Top 20 Pics From 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer Of The Year Contest

The deadline is up, the 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest has come to an end, gathering to one place some of the most incredible shots of the natural world from this year.

The photographers are competing in four categories: Landscape, Environmental Issues, Action, and Animal Portraits. "The four categories of this year’s contest will give photographers a chance to capture the complexity and beauty found in the world around us," remarked Sarah Polger, senior producer for National Geographic Travel and manager of National Geographic photo contests. "We anticipate compelling and revealing images."

This year's grand prize consists of two parts. First of all, the winner goes on a 10-day trip for two to the Galápagos with National Geographic Expeditions. But the second one is the one that can change the whole career of the lucky photographer, it's two 15-minute portfolio reviews with National Geographic photo editors!

But before the judges tell their verdict, let us know in the comments which photo would you pick as the best?

More info: national geographic (h/t: boredpanda, mymodernmet)

#1 Dancing In The Rain

"Fox caught in action under the rain"

Image source: Vladislav Kamenski

#2 Hummingbird

"A baby humming bird found his way into my home. He was a bit stunned so I let him recoup on our front porch. While waiting for his nectar to cool I captured a few images of him as he came back to his own."

Image source: Emily Riley

#3 Bathing In The Snow Flake

"The fox was bathing in the snow flake."

Image source: Hiroki Inoue

#4 Moving At A Snail's Pace...

"While enjoying the sights of Chicago's Garfield Conservatory found this unlikely traveler taking a closer look at this Bromeliad. Sometimes you have to slow down to appreciate the tiny wonders right in front of you!"

Image source: Samira Qadir

#5 Pacific Storm

A colossal Cumulonimbus flashes over the Pacific Ocean as we circle around it at 37000 feet en route to South America.

Image source: Santiago Borja

#6 Icescape

Image source: Kelly King

#7 Under The Waves

"Waves of fog roll over a neighborhood in Mill Valley, California, as seen from the top of Mount Tamalpais."

Image source: Christopher Markisz

#8 Puffin Studio

"This image was taken last summer on Skomer Island, Wales. It is well known for its wildlife, the puffin colony is one of the largest in U.K.The photo shows a detail or study of an Atlantic puffin resting peacefully under the rain. As Skomer is inhabited, puffins do not feel afraid of humans, and so people can be close to puffins and the photographer can think about the right composition and take this kind of intimate portraits. Also that morning the conditions came together: rain and light."

Image source: Mario Suarez Porras

#9 Mystic Woods

Image source: Andrew George

#10 Dragging You Deep Into The Woods!

"A morning stroll into the blissful forest ! Ceaseless drizzles dampening the woods for 12 hours a day; The serene gloom which kept me guessing if it was a night or a day. Heavy fog, chilling breeze and the perennial silence could calm roaring sprits; And there I spotted this 20cm beauty the Green vine snake ! I wondered if i needed more reasons to capture this with the habitat; For I was blessed to see this at the place I was at. I immediately switched from the macro to the wide angle lens."

Image source: Varun Aditya

#11 Ocean Guest

"Every autumn walruses swim to this rookery place in the North of Russia (Chukotka, Vankarem cape). One day, walking along the beach away from the rookery, I came across a lone walrus, who was sleeping on the shore, its tusks sticked in the sand. I carefully crept up to it and photographed it with a wide-angle lens. At some point it woke up and noticed me."

Image source: Mike Korostelev

#12 Crocodile Waterline

"An American Crocodile on the surface in Gardens of the Queen, Cuba."

Image source: Brett Lobwein

#13 Great Horned Owl Returning

"This Great horned Owl is returning to her nest in an urban area near the busy Citrus county sheriffs office where the county deputies come and go pretty much on a regular basis. As well as it be near the highway leading to the high school campus."

Image source: Robert Strickland

#14 Alien Lights

Image source: Russell Wiltshire

#15 A Portrait Of "Trapper"

"Trapper...she is a Great Horned Owl that has recently been fighting cancer of her eye lids (squamous cell carcinoma), but that doesn't stop her in any way.Trapper gets her name being used as a decoy to attract Swallow Tail Kites, where the research team will catch the kite and fit with telemetry and gain lots of helpful information about kites and their migration. But that's not her only trait. Trapper also serves as a foster mother for orphaned Great Horned Owlets at Avian Recondition Center."

Image source: Graham McGeorge

#16 Aerial Autumn

"Aerial view of Fall colors, New Hampshire (09/10/2016)"

Image source: Manish Mamtani

#17 Engagement Present

"Kingfisher ( Alcedo athis) male with an engagement present for the female."

Image source: Andrés Miguel Domínguez

#18 Sandstorm

"As I was photographing this young grey seal, we both got caught up in a sandstorm."

Image source: Eugene Kitsios

#19 Wild Horses

"Taking place every year across Galicia, Rapa das Bestas, or "Shearing of the Beasts," involves cutting the manes of semi-feral horses that live in the mountains. Horses are rounded up into enclosures called curros, foals are branded and the adults groomed before being freed. The best known is the Rapa das Bestas of Sabucedo, which occurs on the first weekend in July."

Image source: Javier Arcenillas

#20 Hair Lines Of Zebra

"Hair lines of zebra"

Image source: Yu huiping