These are the spell-binding images that have been commended in a prestigious annual photography competition.
The Outdoor Photographer of the Year contest has been running for eight years and this year it received 20,000 entries from around the globe in several categories, with the standard as mesmerisingly high as ever.
The overall winner was Robert Birkby from West Yorkshire, who impressed judges with his scenic and compelling image of a herd of sheep huddled in a snowstorm in the South Pennines. He receives a £2,000 prize.
Other entries included a surfer beneath huge waves in French Polynesia and climbers scaling the massive rock face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
The scenic wetlands of Louisiana also features as do the tough wrestling pits of Varanasi, India, and the stunning underwater caves of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.
Head judge Steve Watkins, editor of Outdoor Photography magazine, said: ‘The judges were blown away by the quality of work that we looked at this year, and it shows that the world of outdoor photography is thriving like never before, thanks to the hard work, fresh thinking and deep passion brought by the photographers.’ Scroll down to see the amazing category winners and other commended entries that caught the judges’ eyes…