feel a connection to animals and can almost tell what they're thinking. I couldn't help them.

There are people who will argue that without the zoo's, these animals would be made into shoes, put on walls and slung over the carpet as a nice decoration etc etc.
More should be done to prevent the killing of these animals, not cage em' up.

/Rant.....

Originally posted by SilentE

Originally posted by chasingbrahman

Originally posted by Lucid Lunacy
reply to post by SilentE

 

Have to give a shout out to Image #5

That's the huge caterpillar that eats all my chilli pepper and tomato plants every summer. Turns into a huge moth too!

Amazing photo too

edit on 7-3-2013 by Lucid Lunacy because: (no reason given)

But the photo of the gorilla is positively haunting. For some reason my eyes water when I look too long. I think it's what he conveys in that million-mile stare. Yeah I'm no fun at the zoo...

Allow me to vent some steam.

(It's my thread and i'll go off topic if I want)

I hate zoo's. We visited my Dad in Canada in a few years back and everyone wanted to go to the zoo so we did. I felt terrible. Seeing those animals caged and depressed. I always feel a connection to animals and can almost tell what they're thinking. I couldn't help them.

There are people who will argue that without the zoo's, these animals would be made into shoes, put on walls and slung over the carpet as a nice decoration etc etc.
More should be done to prevent the killing of these animals, not cage em' up.

/Rant.....

Rant well-appreciated.

I only tell myself they're opportunities for human education just to stop myself from literally running a few blocks to the large zoo around the corner and letting them go. Then again, if you need a zoo to teach you that an animal breathes and eats and has young and mourns loss, then you're a freaking idiot who should be sent to an island full of hungry gorillas. I guess you could say this is the end of my rant, too.

Zoo's are right up there with pediatric oncology hospital wings as far as being some of the saddest places in the universe. Truly gut-wrenching.